Saint Ambrose University (Art Department)

Art at St. Ambrose. You supply the desire and we'll supply the environment in which you'll be able to explore your talent and vision as an artist.

Since Fr. Edward Catich founded the St. Ambrose Art Department in 1938, students have been guided by an outstanding faculty who have created a curriculum that forms a holistic experience in which aspects of artistic talent are explored, challenged, expressed and enriched.

Art students can explore programs in art education, book arts, graphic design or the fine arts. Our liberal arts approach encourages students to develop their creative ambition in a personal and independent matter, while being supported by faculty that understand that creativity and guide it towards mature statements.


Art Programs

GRAPHIC DESIGN
Commercial applications of the visual arts attract students who major in graphic design. The graphic designer helps society clarify its messages. Students learn to speak in this visual language of type, color, image and text in an articulate and responsive manner. The fine art background of the core focuses and informs all design practice.

Graphic design at St. Ambrose is taught by professional designers. They teach students letter form and color choices, historical influences in the creation of original design products, and how to analyze the needs of their client and respond with personal image-making skills.


FINE ARTS
For students interested in careers in studio arts, art-related professional occupations, or graduate studies, St. Ambrose's integrated, liberal arts approach to art making is highly valuable. The fine arts major provides an environment that supports and challenges an individual's creative growth.

Oil painting, drawing, and other media become new expressive voices for the artist. Students learn to incorporate life experience into their investigation of the complex language of form and content. Technical and expressive competence develop simultaneously.

Students are encouraged to develop their creative ambition in a personal and independent manner. The department's role is to extend and support the student's growth as an artist. The faculty strives to understand the nature of each student's creativity in order to guide them toward mature artistic statements.


ART EDUCATION
Students interested in the teaching of art may pursue K-6 or 7-12 art teaching licensure through this major, offered in cooperation with the Education department. The program includes experience in a range of art studio areas, art history and arts education methods courses. Students apply for admission to The Practitioner Preparation (Teacher Education) Program and includes areas of study necessary to prepare competent and professional classroom teachers, and is approved by the Iowa Department of Education. Students who plan to teach in a state other than Iowa should consult the Education Department chair concerning certification requirements.

Field experiences are central to this major, and include arranged teaching in the area elementary grades and in public and private agencies, observation and participation in the area secondary schools, and extensive supervised student teaching.


Art Facilities

The Galvin Fine Arts Center houses the Art Department and student art facilities.

Our main drawing and painting studio is comprised of 1600 square feet of beautifully lit, open space for posed model and still life set-ups and is equipped with easels, drawings benches, portable tabourets, flat and vertical storage space and excellent ventilation. The big studio is also used for critiques and other art related activities. Art majors also have the availability of individual studios at the Studio House.

The photography darkroom is geared towards black and white photography, with enlargers supporting up to 16x20 prints. Besseler, Simmons-Omega and Nikon hardware plus washing units, drying screens and storage for students to hold their supplies make the photo facility flexible and functional.

The printmaking studio offers facilities for intaglio, relief and lithographic printing. Fully vented acid booth and solvent areas allow the completion of prints from start to finish in the same facility. We have two 24” x 28” Sturges etching presses: a starwheel and an electric, and a Rembrandt lithographic press. The studio is equipped with ink mixing tables, a graining table for litho stones and vertical and horizontal print drying facilities.

The graphic design computer lab in Galvin Fine Arts Center room 139 contains Macs and offers two scanners, a color laser printer and black and white laser printers. The lab has an overhead Elmo, Internet access and graphic design-specific software. Room 8 houses another Mac lab set aside for upper-level graphic design majors.

There are other computer labs on campus for student academic work: lower Cosgrove (24-hour lab), Cosgrove Room 24, Ambrose 413c, McMullen 101 and McMullen 102. Those labs contain Dell PC's running Windows 2000.

Students are given their own folder on the network that can be accessed with their secure user name and password. Documents and other projects can be stored in the folder and accessed from anywhere on campus.

The Morrissey Gallery and the Catich Gallery in Galvin Fine Arts Center serve as exhibit spaces for students to present their artwork to the public. We also present the work of professional artists and other programs for the benefit of the campus and local communities.

The Quad Cities presents many opportunities for artists to explore their talents and connect with others in the community through several arts organizations and exhibit space potential.


Fine Arts Scholarships

The Department of Art has scholarships available to students who show exemplary talent in their artwork.

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Art Department Art School Location

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