Texas Art Schools – Review of Best Art Colleges in Texas
The sprawling state of Texas enrolls 10,000 students in art schools and has 13 schools accredited by the Council on Interior Design. Among its major programs are offerings at the University of North Texas-College of Visual Arts and Design, Rice University, and Baylor University.
The University of Texas offers NSAD-accredited programs and has art departments on its nine campuses across the state, including Austin, San Antonia, and Arlington. Texas also boasts renowned museums such as the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Blue Star Center for Contemporary Art, the McNay Museum of Art, and the San Antonio Museum of Art and the Austin Museum of Art.
The University of Texas at Austin College of Fine Arts recently completed a new Visual Arts Center. Two of its faculty members were named Guggenheim Fellows in 2010. Outstanding graduate Marcia Gay Harden was the 2010 commencement speaker at the University of Texas at Austin, a school that clearly values the arts.
Austin is one of the largest and most diverse art departments in the country. The Studio Art division offers seven areas of study: Ceramics, Metals, Printing and Drawing, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture and Transmedia, a specialization with an emphasis on experimental practices, including work in fields such as sound, installation, web, interaction and hypertext. . The school also offers a selective 3-year MFA program in Studio Art that enrolls 30 students.
The School of Art (SoA) at Texas Tech University College of Visual and Performing Arts in Lubbock, Texas offers NASAD-accredited degree programs in studio arts, art history, communication design, and visual studies. The BFA in Studio Art focuses on developing students’ personal artistic expression and technical skills, as well as imparting an understanding and appreciation of both artistic heritage and contemporary art. The school also offers master’s degrees and a doctoral program in Fine Arts that focuses on Critical Studies and Artistic Practice.
Rice University, one of the nation’s leading research universities, prides itself on its commitment to undergraduate education and offers a Studio Art major in its Department of Visual and Performing Arts. Students are encouraged to explore courses in areas such as philosophy, anthropology, and history. Rice students have access to the creative resources of the dynamic city of Houston, Texas, and visit galleries, studios, and exhibitions in their junior year in preparation for a senior year that focuses on intensive studio work.
Baylor University, in Waco, Texas, offers a BFA and a BA in Studio Arts. Baylor students may focus on ceramics, fabric design, painting, and other fine arts. BA students are encouraged to take courses in all concentrations, and are required to enroll in a higher percentage of liberal arts courses than students in a BFA degree program. Baylor also offers a Bachelor of Architecture degree in cooperation with Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Baylor students complete discipline-specific exams, portfolios, exhibits, and research papers, depending on their major. Baylor is home to the Martin Museum of Art, the Allbritton Art Institute for the study of 19th and 20th century art, and the Harding Black Ceramic Collection and Archive dedicated to scholarship in the ceramic arts.
There are dozens of other colleges and universities throughout the state of Texas that offer degree programs in the fields of fine art, design, and commercial art. Individuals interested in these fields can explore the range of options available to them in Texas and search for a balanced program to help launch their career.