Art & Design Department (2024)

The Ruth Foster Art Gallery

The Foster Gallery is the largest gallery in the Eau Claire area, and admission is free to Blugolds and the public. With a strong educational program, UW-Eau Claire students can experience this learning space through exhibition receptions, open viewings, installation opportunities, guest speaker presentations, and the chance to participate in our annual juried student art show.

Access to Creative Careers

In addition to their creative visual talent, Blugold graduates in the fine arts have become equally known for their entrepreneurial skills. From websites like Etsy, Amazon, and eBay to social media promotion, artists are finding a myriad of avenues to successfully and globally promote and sell their work. Plus, organizations such as auction houses, photography studios, art schools, and advertising agencies are all major employers of visual art graduates.

Blugold Art and Design Graduate Careers:

• Art director, Curb Crowser Design
• Designer, Worrell Design
• Senior art director, Best Buy Corporation
• Art director, Target Corporation
• Senior art director, Ulta Creative Inc.
• Gallery assistant, Leavin Gallery
• Assistant professor, Virginia Commonwealth University

Field Studies

The Department of Art and Design offers various travel opportunities for students to expand and diversify their studies in the visual and performing arts. In what can often be a life-changing experience, these faculty-led trips connect undergraduate studies with the practices of professionals.

For some students, these excursions may be required to develop a more holistic and global perspective on contemporary Art and Design beyond the Chippewa Valley. The Department hosts three annual field trips to regional and national destinations. Traditionally these have included Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York City. Regional trips are open to all UWEC students, faculty and staff, and the community.

Internships

Investing time in an internship can increase the value of your education by providing experience in a business environment. You'll also build community networks and build a professional portfolio.

Other benefits of internships include the opportunity to earn money or to have an unpaid position that could potentially fulfill the university's service-learning requirement. Students can also potentially earn credit for an internship in the Art and Design Department.

Many students, especially graphic design majors, can even secure internships on campus! Academic departments and programs often utilize student staff for on-campus project needs.

Scholarships

Thanks to the generous donations of alumni and friends of the Art and Design Department, we are able to help alleviate some of the financial burden for deserving students.

Scholarship Application Requirements

Every spring semester, majors and minors in the department can apply for scholarships to be awarded in the next academic year. Students graduating in December will receive awards in full during the fall semester. Each application requires standard academic information, a formal letter addressed to the Art & Design Scholarship Committee, at least two recommendations, an unofficial transcript, a portfolio of 10 best artworks*. There is also an option to submit a financial need statement for students who do not qualify for financial aid. Recipients are announced at the Foster Gallery's Annual Juried Student Art Show reception, where they are presented with an award certificate.

*Portfolio only required for art (studio/design) majors or minors. Artwork from courses preferred over personal works.

Application Timeline

If you are interested in a scholarship for the next academic year, applications are accepted starting January 1 and the deadline is typically mid- to late March.

Available Scholarships

• Charles and Ann Campbell Art Scholarship
• Andrea Cecchini Memorial Art Scholarship
• James H. Christoffersen Visual and Performing Arts
• Patrick Danen Memorial Scholarship
• Edward S. Fish Art Scholarship
• Herbert Friend Art & Design Scholarship
• Tom Grewe Fine Arts Scholarship
• Gretchen Grimm Art Education Scholarship or Award
• Stephen Katrosits New York Field Studies Scholarship
• Randolph Koelsch Art Scholarship
• Edward Haugen 'Ted' Leslie Memorial Art Scholarship
• Josette T. Migawa Arts Education Scholarship
• Gerald W. Newton Scholarship
• Lydia Passow Fine Arts Scholarship

Student Organizations

The Department of Art and Design offers two exciting student organizations: the Art Student Association and NOTA, a student art and literature publication called None of the Above.

The Art Student Association plays a significant role in developing and organizing artistic activities. The group, formed in 1975, does a variety of art and community-based activities, including:

• Promoting visual arts within the campus and the community at large.
• Organizing and sponsoring a variety of art events.
• Recommending further development and utilization of educational opportunities for art students.
• Developing criteria for the analysis of curriculum offerings so that recommendations can be offered to the art faculty.

NOTA is UW-Eau Claire's free, award-winning student literary and fine arts publication funded by the Student Senate and Finance Commission. Their mission is to showcase art, literature, and music created by UW-Eau Claire students and assert the arts as an integral part of the community.

Learn more about these organizations, and many others at UW-Eau Claire, on Blugold Connect+.

Study Abroad

Art and Design students may find particular interest in study abroad programs that are established in some of the world's art and architecture meccas, such as Florence, Rome, and Paris.

We have a partnership with Istituto Lorenzo de' Medici (LdM) in the heart of Tuscany, one of Italy's most distinctive and well-established study abroad programs. Art and art history are among the academic programs offered there, giving our students in art and design a unique chance to see original works of art by the masters and walk through the geographic heart of art history.

No matter where you might choose to study abroad, art and art history is everywhere. Even if art is not part of the curriculum when you travel abroad, you will likely find opportunities to take in museums and galleries anywhere in the world.