As an art & design major at ONU, you’ll learn to become a master of your craft while honing process and applied skills that allow you to create work that communicates big ideas. Our program blends technical, conceptual, and critical thinking skills that prepare you for a variety of careers. Our student-centered instruction, a hallmark of the department, focuses on high-impact learning and creative opportunities. You can experience research projects, internships, study abroad courses, and experiential opportunities appropriate to your career goals.
Our art & design major is intended to allow you to minor in another program connected to your career interests such as psychology, social media, marketing, communication & media, museum studies, arts administration, or computer science. You are encouraged to make interdisciplinary connections that inform your work. Your last year of study culminates in a capstone project informed by the research done in the previous studies and continued studio work.
Large institutions just can’t provide the individualized attention and opportunities you’ll find here. You’ll learn just as much outside the classroom as you do inside. You’ll participate in juried art shows and enter exhibitions. You’ll go on field trips, participate in group problem-solving sessions, produce campaigns and projects for the community, and interact with visiting artists and designers. You’ll take intensive, studio-based courses and produce works of art and design worthy of accolades.
Here, you’ll join a close-knit family of artists and designers. From the time you arrive on campus until you graduate, you’ll be guided by the same faculty advisor. You’ll enjoy small class sizes and amazing friendships with your fellow art & design students. Our dedicated professors will get to know you. They will go above and beyond to develop you as an artist, designer, and professional. Upon graduation, you’ll have a portfolio of work that will help you land a great job! When you leave Ohio Northern with an Art & Design major, you will have a myriad of possibilities open to you, from working as an in-house graphic designer or full-time scenic painter for a theater, to being prepared for graduate school in art/design, art history, or art therapy.
