Focused on the needs of 21st-century artists, the art major prepares students with the conceptual and technical abilities needed to succeed in the professional world.

What courses will you take?

Video by James Joutras '19

The B.F.A. in Art at UMass Lowell is designed to help you develop a rigorous art practice, with 80+ credit hours spent on making fine art or animation and interactive work. From Foundations to Advanced Studies, you'll take courses that integrate traditional art forms with new technologies.

At UMass Lowell, we offer two concentrations, which lead to a wide range of career opportunities.

  • Studio Art, which includes exploration of painting, sculpture, photography, and printmaking
  • Animation and Interactive Media, which explores techniques in 2D and 3D animation and modeling practices, 3D printing, virtual and augmented reality, and computer-generated art

Small classes (average class size is 15 students) offer individualized attention and allow you to become fluent in the discourse of your discipline. In the senior capstone project, you will develop a portfolio for your continued professional career.

Accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), the B.F.A. program prepares you to enter your chosen art discipline at a professional level.

  • Degree Pathways are a semester-by-semester sequence of courses recommended for successful completion of a degree, diploma, credential or certificate from the university. The most current degree pathways are:

    • Animation and Interactive Media
    • Studio Art
    Visit the Academic Catalog for all degree pathways, including those from prior enrollment years.

  • Students who graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree will:

    • Be informed and intelligent citizens, and as such be valuable members of society committed to making a difference as influential cultural producers, leaders, and trend-setters
    • Acquire fluency in the major discourses informing their concentrations in Studio Art and/or Graphic Design
    • Exhibit literacy in the history of art and visual communication
    • Be exposed to current trends in art and design
    • Be ready for careers in the creative industry as studio artists, photographers, illustrators, graphic designers, interactive-media practitioners, animators, gallery administrators, art critics and/or researchers.
    • Be qualified to enter graduate study in art, design, visual studies, and/or art education
    • Be able to integrate multiple disciplines and media for their creative projects in both personal work and professional pursuits
    • Demonstrate preparedness to navigate waves of cultural production and adjust to changing modes of visual expression in both art and graphic design fields
    • Not only excel in the area of concentration within their degree, but also in their ability to continually embrace, innovate and advance the ever-changing developments in art and design production and research.

Why study art at UMass Lowell?

Art student painting in a UMass Lowell studio

Fun Outside the Classroom

Put your learning into practice. Check out some of the fun ways UML students come together.

  • AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) Student Group
  • Art Student Union

Professor and student review artwork in a UMass Lowell art studio

Experiential Learning

Gain hands-on experience through professional internships and co-ops. Students have worked with clients that include:

  • NASA
  • Reebok
  • Adidas
  • iRobot

Student photographing another student with a tablet computer in a UMass Lowell studio

Cutting-Edge Technology

Our facilities offer ample studio space and current technology including:

  • Cintiq drawing tablets
  • Laser cutters
  • 3-D printers & scanners
  • Motion capture & virtual reality technology

Six Umass Lowell art students, posing in front of a city in a foreign country.

Tour the World

Study abroad through our programs and university partnerships in countries including Italy, Israel, the Azores, England, France, Turkey, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates.

What can you do with a degree in art?

We're ranked the No. 1 art program for return on investment by Payscale.com. UMass Lowell's art & design graduates are in high demand, with 96 percent landing jobs or being accepted into graduate programs within six months of graduation.

Alumni of our program have worked at:

  • Adidas
  • Converse
  • Curriculum Associates
  • Disney
  • Draft Kings
  • Hill Holiday
  • IBM
  • iRobot
  • National Geographic
  • The Paper Store
  • Reebok
  • Rumbletree
  • Workhuman

Urdilinya Smith painting the new mural on South Campus at UMass Lowell

Urdilinya Smith '23

Art

Urdilinya Smith helped paint the new mural on South Campus.

I want to carve out my own path, my own art, my own brand.

Adam Norton

Adam Norton '10

Graphic Design

Adam Norton's experience at the UMass Lowell robotics lab and Revolving Museum allowed him to work with iRobot on educational school visits to get the next generation hooked on robotics.

I may not know a person, but if I find out they're from UMass Lowell, we automatically have a connection.

UMass Lowell Image

John Huikku '90

Art

John Huikku, using his art degree from UMass Lowell, is responsible for some of our most beloved movie characters, including Elsa from "Frozen."

It was all new, all self-led exploration…we did some pretty cool stuff [at UMass Lowell].

Hillary Scott holding a paintbrush in front of a landscape painting

Hillary Scott '02

Art and Design

Hillary Scott '02 has won national recognition for her landscape paintings.

Lighting in landscape is so magical.

Ayah-Awadallah-1400

Ayah Awadallah '16

English, Journalism and Professional Writing; minor in Graphic Design

Ayah Awadallah is starting an online magazine for young American Muslim women caught between American culture and the tenets of their faith.

I came to UMass Lowell because it's a great school – and because I could live at home.