At the College of Fine Arts School of Visual Arts, foundational skills in the craft of hand and mind are developed through rigorous training. This training guides innovative formal and conceptual experimentation in painting, sculpture, design, printmaking, art education, and comics in the expanded field. Grounded in the philosophy established by the school’s founder David Aronson in 1954, the belief that drawing and composition, rooted in an ethic of hard work, are essential to a life of creative exploration. In the 1950s, the founders balanced the world of the studio with the liberal arts in a large research university. Over the past 70 years, the school has grown and evolved significantly to meet the needs of the changing art and design fields, embracing an ethos of collaboration, community, and critique.

The School of Visual Arts (SVA) has established itself as a leader in the professional arts, offering a wide array of both Graduate and Undergraduate degrees. SVA has five MFA degrees, along with online and in-person MA degrees in Art Education. Notably, the MFA in Painting is ranked #6 nationally by US News & World Report. Students in the MFA Painting, Sculpture, and Print Media & Photography programs have the unique opportunity to take elective coursework alongside peers in our large MFA Graphic Design program and our innovative MFA in Visual Narrative. 

BFA students majoring in Graphic Design, Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture, and Art Education learn to synthesize intensive studio practice with broad knowledge gained from the BU Hub. This comprehensive education culminates in their senior thesis exhibition, writing, and publications that prepare undergraduates for entering the professional world. Our BA students enjoy a broader focus but emphasize their liberal arts art education through an arts-based research seminar and Capstone project. Across all programs, SVA is dedicated to developing artists as intellectuals.

At SVA, we believe that sustaining life as an artist and designer necessitates fostering community and engaging in creative research practices. We offer numerous opportunities for students, faculty, and alumni to connect both within our curricula and with local, regional, and international communities.  Students can share their work in one of our four recently-renovated galleries and through established partnerships with galleries in Boston, New York, and Venice, Italy where we have our own study abroad program. 

Our University resources like the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, Campus Climate Lab, and the BU Arts Initiative provide students with the opportunity to gain and lead professional experience in arts-based research. Our public-facing events expose students to new ideas from important practitioners working today and help sustain connections to the field. We create community, welcome in others, and engage with the larger art world through the Tuesday Night Lecture Series, departmental symposia, and conferences like Art Education’s Women and Masks, Graphic Design’s Multiple Formats Art Book Fair, and Visual Narrative’s partnership with the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo (MICE).

At SVA, we develop and celebrate inventive problem-solving with an eye to the past, the present, and the future. As we continue to innovate and grow as artists and a community, we also honor our founders’ core belief in the power of the liberal arts to complement the studio, the importance of developing a practice driven by hard work, and the fundaments of drawing and composition that remain at the heart of our intensely creative and intimate community within a large R1 research university.

We invite you to explore our programs and join us in this vibrant community of artists and scholars.

Marc Schepens
Director and Senior Lecturer of Art, Painting
School of Visual Arts