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Develop Your Own Personal Vision & Expression


Gain a solid foundation in the fundamentals of studio art and confidence in your skills.

Art Major


  • Choose from graphic design, photography, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, painting or drawing
  • Pursue a career in a wide variety of fields including advertising, education, art therapy and more
  • Gain a solid foundation in the fundamentals of studio art and confidence in your skills
  • Concentrate in a specific artistic discipline
  • Develop your own personal vision and expression
  • Build a strong portfolio of work
  • Learn the history of art and how it influences today’s artists
  • Combine your studies with a second major or a minor

What Will I Learn?


You will acquire the language for visual thinking through a foundation curriculum that includes drawing, two- and three-dimensional design and introductory art history. Then you choose at least one studio area of concentration in which you build a mature level of creative expression. This in-depth involvement enables you to create a professional-level portfolio for your future goals. Many of our graduates choose to continue their education in a Master of Fine Arts program.

What is Unique About Our Program?


The friendly, professional and collaborative faculty of the SUNY Plattsburgh Department of Art & Design provide a first-class studio education in a facility to which students have access 18 hours a day, seven days a week. Extracurricular opportunities are offered through the student-led Plattsburgh Association of the Visual Arts and the Visual Artist Series. The Plattsburgh State Art Museum, with its Museum without Walls program and Sculpture Park, is another valuable resource. And SUNY Plattsburgh’s location is unique: lakes, rivers, forests and mountains abound, while urban centers such as Montreal in Canada and Burlington, Vt., are within an hour’s drive from campus.

What Are My Career Opportunities?


What Can You do with a Degree in Art?

There is a wide variety of jobs artists can hold. Some they planned or hoped to have and some they never dreamed of having. Some examples are:

  • Art conservator/restorer
  • Museum curator
  • Master printmaker
  • Book illustrator
  • Production potter
  • Graphic designer
  • Advertising photographer
  • Portrait photographer
  • Industrial photographer
  • Furniture designer
  • Art teacher
  • Art therapist
  • Web designer
  • Jewelry designer... the list goes on and on.
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