Visual Arts
In this program you’ll expand your creative practice as you learn new visual arts skills and methods. You’ll also learn to work with a range of materials and tools.
Potential careers
What can you do with a visual arts degree? Here are a few jobs that relate to the program:
- artist
- web designer
- art director
- animator
- modeler
- UI or UX designer
- storyboard artist
- photographer
- videographer
- teacher or instructor
- exhibit designer
- curator
- program coordinator
- conservator
- events coordinator
- entrepreneur
Some of these roles may require post-graduate studies or training.
Find a career that fits you
- Explore your career options at an appointment with a career educator.
- Attend career development workshops as you search for work.
- Take part in the Career Clarity program to generate career ideas and plan your next steps.
Experience & connections
Opportunities in the visual arts program
- With the Co-op Program you can alternate study with paid work.
Opportunities outside your program
- With a work study position you can develop skills during your study term.
- Volunteering is a great way to give back to your community while you build skills.
Networks you can connect to
Here are a few professional associations related to visual arts:
Hands-on learning opportunities
These courses in the visual arts program offer extensive hands-on learning.
Co-op
Co-op work terms
Alternate academic study with paid work terms to gain workplace experience
Creative or design project
ART 201 - Drawing
ART 202 - Drawing
Gain experience in contemporary drawing techniques
ART 211 - Painting
ART 212 - Painting
Discover new contemporary painting techniques
ART 221 - Sculpture
ART 222 - Sculpture
Enhance creativity with contemporary sculpture and 3D techniques
ART 241 - Photography
ART 242 - Photography
Sharpen focus with digital and analog photographic techniques
ART 261 - Digital Media Arts I
ART 262 - Digital Media Arts II
Explore contemporary art using digital technology
ART 271 - Video Art
ART 272 - Video Art
Get rolling with video production and related practices
ART 360 - Extended Media Practices
Explore conceptual, light and sound art in technical experiments and workshops
ART 306 - Studies in Drawing, Photo, Media and Interdisciplinary Practices
ART 395 - Visual structures in the Imaginative Realm I
Complete a self-initiated creative project
ART 401 - BFA Graduation Exhibition
Organize large public exhibition, including event planning, publicity, etc.
ART 406 - Studies in Drawing, Photo, Media and Interdisciplinary Practices
ART 495 - Visual Structures in the Imaginative Realm II
Complete an advanced, self-initiated creative project
Professional and technical skill development
ART 103 - Foundation of Drawing and Painting
Develop confidence with introductory painting, drawing and 2D design
ART 104 - Foundation Sculpture and Material Methods
Build out of the box with 3D design, construction and presentation
ART 105 - Foundation Photography and Video Art
Develop new insights in basic camera and darkroom techniques
ART 401 - BFA Graduation Exhibition
Organize large public exhibition, including event planning, publicity etc.
Work experience
Work experience terms
Take part in a modified co-op program requiring one or two work experiences
These courses are not always offered as described.
What you'll learn
Every student at UVic builds skills all employers look for. At UVic Co-op & Career we call these "competencies". This is what you’ll learn in the visual arts program.
Creative practice
- explore a range of studio practices and theoretical issues
- exhibit and curate in a range of gallery settings
- take a multidisciplinary approach to creative practice
Painting
- use advanced techniques in contemporary painting
- explore a personal vision for painting
- develop a critical discourse related to your work
- understand the ideas prevalent in painting from the early 20th century to the present day
Drawing
- use advanced techniques in contemporary drawing
- use conventional media such as charcoal, gouache, pencil and paper
- use media such as yarn, tape, plastics and projections
- make drawings to convey meaning through direct observation, memory and imagination
- make drawings that depart from representation, focusing on abstract composition, mark-making and texture
Sculpture
- use advanced techniques in contemporary sculpture
- explore a personal vision for sculpture
- develop a critical discourse related to your work
- understand the processes and ideas associated with contemporary sculpture
Photography
- use advanced techniques in contemporary photography
- work in both black-and-white and colour processes using analog and digital technologies
- understand the theory and practice of photography in international contemporary art
- think critically, theoretically and conceptually about the photographs you take and see
- expand the medium so it can be used by other disciplines such as sculpture, video, digital media and installation
Digital media
- use advanced techniques in digital art
- treat digital technology as a fine art medium
- treat digital technology as an art production medium and a socio-cultural phenomenon
- explore image manipulation, hyper-reality and the artist as consumer or producer
- explore the integration of media and the use of the body in relation to technology
- produce cross-disciplinary work
Video art
- use advanced techniques in video art
- use a critical, conceptual and aesthetic practice in the production of video art
- understand the many histories of video art
- understand contemporary artists and collectives working with the media, technology and culture
- understand alternative imaging concepts, projection systems, computer displays and installation techniques
- experiment within and across the media as part of contemporary artmaking