Bachelor of Fine Arts
The Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a four-year program that pairs a creatively focused liberal arts education with demanding studio art training in one of our six majors. Studio arts training in one of six academic departments provides the foundational skills, intellectual context, discipline and creativity needed for a lifelong pursuit of making art. Support and guidance from our nationally-acclaimed faculty give PAFA students the technical artistic skills and 21st-century skills to prepare them for their future careers.
This program starts with a rigorous first-year foundation experience spent studying both traditional and contemporary forms of art-making, along with the introduction to a thorough conceptual liberal arts base focusing on art history and English composition. The Foundation Year program is crucial to gain technical skills and provides students the opportunity to take beginner level courses in all of our five majors.
Second- and third-year students in this program are spent with a mix of focused liberal arts and studio classes. During this time students can rent shared space in a group studio, which functions as a community space where they work collaboratively and support with other students as they head into the final year.
Fourth-year students are given a personal studio, where they learn what it means to be a practicing studio artist. The student is given 24-hour access to this creative space to create. Students sign up to have faculty critics and artists from the Visiting Artists Program visit their studio throughout the course of the semester to give direction and feedback as they prepare for the Annual Student Exhibition, a yearly exhibition that gives students the opportunity to curate, install, and sell their work in our renowned museum galleries.
Pursue Your Artistic Vision
At PAFA, we focus our energy on making sure you have the tools and knowledge you need for creating a successful, rewarding, and lifelong career in the arts.
Undergraduate Student Art Work
BFA Curriculum
The Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at PAFA requires 126 credits total:
- 42 in Liberal Arts
- 84 in Studio Arts.
The liberal arts studies may be completed at PAFA or through approved transfer credits.
Liberal Arts distribution requirements: 42 Credits
| Studies in Art History and Criticism | 15 Credits |
| Studies in Language and Literature | 12 Credits |
| Studies in History and Culture | 9 Credits |
| Studies in Science and Quantitative Thinking | 6 Credits |
Studio Arts distribution requirements: 84 Credits
| Studies in First Year Studio | 27 Credits |
| Studies in Studio Core (2nd & 3rd Year) | 30-33 Credits |
| Studies in Drawing | 6 Credits |
| Studies in Studio Elective | 12 Credits |
| Studies in Critics Program | 6-9 Credits |
