Utah Valley University’s Department of Art & Design offers degrees in applied arts, fine arts, art history, and art education. Upon completing a degree, students emerge from the program ready to enter careers in graphic design, photography, advertising, printing, animation, illustration, art education, printmaking, sculpture, painting and more.
Students can earn a general degree, exploring several areas within the visual arts, or they can specialize, exploring a specific practice in depth to better understand it and/or prepare for employment in that field.
We cultivate the creation and appreciation of visual art, we foster creative confidence, critical thinking, interdisciplinary collaboration, and cultural responsibility. We follow these principles to accomplish our mission:
Visual Literacy - We encourage the development of strong visual literacy among students of the visual arts. We support the study of history, culture, technology and trends to this end.
Professional Excellence - In preparing visual art students for careers in a broad market, we support and expect excellence and professionalism.
Creative Diversity - While teaching techniques, styles, and practices is an important part of our programs, we support a diversity of ideas and individual expressions among students in their creative work. We promote artistsc freedom and seek to preserve cultural identity through creative production, exhibition, and historical research.
Engaged learning opportunities at The UVU School of the Arts abound! These opportunities allow students to interact with, ask questions of, and perform with seasoned professionals in their chosen field, providing a distinct advantage to advance their careers when they graduate.
UVU Art & Design students recently worked on two books that were subsequently published and went on to win three Independent Publisher Book Awards.
After twenty-two years, The UVU Museum of Art is excited to announce its new location at Lakemount Manor. The new museum is made possible by a generous gift from the Bastian family. The mission of The Museum furthers the appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts for the general public by fostering critical thinking and visual literacy through the interdisciplinary exploration of art, ideas, and experience.
Utah Valley University acknowledges that we gather on land sacred to all Indigenous people who came before us in this vast crossroads region. The University is committed to working in partnership—as enacted through education and community activities—with Utah’s Native Nations comprising: the San Juan Southern Paiute, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, Uintah & Ouray Reservation of the Northern Ute, Skull Valley Goshute, Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation, Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute-White Mesa Community, and urban Indian communities. We recognize these Native Nations and their continued connections with traditional homelands, mountains, rivers, and lakes as well as their sovereign relationships with state and federal governments. We honor their collective memory and continued physical and spiritual presence. We revere their resilience and example in preserving their connections to the Creator and to all their relations, now and in the future.
With this statement comes responsibility and accountability. We resolve to follow up with actionable items to make the School of the Arts at UVU and The Noorda Center for the Performing Arts an inclusive, equitable, and just space for all. There is much work to be done, and we are committed to putting these words into practice.
Utah Valley University
Department of Art & Design, MS 168
800 W. University Parkway
Orem, Utah 84058
Office: (801) 863-8341, Fax: (801) 863-7053
Office Location: GT 605, Hours: Mon-Fri 8am-5pm
Staci Owens, Administrative Assistant: (801) 863-8341, owensst@uvu.edu
