Department of Art + Design + Art History

Department of
Art + Design + Art History

The Department of Art + Design + Art History (ADAH) encompasses creative areas in print and web, 3D modeling and animation, ceramics, fibers, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture. Our accomplished faculty mentor students in a creative and supportive environment.

Degrees and Programs

BFA, BA and Minor

Studio Art

As a studio art major or minor at Truman, you will explore a variety of practical art concepts in our modern facilities. Choose from:

Bachelor of Arts: Art
Bachelor of Fine Arts: Studio
Studio Art Minor

Pursue one of six different studio emphases:

Ceramics
Fibers
Painting
Photography
Printmaking
Sculpture

Studio Art

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BFA and Minor

Design

Our Design Program prepares you for a career where you get paid to be creative. The design field offers a broad range of professional career choices in the mass media, communications market.

Our design students have gone on to employment in advertising, marketing, television, publishing (newspaper, book, magazine, online), internet/ISP development organizations, corporate in-house design departments, entertainment industry, and self-employed designers throughout the region, the country and abroad.

Design

BA and Minor

Art History

The Art History track in the BA in art provides a course of study for students with an interest in the ways people have expressed themselves visually across history. This track focuses on what is often referred to as "material culture," the objects created by humans that are part of their lives; this includes everything from clothing to paintings, buildings to jewelry.

Our art history graduates pursue careers in museums and non-profits, assisting private collectors, teaching in K-12 and higher education, and working in a variety of other fields calling for a well-rounded education with an understanding of both history and culture.

Art History

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Mission Statement

We believe that art matters. It changes lives, documents and reflects experiences, and shows us worlds and perspectives other than our own. Making art has been a fundamental part of human activity since the beginnings of known history; studying art has played a central role in the development of our understanding of human civilization. Further, societies are judged often by the art that they produce.

We also believe that the liberal arts and sciences matter. Knowledge does not exist in isolation; particularly in this global, digital world it is interconnected, created, developed, and maintained communally, and is changeable over time and across cultures.

All of our activities in the Art Department at Truman State University grow out of this fundamental set of core beliefs.

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Learn more

Hear from Art Students

3 things that are distinctive to art at Truman:

Faculty

Eleven full-time, fully engaged faculty. All with terminal degrees in their field. Students get to know their professors well over the course of four years and are able to establish valuable mentoring relationships. And those faculty are in offices adjacent to our classrooms.

Faculty and Staff

Facilities

Beautiful, clean, professional classrooms with good equipment throughout the building. An Art Department gallery that is not surpassed anywhere and brings in top-notch national and international exhibitions. By the way, students also exhibit in that gallery.

Facilities

Focus on Professional Practices

From our capstones in which all students accomplish the tasks they will be expected to perform in the working world or in graduate school – to our new Art Bus courses in which students meet with art world professionals in regional cities – we make sure your well-rounded liberal arts education is complemented by practical knowledge and skills that lead to great careers.

Careers Paths