Business Administration - John F. Kennedy University

Bfa in Studio arts
Note: No new students may begin this program after Fall 2009.
Students currently enrolled will be allowed to complete this
program. Please consult the program for details.
The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Arts program is dedicated to
the practice of creativity as a means of achieving increased
awareness of personal identity and connection to meaningful work
in the world. The program combines studio practice and
development of skill with other activities—spiritual practice, ritual,
academic research, and intensive self-inquiry. The BFA is designed
for those who have already completed a significant amount of
college-level work and have some background in the arts. The BFA
is designed to help move experienced students to a deeper level of
self-inquiry, technical skill, and cultural connection through art.
The program is a bridge to either the MA in Trans formative Arts
or the MFA in Studio Arts through a linking program that makes
possible the simultaneous enrollment in undergraduate and
graduate programs in the final year. Students who already have
undergraduate degrees in fields outside of the arts or who feel they
need some extra work on development of a portfolio before
attempting graduate work in the arts are also encouraged to enroll.
In addition to technical and creative growth, BFA students gain
important insights into how they fit into the constantly changing
worlds of contemporary art, healing, and community
transformation.
Program learning outcomes
• Skill. Demonstration of technical and formal skills associated
with creative activity. Clear understanding and competence in
at least three artistic media.
• Cultural competence. Awareness of cultural pluralism.
• Creative process. Demonstrated achievement of ongoing
creative practice using specific media. Ability to create new
artworks without external direction or assignment and a clearly
defined sense of artistic interest and direction. Articu lation and
analysis of artwork from formal, conceptual, and psychosocial
perspectives.
• Professional practice. Awareness of contemporary venues for
artistic practice. Determination of appropriate career path in the
arts and development of an appropriate career plan related to
artistic interests and goals.
• Academic competence. Knowledge of academic material
related to contemporary art practice. Demonstration of inte gral
awareness of academic material in individual artistic practices.
• Spirituality and personal transformation. Demonstrated
aware ness of links between inner and outer realities. Evidence
of substantial personal and spiritual growth as a result of creative
self-expression. Demonstration and narrative of personal inquiry
through creative practice resulting in positive change in
perspective and awareness.
Curriculum
The BFA degree requires the completion of 189 units of
undergraduate credit.
Prior to enrolling in the BFA degree program, students will have
completed 60 units of specific pre-requisites at another college or
College of Undergraduate Studies
University. An additional 27 units are necessary to fulfill General
Elective requirements, and may also be accepted as transfer credit,
or completed at JFK University.
The remaining 102 units are completed as indicated on the
curriculum chart below. A minimum of 65 units must be
completed in residence at JFK University in no less than two
academic years.
Transfer credit is evaluated on a case by case basis. Working in
partnership with the program advisor and in conjunction with the
registrar’s office, students design an individualized academic plan
based on previous academic transcripts and evolving artistic goals.
This must be reviewed, approved and updated each quarter in
order to insure successful completion and fulfillment of all program
requirements.
The foundation of the BFA degree program is built on a progressive
structure of core courses taken in sequence with a cohort of other
BFA degree students beginning each Fall. The grounding course,
Art, Archetypes and Creative Process is a studio-oriented
introduction to specific self-inquiry techniques using the creative
process. Here, students explore art, metaphor, pattern and
symbolism from psychological, cross-cultural and spiritual
perspectives in relation to their own art-making experiences. The
core then continues through a series of four BFA Core Seminars
taken sequentially each quarter:
A: Artistic Identity
B: Art and The other
C: The Artist in Society
D: Purpose and Practice
Concurrent with the Core Seminars, BFA degree students enroll
for a two-part sequence of courses, visual Culture A&B that
explores the nature of culture and identity from an ethnological
and phenomenological basis. What makes us who we are? Where
do we fit into the world? What is the role of visual communication
in the search for meaning and identity? These and other questions
are explored through an intensive combination of academic and
experiential work.
Simultaneously, under guidance of faculty in the Arts &
Consciousness (A&C) program in the College of Professional
Studies, students develop their own artwork through a series of
courses and independent work in a customized academic plan.
After the first year, students explore their work in depth with
mentorships – a system of individual tutorials with artists in the
community who offer specific insights into skill, technique and
professional practices crucial to aspiring artists.
The program builds to a BFA Final Project, with a public BFA Final
Project Seminar & Exhibition in the Arts & Consciousness Gallery
in the spring quarter of the second year, and an individual BFA Final
Project Paper due the final quarter prior to graduation.
Linking – The BFA degree program provides an opportunity for
students to link undergraduate coursework to graduate programs
in the Arts & Consciousness program. Upon successful completion
of up to 154 BFA degree units, students may apply to the MA in
Transformative Arts or the MFA in Studio Arts programs. If
accepted, students may then enroll in linked graduate level courses
and receive up to 18 units of dual degree credit upon their
completion. Students should consult with an A&C advisor early in
their academic program to determine and create an individualized
linking plan.
JoHN F. KENNEDy UNIvERSITy College of Undergraduate Studies 49
College of
Undergraduate Studies