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California Institute of the Arts

BFA: Art

School of Art

Interactive artwork installation in an art gallery.

Sophia Beall, Real Love, 2024

Question conventional ideas

CalArts’ four-year BFA in Art program challenges you to approach your work with a critical self-awareness and an understanding of the aesthetic, social, and intellectual contexts that inform artmaking in today’s global world. Solid training in critical thinking and a wide range of media prepares you with the tools to develop your own distinctive art practice and push the conventions of contemporary art. 

Installation with lighting component on gallery wall.

Jiwwoo Shin Feel Free to Feel Ill BFA4 thesis exhibition.

Explore the possibilities

BFA Art

At CalArts, we push you to question, explore, and experiment with new ideas and media, preparing you to be a historically grounded thinker as you develop the skills necessary to sustain an independent art practice. 

Let’s connect

You’ll begin the BFA Art curriculum with a series of courses in which you’ll investigate various media, art-historical traditions, and theoretical positions, building a critical foundation for understanding and making contemporary art. CalArts’ renowned faculty provides highly individualized instruction and mentoring to guide you as you develop, create, and exhibit independent studio work. Beginning undergraduates have shared studios, and most students in the program have their own studio and solo shows by the third year.

Additional coursework includes a combination of seminars, group critique classes, and independent studies. With the guidance of faculty mentors, you can concentrate on the areas that best serve your personal goals as an artist. Classes, labs, and studios offer opportunities to explore a wide range of media including installation, video, film, writing, performance, painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, digital imaging, sculpture … and undoubtedly something new that no one’s even thought of yet.

In addition to fulfilling Critical Studies liberal arts requirements, Art BFA students are required to pass a mid-residence review in the third year and a graduation review to complete the program and earn the degree.

Interested in the program?

View our step-by-step application guide to learn more.  

Start your application

Admission requirements

To be considered for the BFA Art program, you must complete an application and all program-specific requirements, including: a portfolio of images representative of your work, an artist statement, a brief video introduction, and two letters of recommendation. Before applying, please familiarize yourself with the detailed application requirements and resources available to assist you in this important process. 

View detailed admission requirements

Degree requirements

Each CalArts student develops a course of study in consultation with their faculty mentor. The first two BFA years are intended to create a strong foundation for art making and critical thinking; the final two BFA years allow more personal exploration, grounded in one-on-one study, exhibitions or projects, and corresponding reviews.

View BFA Art academic requirements

In addition to work in your specific program, all undergraduate students must complete requirements in general education, which we call Critical Studies. This liberal arts curriculum is designed to enable students to consider aesthetic questions within larger socio-cultural, ethical, and political contexts.  

View Critical Studies requirements 

Minors and interdisciplinary opportunities

CalArts offers students the chance to pursue additional interests alongside your chosen discipline, such as a minor in Digital Arts or Arts Education.

Learn more about minors and interdisciplinary opportunities 

Courses you might take

What courses would you take as a BFA Art student? Browse the courses offered in the School of Art, including opportunities to work in painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, digital imaging, sculpture, installation, video, film, writing, performance, and much more.

Explore the School of Art course catalog

Faculty

Meet the faculty in the School of Art

What will you make?

Student projects

The Art School Project Archive, launched in May 2021, offers a window into the diverse and vital work our students are producing at CalArts.

Art installation with two people wearing hazard suits in a transparent structure with debris scattered on the floow.

Lily Kennard (Art BFA 24), Rearranging the Furniture, 2024.

Gallery

Some of our alumni

More School of Art alumni

Power to the People

“Particularly with all the political upheaval right now, we live in a perpetual state of precarity,” says Molly Surazhsky (Art BFA 19), speaking of her installation PPE • People’s Power Enhancement. “I’m hoping these messages resonate with people and create a dialogue–or a gateway to host conversation among people.”

Billboard against a blue LA sky featuring a woman wearing a surgical mask with the words “redistribute wealth.” She holds a small dog and appears against a red, white, and blue backdrop.

Molly Surazhsky, PPE • People’s Power Enhancement billboard in Los Angeles, 2020. Photo: Courtney Coles.

  • Exhibition School of Art

    Mid residence show with the possibility of sculpture on the floor.

    Sun, Jan 12 / 8:00 AM - Sat, Jan 18 / 12:00 PM

    CalArts Campus

  • Exhibition School of Art

    Interactive media art display.

    Mon, Jan 13 / 7:00 PM - Fri, Jan 24 / 10:00 PM

    CalArts Campus

  • Exhibition School of Art

    8am -12pm daily with a reception on Jan 30 at 7pm.MFA 1 residency exhibition, static…

    Sat, Jan 25 / 8:00 AM - Sat, Feb 1 / 12:00 AM

    CalArts Campus

Want to learn more?

We got you. Our Admissions team is all about providing the information you need to decide if CalArts is right for you. We’re excited to connect with you for a tour of our legendary campus, a virtual info session, or at one of our admissions events across the country or around the world. Take the next step—we’re here to help.