Studio Art - Art Education

The art education program prepares you for Illinois certification as an art teacher for elementary or secondary schools. It is essentially a double major in Art and Design and Education.

Preparing You For Success

You participate in classroom field experiences your first year, then you gain additional field experiences your sophomore and junior years. These prepare you for the senior year student teaching experience. Bradley faculty and your supervising teachers are valuable mentors throughout the process. You are also anchored in the Department of Art and Design as you complete a studio art degree. The teacher education department is accredited by the Illinois State Board of Education and National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. It also is a member of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. The high school education program is nationally recognized by the National Council for the Social Studies, National Council for Teachers of Mathematics, National Science Teachers Association and National Council of Teachers of English. 

By the time you graduate, your experiences include:

• Courses in art history
• Expertise in one art form and exposure to six others
• Professional development and licensure in high school (secondary) education
• More than 500 hours of field experience and student teaching in local classrooms
• Instruction and mentorship from faculty who have taught on six continents, published 30 books on education and served in educational leadership at state and national levels
• Research opportunities with faculty
• Use of classroom technologies such as Smart Boards, virtual reality, 3-D printing and wearable devices

Making Your Mark

Art education teachers are in demand. Recent art education students who completed the program and graduated boast a 100 percent pass rate on Illinois licensure tests, including the national edTPA portfolio evaluation. Almost all found jobs within six months of graduation. That success means you can enter the teaching profession or graduate school after commencement. Many graduates are working for school districts in the Midwest. As an educator, you also can consider future graduate studies in curriculum and instruction or other fields.

Major Requirements

Art History Core - 6 hrs.

• ART 140: Survey of Art History I - 3 hrs.
• ART 142: Survey of Art History II - 3 hrs.

Art History Elective Courses (choose three) - 9 hrs.

• ART 243: Non-Western Art - 3 hrs.
• ART 245: American Art - 3 hrs.
• ART 332: History of Graphic Design - 3 hrs.
• ART 335: Medieval Art - 3 hrs.
• ART 340: Renaissance Art - 3 hrs.
• ART 350: 17th and 18th Century Art - 3 hrs.
• ART 360: 19th Century Art - 3 hrs.
• ART 375: 20th Century Art - 3 hrs.
• ART 390: History of Photography - 3 hrs.
• ART 480: Seminar in Art History - 3 hrs.

Studio Core - 19 hrs.

• ART 101: Drawing I - 3 hrs.
• ART 102: Drawing II - 3 hrs.
• ART 105: Two-Dimensional Design - 3 hrs.
• ART 106: Three-Dimensional Design - 3 hrs.
• ART 220: Professional Lecture Series- .5 hr.
• ART 221: Professional Lecture Series - .5 hr.
• ART 230: Life Drawing - 3 hrs.
• IM 113: Introduction to Multimedia - 3 hrs.

Studio Courses - 12 hrs.

• Six studio courses from areas other than the student’s concentration, including at least one from the 2-D areas and at least one from the 3-D areas.

Studio Electives - 12 hrs.

• Students are required to take an additional 12 hours of elective art credits from any field of study (including their own).

Concentration Courses - 18 hrs.

• Six studio courses in one of the following areas of concentration: ceramics, drawing, graphic design, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture.

Professional Orientation/Seminar Courses - 3 hrs.

• ART 421 - BFA Seminar II - 3 hrs. (Spring semester only)

Additional Professional Education Requirements – 44 hrs. 

• See Teacher Education Department for more information.

*Total Hours: 168
*including BCC requirements