Majoring in the Arts

Hello Future Illini,

As a senior studying painting in the school of Art and Design here at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, I look back on my last four years as a student and find myself privileged to have been able to study here. With such a diverse faculty of artists, who have shown in some of the finest galleries in New York, Chicago, and California, I have been taught and guided by a faculty of talent and brilliance. Our faculty of artists have all come from a mixture of backgrounds and studies offering a wide range of knowledge and technical skill.

Not only does the University of Illinois school of Art and Design value traditional studio mediums but also, just recently, we have expanded our digital media classes and facilities. For this, I have had the opportunity to study numerous mediums by enrolling in classes ranging from Oil Painting to Photography to Ceramics to Jewelry Making to Glass to Art of 3D Imaging to Movie Image and many, many more. Currently, in my senior painting studio class I am working on completing my senior thesis requirements. Every graduating senior in the painting and sculpture program is required to have a senior thesis show upon graduating. This requirement had given me a glimpse into the pressures of what it is like to create and complete a consistent, cohesive body of work. I then must document that body of work through writing and image recording, and finally show it in an exhibition on campus.

Although some may think the middle of Illinois is no suitable place to study the fine arts, I believe the art community here is very alive and I am grateful for my experiences here as an undergraduate painting major. The cities of Champaign and Urbana offer many venues for artists to exhibit their work and the University's own Krannert art Museum has attracted many compelling traveling shows. Also, it is not uncommon that professors schedule day field trips to Chicago's art museums and galleries. In fact, just this past semester, my painting studio professors scheduled a field trip to their very own studios where we, as students, were able to see how they worked in their own unique studio environments.

I feel, under the direction of this diversely gifted staff and with my broad studio class experience, I am confident to graduate from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and enter the working world as a fine artist!

-Mari