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Studio Arts

The Studio Arts program offers the student a flexible and comprehensive course of study leading to a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Through exploration of historical and contemporary art practices, students develop technical and conceptual skills essential for success as professional artists or for graduate studies in a Master of Fine Arts program. Studio work, critical thinking and hands-on instruction by dedicated faculty are combined to foster development of artistic direction. The Studio Arts faculty works one-on-one with students sharing knowledge and challenging them to do their best work.

Amanda Beardsley (Hopi, Laguna Pueblo, and Choctaw, ’16)

Amanda Beardsley (Hopi, Laguna Pueblo, and Choctaw, ’16)

The four-year curriculum begins with a foundation arts program. These courses provide students with fundamental concepts and hands-on experience needed for continued study for intermediate and advanced level studio.

Foundation courses include:

  • 2D Fundamentals
  • 3D Fundamentals
  • Color Theory and Practice
  • Drawing I
  • Drawing II
  • Figure Drawing
  • Introduction to Digital Arts
  • Studio Fundamentals

During the sophomore and junior year, students have the opportunity to explore areas of interest by selecting from seven media-specific courses. Each studio course focuses on the medium’s techniques, skills, history, materials, and processes. Students are encouraged to develop a broader understanding of the underlying concepts and ideas behind art making. In the junior year students will spend more time in the studio developing artistic skills needed for personal expression.

Introductory and advanced courses include:

  • Digital Arts
  • Painting
  • Printmaking
  • Photography
  • Ceramics
  • Sculpture
  • Jewelry/Metals

Studio Facilities

The Academic Building has several studios including jewelry, digital fabrication laboratory, ceramics, printmaking, photography, painting, and drawing, plus the Balzer Contemporary Edge Gallery. The Allan Houser Haouzous Sculpture and Foundry Building (18,000 sq ft) has a wood shop, a stone shop, a metal shop for welding and blacksmithing, and an outdoor foundry and courtyard work area.

Jewelry Studio

The Jewelry Studio is laid out with specific rooms for hammering and raising as well as buffing and polishing. There is also an outside demonstration area for forging and blacksmithing. The jewelry and metals studio also works in conjunction with the Fab Lab.

  • Band saw
  • 2 Drill presses
  • High speed drill press
  • Blacksmithing Forge
  • Photography station
  • Polishing stations
  • Ultrasonic drill
  • Lapidary stations
  • Soldering stations
  • 14 workstations with Foredom
  • 48” shear
  • 18” shear
  • Beverly shear
  • Drawing bench
  • 3 Kilns
  • Vacuum casting systems
  • Hydraulic forming systems

Fabrication Lab (Fab Lab)

The Digital Fabrication Laboratory (Fab Lab) allows computer facilitated fabrication. The Fab Lab can be used to create two- and three-dimensional works. The lab includes a laser cutter, water jet cutter, two 3D printers, and a CNC mill and lathe.

  • Epilog Helix laser cutter
  • Z-Printer 3D printer
  • DWS stereo-lithography 3D printer
  • CNC mill
  • CNC lathe
  • 3 PC work stations
  • Maxiem water jet cutter

Ceramic Studio

The Ceramics Studio includes a main workroom with multiple storage areas and dedicated rooms for glazing and for kilns, as well as an outside workspace with a separate building housing large gas kilns.

  • Plasterwork area
  • Glaze room
  • 8 electric kilns
  • Alpine HF gas kiln
  • Laguna raku kiln
  • Wheel throwing area with 6 wheels

Printmaking Studio

The Printmaking Studio is equipped with separate washout room for screens, and a large format printer for experimental work in screen-printing and other methodologies.

  • Apple MAC computer
  • Epson V500 scanner
  • Epson Stylus 9800 large format printer
  • Takach lithography press
  • Takach etching press
  • Light tables
  • Drymount press
  • Lawson exposure units
  • Screen-printing washout

Photography Studio

The Photography Studio has two fully equipped darkrooms, two film-changing rooms, and a printer lab with 48” Epson printer as well as Apple MAC work stations with two smaller Epson printers and scanners. The photo section has a separate lighting studio set up for portraiture and studio shoots.

  • 11 Apple MAC computers
  • Epson R2400 printer
  • Epson Pro 9880 large format printer
  • Epson V750pro/ v700 scanners
  • Light tables
  • Drymount press
  • 2 color enlargers
  • 8 black and white enlargers
  • Portrait studio with lighting setups
  • Light kits
  • Large format camera systems
  • Medium format camera systems

Painting Studio

The Painting Studio offers a top-notch working space for students and visiting artists including Painting & Intermediate Painting Studio (2,556 sq ft). Advanced Painting Studio (1,990 sq ft). Includes an individual working space for each student. Combined, both paintings studios offer (4,546 sq ft) of working space.

  • Industrial paint spray booth, manufactured by Global Finishing Solutions at 6’ W x 6’ D x 7’ H
  • Each studio has double sinks with hot & cold water
  • 60” Sharp flat screen monitor for PowerPoint or video presentations
  • Metal easels for each student
  • Raw canvas is supplied for class work
  • Gesso is supplied for class work

Drawing Studio

The Drawing Studio offers (1,404 sq ft) of working space.

  • Metal easels
  • Drawing benches
  • Numerous inanimate objects for drawing projects and exercises
  • Life-sized skeleton

Wood Shop

The Wood Shop has a wide selection of hand tools as well two band saws, a drill press, a planer, jointer, scroll saw, chop saw, three stationary sanders, router table, a panel saw, and a table saw.

  • Saw Stop table saw
  • Scroll saw
  • Panel saw
  • Jointer
  • 10” Planer
  • 20” Planer
  • Drill press
  • 14” band saw
  • 20” band saw
  • Chop saw
  • Assorted hand tools for carving
  • Assorted hand power tools

Stone Shop

The Stone Carving Shop has equipment to sculpt stone at multiple scales with hand tools power saws, grinders, drills, and polishing systems.

  • Pneumatic stone tools
  • Hand tools
  • Assorted grinders

Metal Shop

The Metal Shop and Foundry has brakes and shears to six feet and three separate rollers, tubing benders, Beverly shears, power hammer, metal drill press, and a metal cutting band saw. The building houses a wax room and a mold room to produce ceramic shell molds for bronze casting. The metal shop has both inside and outside bays, with full systems for TIG, MIG and gas welding. There is also the basic setup for cold glasswork with band saw, flat lap, and angle arbor grinder along with three kilns for casting and slumping glass.

  • Bronze furnace
  • Burnout kiln
  • Wax fabrication room
  • Slurry room
  • Mold preparation room
  • Divestment area with blast cabinets
  • 2 Paragon glass kilns
  • 1 Skutt glass kiln
  • Glass cutting band saw
  • Drum polisher
  • Flat lap polisher
  • Assorted glass tools
  • Dayton welder
  • Metal band saw
  • Portable metal band saw
  • Metal chop saw
  • 3 Miller plasma cutters
  • 4 Torch welding setups
  • Tube benders
  • 48” Brake
  • 3 Slip rollers
  • 48” Hydraulic shear
  • Beverly shear
  • Power hammer
  • 2 Sand blasting cabinets
  • 3 Gas forges
  • 20” Drill press
  • Forklift
  • Overhead hoist
  • 3 MIG Welders
  • 2 TIG Welder
  • 5 layout and work stations
Careers and Educational Pathways
Our program is dedicated to educating exceptional students who will continue a 50-year legacy of influencing the Native art world.

We prepare men and women to become self-employed studio artists, arts educators, and creative leaders in the arts. Many earn MFA degrees from prestigious graduate programs, and our award-winning alumni exhibit their work nationally and internationally.