Undergraduate Fine Arts & Design

The Undergraduate Program in Fine Arts and Design offers students the opportunity to study a range of art and design disciplines with an interdisciplinary major in Fine Arts (FNAR) and an integrative major in Design (DSGN). Both majors combine studio instruction, seminar courses, and interactions with visiting artists, designers, and professionals to provide an open, intellectual framework to foster critical awareness and independent methods of research and learning. The curriculum emphasizes an understanding of art and design as tools for inquiry that respond to social, cultural, and environmental challenges. 

The Undergraduate Program in Fine Arts and Design offers a robust series of student engagement programs oriented toward supplementing its extensive curriculum through arts-based communities on campus and in Philadelphia. The Spiegel Wilks Artist Residency Program brings a diverse range of prominent artists and designers to campus for lectures, workshops, and studio visits that allow students to make connections with, and learn from, practitioners at the top of their fields. The Silverstein Photography Studio Abroad Program supports international travel studios, which provide students with the opportunity to immerse themselves in a city’s history, culture, and social climate to develop photo-based projects through cross-cultural visual investigation. 

In addition to a vibrant visiting artist lecture series, the Fine Arts department works closely with the Institute of Contemporary Art to provide students with opportunities to experience and study cutting-edge contemporary art from around the world. Students, faculty, and alumni have opportunities to build upon and expand their studio and exhibition practices at Postscript, the department’s offsite multiuse gallery space. Students work closely with standing faculty, graduate students, and experts in the field, and often work directly with faculty mentors on long term research projects through the Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships.

The Undergraduate Program in Fine Arts & Design offers a Fine Arts Major and Design Major for students in the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering, and a Fine Arts Minor for undergraduate students across the university. The undergraduate admissions process is governed and administered by the College of Arts and Sciences, and School of Engineering respectively. Prospective students who wish to major in Fine Arts or Design while pursuing a B.A. in the College of Arts of Sciences can indicate this on their admissions application, and include a portfolio as a supplement to their application; however, there are no admissions requirements to pursue a fine arts or design major.

Prospective students who are interested in learning about the Penn undergraduate admissions process should visits the Penn Admissions website.