As an Art major at St. Edward’s University, you’ll learn to shift your perspective and push yourself to the edge of your comfort zone.

You’ll develop a core knowledge of design, drawing and art history and explore mediums including drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpture.

And the lessons you learn will extend far beyond the subjects you explore. In the Drawing Methods course, for example, you’ll stretch your mind and gain confidence in your artistic abilities by completing perspective-shifting projects — 20 themed drawings in 20 hours; drawing the same object 10 times, filling the whole sheet each time and turning the paper 90 degrees every four minutes — that challenge you to refine your artistic process. And as you work through the projects, you’ll start to trust the process and embrace mistakes, an approach that extends far beyond the art world.

As you advance through the program, you’ll discover your own style and learn to critique your own work. You’ll create interactive installations, ask questions of professional artists who visit campus and study at museums across Texas. The Fine Arts Gallery on campus will become your lab, where you’ll learn exhibition design and installation and have an opportunity to show your own work.

And in Austin — a creative city with a vibrant art scene — you’ll apply what you’re learning. Intern at established galleries, The Contemporary art museum, and the city’s Cultural Arts department, including the airport public art program. And in your spare time, take advantage of the Blanton Museum, dozens of established galleries, the interdisciplinary Fusebox Festival, and the two jam-packed weekends of the East Austin Studio Tour, plus more street murals than you can Instagram in a year.

Major Roadmap

Explore your options — classes, internships, research, and study abroad. Use the Art Major Guide to find what interests you, discover what you love, and create a major experience that jump starts your future. 

What do our graduates do?

Art majors go on to a variety of careers and graduate schools from St. Edward’s. Here’s a sample.

  • Exhibitor at Austin’s Wally Workman Gallery
  • Project lead at MoonArk, the first museum for the moon, in Paris
  • Associate professor in the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Penn.
  • MFA student at Columbia University
  • Recipient of the University Graduate Scholarship at the University of Saskatchewan for MFA studies

For more information on the Art major, please contact Hollis Hammonds, chair of the Visual Studies department. The Art major is part of the Department of Visual Studies.

How to Draw Your Future

An innovative art class teaches students about making marks on paper and their mark in the world. 

The Classroom and Beyond

Through applied learning in your courses, internships in the art world, interaction with visiting artists, and exhibitions in the Fine Arts Gallery on campus, you’ll learn about the landscape of arts careers and find your niche.

Experiential Education

In Installation and Public Art, you’ll learn by participating in the full process of being a public artist. Work with stakeholders and create a real-world public art project on or off campus. A previous class created work for the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum.

In Art and Activism, you’ll learn about art making as a means of social action and activism. You’ll study artists working in social practice, political art, and other art activism projects, and then engage with stakeholders, such as a nonprofit, on a real project.

In your Senior Studio courses, you’ll develop an independent creative project and install your work in the Fine Arts Gallery on campus.

In Professional Practices course, you’ll interact with working artists in the Austin community and learn about career options, document your creative work, create a personal website and expand your professional network.

Throughout the year, you’ll learn from visiting artists who share their artistic vision and experiences in the field. Past visiting artists include:

  • African American artist Letitia Huckaby
  • Turkish American artist Tulu Bayar
  • David Mack, artist and writer for Marvel Comics®
  • Artist-activists Robert Shetterly and Lily Yeh
  • Social practice artist Pato Hebert

Research and Creative Opportunities

The studio art faculty at St. Edward’s are well-known artists whose work has been exhibited widely at galleries and museums. You might assist one of your professors, or a professional artist in their network, in their studios or with the installation of exhibitions. In your free time, you’ll have the vast Austin art scene to explore: visiting local galleries and museums, attending artist lectures and workshops, even exhibiting at local galleries.

Student Organizations

Chroma Art Club is a space for learning artists who want to grow in their practice and network with other artists. Members make and collaborate on creative works, visit galleries and discuss their own and others’ work. Recently the club has attended an exhibition opening, held a “Paint with Bob Ross” event, made hand-illustrated postcards, hosted life drawing and charcoal drawing sessions, and collaborated with the St. Edward’s New Literati literary magazine to create artwork inspired by poetry.

Command G design club arranges workshops and roundtables and provides opportunities to explore careers in the field through studio visits. The club has held several screen printing workshops and an all-mediums critique night.

SEU To You

Professor of Art Hollis Hammonds focuses on teaching both in-class and virtual students in her studio art classes.