AcademicsUndergraduate AcademicsVisual Arts

Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts

Enter your bachelor’s degree at a Visual Arts school that values the sacred connection between your internal landscape and your external creations. Naropa’s commitment to contemplative education and our rich history in the fine arts creates a powerful undergraduate experience for emerging artists.

Begin your career in the visual arts at Naropa, named one of the Best Visual and Performing Arts Colleges in Colorado in 2020.

Naropa takes great pride in its fine arts legacy. With four visual art galleries, a 2D art studio, a recording studio, an arts library, and studios for pottery, sculpture, and media arts, Naropa is committed to creating fertile ground for undergraduate artists to explore their artistic vision.

Here, you’ll grow as an artist as you contribute to and learn from a thriving community of other artists, performers, scholars, writers, and healers.

Visual Arts

Quick Facts

36

Credits
Hours

5

Visual Art
Galleries
On-Campus

1

Gallery Show
Olivia Phipps headshot

Connect

with your counselor

Olivia Phipps

Admissions Counselor

For Students Applying for Fall 2024

Jenna Priest head shot

Connect

with your counselor

Jenna Priest

Undergraduate Admissions Counselor

For Students Applying for Spring & Summer 2024

Visual Arts Courses

In the Naropa bachelor’s degree in visual arts, you’ll learn to find your artistic edge, taking risks that help you grow as an artist. Our curriculum tackles the techniques and methods of studio art while also engaging artists in contemplative practice. Whether they’re fine-tuning their figure drawing, throwing clay on a pottery wheel, or writing an artist statement, our students approach their work with authenticity and introspection. A bachelor’s in the arts should challenge the mind while also engaging the heart, hands, and spirit.

Courses in the Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts include:

The Naropa Difference

An excellent school of art and design helps you grow as an artist and evolve as a person. Naropa’s degree in visual arts will help you develop a conscious art practice that serves you well beyond your college years.

Careers in Visual Arts

If you feel compelled to create, a bachelor of arts will help you to dedicate your life to that passion. Graduates of the Naropa bachelor’s degree in visual arts go on to advanced degrees in art, art therapy, and art history. Many find rewarding careers as photographers, arts administrators, designers, entrepreneurs, art teachers, or professional exhibiting artists.

Naropa’s visual arts school will teach you more than just the skills and techniques of creating art. You’ll also learn how to succeed as an artist in the world. Let us help you find your unique artistic path.

Artistic Development

Artistic freedom is integral to Naropa’s visual arts program. Early on, faculty and mentors will push you to experiment with form, method, and technique. The foundation of this risk-taking is a solid community of undergraduate visual arts students, graduate mentors, and supportive faculty.

Here, you’ll find a thriving community that supports your artistic and personal growth. When you present your culminating work at the Naropa Gallery through the Portfolio & Gallery Presentation course, you’ll celebrate that growth among friends, family, and your arts community.

Contemplative Approach

Discover a visual arts school that challenges you to dig deep. Rather than promote a specific method, Naropa’s visual arts curriculum asks you to look within for creative vision and to then apply yourself to learning the artistic techniques that will bring your vision to life.

Founded by accomplished artist and Buddhist master teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Naropa’s legacy is unlike that which you might find at other schools of art. Our visual art degree is uniquely founded on deep contemplation as integral to both the creation and expression of visual art.

Student Transformed

Student Transformed

What to Expect

Engage more deeply with your art through meditation and self-inquiry?
Mindfulness
Learn to speak fluently about your own art and the role of art in culture.
Fluency in Artistic Language
Design and assemble a portfolio of your best, most authentic work.
Artist Portfolio
Present your work at the Naropa Galerry in the company of fellow artists.
Exhibition Experience
Join a dynamic community of visual artists, writers, scholars, and thinkers.
Artistic Community

Related Programs

Search Naropa University

YOU ARE READY.

This is where experiential learning meets academic rigor. Where you challenge your intellect and uncover your potential. Where you discover the work you’re moved to do—then use it to transform our world.

“*” indicates required fields