chair's welcome

Welcome to the Visual Arts Department web site at Coastal Carolina University.

Because the fields of art and design draw on an expansive array of human knowledge and experience, a university setting is ideal for the education of artists and designers. Artists, designers and art educators must be adaptive and culturally literate. At Coastal Carolina University, art students study humanities, the physical and social sciences, and the other arts to become thinking artists and designers looking beyond the ordinary to find original solutions to visual problems.

The Department of Visual Arts offers baccalaureate degree program with areas of concentration in graphic design, painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture, ceramics, and art education. The department also offers a minor in Art History. Visual Arts majors can also earn a Master of Arts in Teaching with an art specialization. The department offers Visual Scholarships for artistically gifted, high-achieving freshman and transfer students. As a Visual Arts major, you will enjoy premier facilities including a sophisticated graphic design lab, black and white photography darkroom, fine art studios, and a gallery program centered in the 1,445-square-foot Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery. Students also benefit from Coastal Carolina’s close working relationships with the renowned Brookgreen Gardens, site of the nation’s largest collection of outdoor sculpture. Coastal Carolina students gain valuable experience through internships with local design firms and art organizations.

Currently, the Department of Visual Arts serves 175 majors with eleven full-time and eight part-time faculty members. The Visual Arts faculty are “art and design professionals”, ideally qualified to prepare students for a successful career as an artist. The achievements and reputation of the faculty have earned the program national accreditation with the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. I appreciate your interest in the Visual Arts program at Coastal Carolina and I look forward to hearing from you. I hope that you will choose to visit the campus and meet with me and other faculty.