Beyond the Classroom

The Department of Visual Arts is large enough to be a diverse and challenging environment, and small enough to allow for close-knit classroom experiences and one-on-one interaction with faculty.

Lusca Pre-Professional Studio

Lusca Studio, offered as an upper-level course for advanced students to gain hands-on experience, provides graphic design and photography services to small businesses, non-profit organizations, and departments throughout the University. Students gain first-hand, real-world experiences through design and photography projects for audiences within CCU and the local community. Students also learn essential business practices such as maintaining client relationships, time management, design and development, implementation, and production. 

Digital Heritage

Courses in Digital Heritage (ARTH 450, ARTH 452) leverage digital technologies as tools for studying, visualizing, and contextualizing various aspects of material culture, including sculpture, ritual objects, and architecture––even entire landscapes. Students develop interdisciplinary and transferrable skills, including 3D modeling, mapping, and photogrammetry. Critical visualization and reconstruction is a practice of growing importance in the fields of archaeology, art and architectural history, cultural geography, public history, and cultural heritage management.

Student Media

Award-winning University publications Archarios, Tempo, and The Chanticleer newspaper give students the opportunity to publish their work or be involved in developing a professional-quality publication. These publications have consistently won awards at the regional, state, and national levels.

Student Organizations

Graphic Design students started their own American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) chapter. With a rich calendar of guest speakers, events, exhibitions, and publications, the AIGA is the place for graphic design students. 

CHROMA, the student organization for Visual Arts, sponsors various lectures, workshops, trips, and other events to supplement in-class experience.

Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery

The Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery is the primary visual laboratory for the Department of Visual Arts at CCU. The 1300 square foot facility is dedicated to advancing the education of visual artists and cultivating the production, interpretation, and enjoyment of objects and images in society. Exhibitions by professional artists from throughout the nation and students enrolled in the department present, inform, and broaden what is capable in visual arts and design. 

More On-Campus Opportunities

For advanced, motivated students, there are many opportunities to gain professional-level experience before leaving CCU.

• The Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery offers work-study and internship experiences.
• The Athenaeum Press, the college's student-driven publishing lab focuses on telling local and regional stories in innovative ways. Many of the Press's projects have won awards at both the regional and national levels.

Public Murals

Public arts mural projects engage both students and the community. CCU’s Visual Arts Department connects beyond the campus walls through such experiential learning - art collaborations. Both the experience and the projects leave a lasting impact on the student-artists and the community long after students graduate. Cat Taylor and the 2019 Mural Students (below left). Next up is Teal Alley in Conway 2021.

The Hotworks

Visual Arts students gain direct experience in a bronze foundry as they sculpt tomorrow’s monuments. Students working on these projects learn every step of the process, from clay to bronze, while engaging in meaningful discussion about the role of monuments in society.

The Athenaeum Press

For advanced, motivated students, there are many opportunities to gain professional-level experience before leaving CCU. The Athenaeum Press, the college's student-driven publishing lab focuses on telling local and regional stories in innovative ways. Many of the Press's projects have won design awards at both the regional and national levels.

Hobcaw Barony

Students in Hobcaw Barony and Documentary Photography, ARTS 364, focused on the unique natural, historic, and agricultural landscapes of Hobcaw Barony on the Waccamaw Neck in Georgetown, South Carolina. The course consisted of several intensive field trips to the 16,000-acre research reserve. Each field trip, through collaboration with the staff of Hobcaw Barony, is simultaneously an educational immersion and in-depth photographic documentation into the history and natural landscapes of Hobcaw Barony. 

Study Abroad

Visual Arts students gain valuable experience with discipline-specific study abroad opportunities. Past programs have included collaborating with students in China on an international exhibition, working on-site in Greece to reconstruct ancient architecture, studying street photography in London and Paris, and exploring art crime and the destruction of cultural heritage in the Eastern Mediterranean. Students can study abroad during CCU’s month-long Maymester term, or for an entire semester. Scholarships are available. For more information, visit CCU’s Center for Global Engagement to find out more about faculty-led Study Abroad programs at Coastal.

Student Careers

Visual Arts majors have interned at the Burroughs & Chapin Art Museum, Carolina Conservation, Brookgreen Gardens, Penland School of Craft, the New York Print Institute, as well as corporations, small businesses, entertainment venues, and non-profits from South Carolina to New York City.