Fine Arts Studio Program (BFA, diploma)

Our focus is on preparing students for a successful career in the arts, at a time when creativity, critical thinking, and complex problem solving are in greatest demand.

Alumni of our programs have gone on to thriving careers as visual artists, curators, designers, art historians, gallerists, educators, arts administrators, cultural workers, and many other professions in media and technology.

Faculty and staff

Staff and Faculty members at the School of Art are among Canada's most highly respected artists and art historians.

Learn new concepts and techniques from SOA scholars, instructors and technicians, and integrate their feedback into your own artistic and scholarly practice.

Meet our faculty and staff

School of Art facilities

Our wide-ranging facilities include bright and spacious painting, design and drawing studios, a large-format digital print shop, expansive darkroom and wet lab spaces, a microscopy lab–possibly unique in Canada, extensive sculpture fabrication facilities, comprehensive ceramics area with a built wood-fired kiln, MAC lab and private editing suites, a sound stage, and print media studio equipped for a broad range of print and papermaking processes. All available to support student creativity.

The UM Architecture/Fine Arts Library houses one of the largest collections on art, architecture, design and planning in Canada. The SoA Art History Resource Room has its own rich collection of journals and books as well as functioning as a hub for art history students. The Patricia Bovey Print Archives houses a collection reaching back to 1950 when the SoA joined the UM, and is an extraordinary resource for studying the medium. The UM Special Collections houses an extensive collection of rare books and archival material relevant to art and architectural research.

Winnipeg’s arts community

The School of Art at UM holds a central place in Winnipeg’s creative community. Be inspired and informed by exploring exhibitions in the city’s many galleries, and make connections that you’ll maintain long after graduating.

Exhibitions and events

With its own extensive collection and a more than 50-year archive of past shows, the School of Art Gallery is a hub of artistic expression on the Fort Garry campus.

The Student Gallery provides a space to exhibit your own work, curate your own shows (we offer intermediate and advanced courses in curatorial studies) and consider the work of your friends and colleagues at the school. 

Getting involved

There are plenty of ways to get involved as a School of Art student. Student groups and out-of-town field trips are great ways to get to know your cohort.

Guest lectures and demonstrations from visiting scholars and artists bring outside perspectives and insights.

Studio and research assistantships, and gallery internships can provide some extra income while doing the work you love.  

As a School of Art student, you have the option to pursue a multidisciplinary focus, or you can choose to emphasize one or more of these media specializations:

• ceramics
• drawing
• graphic design
• painting
• performance
• photography
• print media
• sculpture
• video

Ceramics

Students at the School of Art receive instruction in functional pottery, ceramic sculpture, and installation, with attention paid to ceramic history and current discourse. Students learn wheel throwing, hand building, mould making and slip casting, clay and glaze chemistry, along with firing in electric, soda, and wood kilns.

Drawing

Drawing enhances the ability to see the visual world with heightened insight and awareness. In basic to advanced drawing courses, students integrate observation and perception with concepts and imagination. Students develop an ability to focus, increase visual sensitivity, and use drawing skills to the best expression of their imagination.

Graphic design

In the context of information growth and technology, graphic design functions at the crossroads of creativity, communication and business. Its traditions of typography and visual metaphor date back hundreds of years, while digital technology and the exponential growth of the internet open new possibilities in communication networks and interface design. Topics incorporated into the study of graphic design may include semiotics, digital technology, Web design, marketing, typography, and illustration.

Painting

In spacious studios, students explore both traditional and contemporary approaches to painting. Projects may incorporate oil, acrylic, wax or water-based paint as well as other media or installation concepts. Formal language, degrees of abstraction, aesthetic and colour theory, and professional practice are among the specialized knowledge and skills taught.

Performance

Introductory and advanced performance art studios offer students the opportunity to explore the formal language of the body as a mode of critical art expression. Live action, performance-based installation, as well as interactive and relational modes are contextualized through historical and contemporary references. Performance art’s relation and intersection with other mediums and artistic practices further expand students’ artistic vocabulary.

Photography

Students gain a thorough understanding of the technical and formal aspects of photography and have access to photographic equipment, black and white and colour darkrooms, digital editing labs, and professional digital printing facilities. In advanced studios, students have the opportunity to further develop their personal imagery while gaining critical insight into historical and contemporary photographic practices.

Print media

In print media students explore both traditional and experimental processes involving intaglio, lithography, relief, and silkscreen. Contemporary print media involves a wide variety of mediums and approaches, from traditional drawing-based methods used for intaglio such as line etching, aquatint, softgrounds, and collographs, to newer techniques such as photocopy transfers and computer-generated images used in lithography. Hand-made papers and other materials extend the expressive possibilities.

Sculpture

Three-dimensional exploration is approached through various materials such as wood, plaster, clay, metal, resin, and fiberglass. Additive, reductive and other methods include modelling, carving, casting, welding, joining and assemblage, as well as process and time-based media. Individual explorations and collaborative experimentations include environmental scale works with site implications, interactive or performance pieces with props and structures, and outdoor events involving dramatic processes.

Video

Students in School of Art video courses develop individual and collaborative video or audio works that stand alone or become integrated in multi-media explorations, installations, interactive, or Web based productions. Topics range from scripting and story boarding to directing and producing. Conventional and non-conventional methods and materials are used. With access to a sound stage, production studio and digital video cameras, students learn lighting, audio recording (field and studio), and editing techniques.