Major: Bachelor of Arts

The Department of Art & Art History’s year-long Honors Program allows selected Art Practice majors to develop a self-initiated body of thesis artwork throughout their senior year in parallel with their regular work for the Art Practice major.  The body of thesis artwork students propose and develop is expected to deepen and elaborate on work and themes they have begun to explore in previous courses or independent work. This thesis artwork is exhibited in an honors exhibition in the early Spring of the senior year. Students also produce a written thesis paper contextualizing and documenting this work. 

The Honors Program is open to Art Practice majors in their senior year who are studying on campus for the entire year. Admission to the Honors Program is decided by the Art Practice faculty via a competitive application process in Spring of the junior year. Completion of the Honors Program is noted on the student’s diploma and transcript.

Participation in the Honors Program requires 10 units of honors-specific coursework dedicated to producing the thesis artwork, exhibition, and written thesis. Up to 4 units of this honors coursework may count towards one of the four upper-level elective courses required for the major. The Honors Program requires a minimum of 71 total credits, an additional 6 units beyond the 65-unit requirement for the Art Practice major.

While Art Practice honors students are expected to work independently to develop artwork for the thesis exhibition, they are supported via ongoing one-on-one tutorials with a faculty thesis mentor (which comprise 3 of the required 10 honors units) and via a year-long honors seminar with other honors students and the Director of the Honors Program (which comprise the remaining 7 required units). In the seminar, students engage with their honors cohort through critiques, visiting artists meetings, and other activities determined by the Honors Director. 

During the Honors Program, to support honors students in producing their thesis work, students are typically given access to studio space in a shared honors studio, a materials stipend, and ongoing access to McMurtry Building area-specific studios (photography, sculpture, digital media, printmaking, painting) for which they have received training.

Admission to the Honors Program

To be eligible to apply for honors:

• Students must be in residence on campus all of their senior year. 

• Students must have completed ARTSTUDI 101 - Foundations I, ARTSTUDI 102 - Foundations II, ARTHIST 5 - Art & Power, and at least five Art Practice classes by the end of junior year. 

  • Four must be completed by the end of Winter Quarter junior year when the honors application is submitted. 

Detailed instructions for applying to the Honors Program during the Spring Quarter of junior year are listed on the Department of Art & Art History’s website opens in a new tab. 

Early in their junior year, students considering honors should contact Student Services to review the requirements and express interest in the program so that they will be notified of that year’s specific application deadlines and submission process.

The application includes a portfolio, project proposal, study plan, unofficial transcript, and signature of a full-time art practice faculty member who has advised the student on their honors application project proposal. 

Students are selected for the Honors Program based on the strength of their application portfolio and project proposal. Students accepted into the Honors Program have illustrated their ability to work independently and rigorously on their artwork, participate productively in group critiques, and work respectfully in a shared studio space. The body of work students propose and develop for an honors exhibition is expected to deepen and elaborate on work and themes they have begun to explore in previous courses or independent work. 

Honors Program Requirements

The Art Practice program requires students to develop a sustained studio practice across Fall and Winter Quarters in order to generate a body of thesis artwork approved by their Honors Faculty Mentor and the Honors Director. In the Spring Quarter, this body of thesis work must be successfully installed and exhibited in the thesis exhibition and documented and analyzed through the student’s written thesis document. Students must maintain an A- in all honors course components every quarter to achieve honors on the student’s transcript.

A minimum A- grade in both honors course components (ARTSTUDI 297, 297S) must be achieved each quarter to continue in honors each quarter.

Students must also pass a faculty review at the end of Fall Quarter with the Honors Director and their Faculty Mentor to continue in the Honors Program through Winter and Spring Quarters

• Artwork presented at the review must represent significant progress towards the student’s proposed thesis artwork.

• Students who do not pass this review will continue as regular Art Practice majors, but not as part of the Honors Program. In this case, credits obtained for the fall Honors Faculty Tutorial and Honors Seminar will count as regular elective credits towards the Art Practice major.

Continuing in honors past Winter Quarter is conditional upon the student’s body of thesis work being ready for the honors exhibition, as evaluated by the Honors Director, the student’s Faculty Mentor, and the Gallery Director.

During the Spring Quarter, students must successfully participate in the honors exhibition, with work approved by the Honors Director and their Faculty Mentor, and delivered and installed in a professional manner with the direction of the Gallery Director.

The written thesis, including multiple iterative drafts, must be successfully completed and submitted by the deadline set by the Honors Director in the Spring Quarter.