What Makes Montserrat’s BFA Program Unique?

Your Studio, Your Path: Designing Your Creative Education at Montserrat

When you choose an art school, you’re not just choosing a place to study; you’re choosing the structure that will define your skills. At Montserrat, our Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) programs are designed to be intensive, hands-on, and focused on helping you find your unique voice.

A Foundation of Exploration

Before you specialize, our Foundation Year allows you to sample a wide array of mediums, from traditional drawing and painting to 3D design and digital tools. This is your chance to explore everything without pressure. You may discover a love for Sculpture or realize your knack for Illustration, even if you thought you were only interested in Graphic Design.

Interdisciplinary Flexibility

The professional art world rarely fits neatly into one category. That’s why we encourage interdisciplinary work.

If you’re a Graphic Design major, you might still take a course in Photography to strengthen your visual sensibility. If you’re an Illustrator, you can incorporate 3D modeling skills learned in Animation. This flexibility makes you a more versatile and marketable artist upon graduation.

At Montserrat, your education is rigorous, personalized, and built around the idea that your passion can be your profession.

Our Core Concentrations

We offer specialized BFA concentrations that lead directly into creative industries:

• Animation: This concentration prepares students for dynamic careers in film, television, and web media by mastering the art of moving images, storytelling, and digital production.
• Art Education: By blending studio practice with pedagogy, this program leads directly to licensure and careers as inspiring educators in public schools, museums, and community organizations.
• Games, Toys, and Play: Focusing on the design of immersive experiences and tangible artifacts, this concentration equips students for the interactive entertainment industry through training in gameplay, digital prototyping, and fabrication.
• Graphic Design: Students in this program develop the visual communication and problem-solving skills necessary to secure roles in branding, advertising, and web design at major agencies and corporations.
• Illustration: This concentration trains students to create compelling imagery for diverse markets, directly leading to work in publishing, editorial media, concept art, and commercial advertising.
• Interdisciplinary Arts: Designed for the versatile creative, this program allows students to customize their skill set across multiple media, leading to unique careers as entrepreneurial artists, studio managers, and cultural innovators.
• Painting: Through rigorous studio practice and professional development, this concentration prepares graduates to sustain careers as exhibiting gallery artists, curators, and creative entrepreneurs.
• Photography, Video, and Film: This program focuses on lens-based storytelling and technical proficiency, leading students into professional roles in commercial photography, cinematography, video editing, and fine art.
• Printmaking: By mastering both traditional and contemporary printing technologies, graduates find direct pathways into careers as master printers, book artists, textile designers, and arts educators.
• Sculpture: This concentration develops expertise in three-dimensional fabrication and spatial design, leading to careers as professional sculptors, set designers, museum preparators, and custom fabricators.
• Writing & Visual Narratives: Blending literary arts with visual media, this program prepares storytellers for the publishing and entertainment industries, with a focus on graphic novels, comics, screenwriting, and scripted media.

See All BFA Concentrations and Curriculum Details.