Why Study Art?
Why Study Art at Wheaton?
Experience the support of Christian artists as you relate your work to your faith. Develop a vision and artistic practice that integrates faith, creative and intellectual inquiry, and active response to the world.
All full-time faculty are educator/practitioners who work on a regional, national and international scale. Faculty and their respective specialties include:
- David J.P. Hooker: Ceramics, sculpture, art survey, creativity and design
- Joonhee Park: Film production, film theory, digital studio
- Jeremy Botts: Graphic design, creativity and design, letterpress and silkscreen printmaking, senior seminar
- Cherith Lundin: Painting, drawing, printmaking, art survey
- Kaye Lee Patton: Community art, drawing, painting
- Matthew Milliner: Byzantine and medieval art, Renaissance art, modern and contemporary art, Native American art
- Greg Halvorsen Schreck: Photography, documentary photography, digital photography
Fully equipped with the necessary spaces, equipment, and technology needed to flourish, Adams Hall allows our students to explore, experiment, and excel in art. Share your artistic creations with the campus community through all-student exhibitions, juried student shows, student-curated exhibitions, and senior exhibitions. Seniors are given their own studio space in preparation for a solo exhibition.
Wheaton’s close proximity to Chicago makes it easy to supplement your in-class learning with trips to the city to enjoy your FREE membership to the unparalleled Art Institute of Chicago (#1 rated museum in the world by Trip Advisor), as well as other nearby museums including the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Field Museum, the National Museum of Mexican Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography.
Joining Chicago’s vibrant art community means you’ll also have the opportunity to engage in conversation and critique with local, regional, and national visiting artists.
Chicago also offers the opportunity to visit buildings by acclaimed architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Frank Gehry, and Jeanne Gang. Students have the opportunity to field to perform field study of world-class modern architecture in Chicago, which is integrated into course offerings.
- Study off-campus: urban art with Wheaton-in-Chicago, visual storytelling with Wheaton-in-Korea, plus many other global opportunities
- The student-led Art Collective develops artistic activities for the benefit of the campus community
- Internships
What Will I Learn?
- Studio Art Major: Through hands-on practice, combined with historical, theoretical, theological, and critical dialogue, students learn the process of creating and thinking about art. Concentrate on one, or combine disciplines: ceramics, drawing, graphic design, new media, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture.
- Art History Major: Explore the unique intelligence of art in conveying human understanding and the prospects and pitfalls of visual theology in the global Christian tradition. Art history majors also engage in interdisciplinary exploration with Wheaton’s world-class archaeology program, in addition to Bible and theology, philosophy, and English.
- Community Art Major: Explore art’s powers of both healing and upheaval as it intervenes and interrupts business as usual from within local communities. This major includes an internship that leads you to consider local and global applications of community art principles.
The Art minor provides a focused introduction to selected art media, and gives you an opportunity to create art, cultivate creativity, and examine your major studies from the standpoint of the visual arts.
Consult the course catalog for full listing of current courses available in this field.
