Art and Art History
Graduate with a BFA or BA degree focusing on art history, studio art, or photography and be well prepared for a successful career in the creative economy.
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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Graduate with a BFA or BA degree focusing on art history, studio art, or photography and be well prepared for a successful career in the creative economy.
Recognized as one of the top undergraduate programs in the Northwest, the BFA in graphic design places graduates in top design studios and graduate programs around the country.
Here, you'll find a talented and creative community with the knowledge and expertise to challenge our students to develop the skills they need to become successful musicians and professional educators.
The BA or BS in theatre is a unique, hands-on learning environment that prepares students for a variety of careers in theatre and performing arts.
Student Focus
In January 2024, students of Julia Bradshaw’s photography class and Jennifer Richter’s poetry class were instructed to listen to Jonathan Newman’s 2009 wind ensemble composition “My Hands Are a City,” and to take inspiration from the piece as they wrote original poetry and took photographs around campus.
CLA Leadership
It’s exactly 5:35 p.m. on a cloudy Friday and the members of the Oregon State University Marching Band are packed into two tunnels on the north side of Reser Stadium.
This is a game day – kickoff for the Beavers football game against Utah is about a half-hour away – and everything for the next 25 minutes or so hinges on precise timing. The band’s pregame show – a staple of Beaver home games – clocks in at just about 11 minutes. This game is being nationally televised, so time matters there as well.
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Alumni Focus
After graduating from Oregon State University with honors, a bachelor’s degree in graphic design, and an eagerness to create, Molly von Borstel worked her way to become a senior designer at Faceout Studio – a company that “illuminates unique stories and ideas with meaningful and beautiful visual expression through custom book design.”
Von Borstel arrived at OSU in 2015 from a school in southern Oregon and felt drawn to graphic design early in her college career. She entered the pre-graphic design program and began her track towards professional design school, which she was accepted into in 2016.
Student Focus
In June 2023, the Oregon State University Chamber Choir toured Europe as part of the American Celebration of Music Concert Series.
The tour began in Leipzig, Germany, where Johann Sebastian Bach lived and composed from 1723-1750. The choir then traveled to Prague, Czech Republic, known as "the city of a hundred spires." From there, Vienna, Austria, where they performed in the historic St. Stephens Cathedral. The final days of the tour took place in Salzburg, Austria, famous as Mozart's birthplace and the setting for the film "The Sound of Music."
SVPDA Cross-program collaborations
In winter 2023, musicians and artists in the School of Visual, Performing and Design Arts collaborated to produce "Garden of Dreams," a project inspired by David Maslanka's monumental work, "A Child's Garden of Dreams."
Students in Art 2D and 3D Core Studio produced paintings and wearable art that were projected during a live performance by the Oregon State University Wind Ensemble on February 28, 2023.
CLA Leadership
Peter Swendsen, a cutting-edge composer and accomplished academic administrator, has been hired as the Patricia Valian Reser Chair and Director of Visual, Performing and Design Arts for Oregon State University’s College of Liberal Arts (CLA). Swendsen comes to Corvallis from Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio, where he served as senior associate dean of academic affairs, professor of computer music and digital arts, and co-chair of musical studies.
“We’re excited to welcome Peter as the director of our School of Visual, Performing and Design Arts,” said Larry Rodgers, dean of the college. “He’s not only an experienced, innovative administrator who’s helped lead one the country’s most distinguished conservatories, he’s a nationally prominent musician in his field of computer music.
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Faculty Focus
They say that practice makes perfect, and while nobody is perfect, being passionate about and dedicated to her daily art practice probably makes OSU Art Instructor Anna Fidler a better artist and a better teacher. As a single Mom, a university instructor and a successful working artist with an in-home studio not far from campus, the boundaries of Fidler’s personal and professional life may be muddled, but her quietly calm and happy demeanor gives a sense that she’s found a balance. So what’s her secret?
Student Focus
“We’ll fight for dear old OSU, for an OSU man am I” – Meistersingers Medley
In 1898, Oregon State’s first band director, Captain Harold Beard, arranged an ode to the then-named Oregon Agricultural College. When the university’s name changed, so did some of the words, but the traditional tune was preserved, and Beard’s legacy lived on in the choral form of the Meistersingers Medley. Now, Dr. Steven Zielke, director of choral studies at OSU, is altering the words again to create a more gender-inclusive message within the anthem.
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Faculty Focus
There’s a quote in “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’Brien’s classic novel about the Vietnam War, that Evan Baden likes very much, in part because it says something important about Baden’s photography.
Here’s the quote: "Fiction is the lie that helps us understand the truth."
donation innovation
“The Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts will serve as a unique and dynamic education and performance center and will be a showcase destination for the visual, musical, theater and cultural arts for students, faculty, campus visitors and Oregonians,” said Larry Rodgers, dean of OSU’s College of Liberal Arts.
A lead gift of $25 million for the complex has been provided by Patricia Reser. Additional gifts include a $2 million commitment from the family of the late Lynne Detrick of West Linn to build a new 500-seat concert hall to offer a high-caliber venue for both listeners and performers, Rodgers said. The OSU Foundation continues to seek philanthropic support for the center, and OSU will also seek state bonding from the 2020 Oregon Legislature to help support the project. read more >
