Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)
Signature Courses
Artist and Athlete Choreography & Performance
Reading & Writing about Natural History
Film & Literature: Sense of Place
Poetry Workshop
Short Shorts: Adventures in Flash Prose
The Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Arts & Letters offers students three 16-course competence options: Creative Writing, Visual Arts, and Interdisciplinary Arts & Letters. (The Interdisciplinary Arts & Letters competence is designed for Arts & Letters students who want to emphasize the interrelatedness of 2-3 artistic disciplines.
Creative Writing
The Creative Writing competence is designed for students with excellent writing potential who want the opportunity to deepen their literary experience and develop their skills for (1) personal enrichment, (2) preparation for graduate school, and/or (3) preparation for a professional career in writing, editing, or teaching. Prescott College offers workshops in poetry, creative nonfiction, memoir, and place-based writing as well as courses in American, World, and Cross-disciplinary literature. In this hands-on, interdisciplinary area of study, students work with published writers to hone their creative and critical writing skills. In creative writing workshops, students generate original poetry and prose, and in addition to learning to give and receive constructive criticism, they learn to use feedback to polish their work. In literature courses, students explore both classic and contemporary American works as well as works from other cultures. All of our writing and literature courses encourage students to become careful readers and informed writers, able to effectively analyze and synthesize material, able to appreciate diversity, and able to engage in discourse with the wider world community.
Visual Arts
The Visual Arts competence is designed for students who want the opportunity to deepen their experience with visual communication and develop their skills for (1) personal enrichment, (2) preparation for graduate school, and/or (3) preparation for a professional career in the production of art, curation, teaching, or design. Prescott College offers a variety of courses in drawing and painting, photography, sculpture and environmental art. We provide an environment within which students transform ideas and concepts into objects and visual experiences. Through a curriculum designed to introduce the importance, impact and influence of visual arts on the individual and society, students receive hands-on instruction in a variety of media, while developing a critical understanding of their art practice within contemporary visual culture. All of our courses cultivate a sense of community through the common experience of the creative process. Our studio courses encourage students to refine creative thought and apply acquired knowledge and skill to the making of images and objects as well as interdisciplinary and experimental works.
Interdisciplinary Arts & Letters
The Interdisciplinary Arts & Letters competence is designed for Arts & Letters students who want to emphasize the interrelatedness of the artistic disciplines. This competence is ideal for renaissance students drawn to many different artistic disciplines—creative writing, visual arts, and performance. This interdisciplinary concentration is really at the heart of our approach to aesthetics. We believe that all the arts inform and complement one another, and that the study of many genres and media vitalizes development as an artist, writer, and liberally educated student.
