In all cultures, both ancient and modern, art has been a primary means of interpreting and expressing the human experience. Making art at Knox involves a rigorous investigation into how the visual language organizes thoughts, feelings, memories, and perceptions into dynamic and expressive visual form.

Knox offers a major in studio art and minors in five specific areas—ceramics, painting, photography, sculpture and printmaking. This allows students of all disciplines the opportunity to complement their primary area of interest with focused study in a media-specific area.

The Program
The major in studio art gives a thorough education in the traditions of twentieth-century drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramics and sculpture. In addition to extensive studio courses, the major covers the history of art and its role in contemporary society.

The introductory two-term sequence, called Theory and Techniques of Studio Art, focuses on developing the fundamentals of visual language. The major culminates in Open Studio and the Senior Show, immersing the student in building and exhibiting a body of work.

The minors in ceramics, painting, photography, sculpture and printmaking each have a strong foundation in the basic requirements of an art major, as well as in-depth experiences in one of the department's program areas, ensuring that each student has a broad understanding of the visual language and is able to articulate visual ideas.

Resources
Knox offers modern, spacious, well-equipped studios and superior art history resources—centralized in the Ford Center for the Fine Arts. Studios have 24-hour access for painting, drawing, printmaking, ceramics and sculpture. Individual work areas are available for advanced students. The printmaking studio has numerous presses and a complete range of relief and intaglio equipment. The ceramics studio has four kilns and ample supplies and equipment. Darkrooms available to photography students are located in the Umbeck Science-Mathematics Center.

Knox College Special Collections include the Famulener Collection of prints and drawings by old and modern masters—a valuable resource for all art students. The art department archives house award-winning student work, which is exhibited on a rotating basis throughout the campus.

Gallery in the Ford Center for the Fine Arts  

Many art history classes meet in the "Round Room," designed specifically for art lectures and the viewing of Knox's collection of more than 20,000 slides.
 
In addition, the collection of art books in Seymour Library has been carefully built with an eye to current and historical movements.