Art
The MacMurray College Department of Art prepares students for careers in the visual arts. The Art Department offers a variety of program tracks in fine art, art history, art therapy, and commercial art. A student may choose a program track which best fits career goals and personal interests and abilities. Classes are small and students work directly with faculty.
Program of Study
Degree candidates take 39 hours in Art, including six hours of art history, and have an exhibition of their work during their senior year. Students may choose to concentrate in painting, ceramics, sculpture, photography, commercial art, art history, or art therapy. A student may earn a B.A. or a B.S. degree in Art. The B.A. degree includes the college language requirement and is especially suited to an art history concentration. The B.S. degree does not require language and is designed for the studio artist. Students interested in art but majoring in another area may opt to minor in art. A minor requires 24 hours, including Design, Drawing, Art History or an approved study tour, and five additional art courses.
Every semester students are given the opportunity to exhibit their work in an art exhibition that is open to the campus and to the public. Professional art exhibitions are scheduled each month in the Applebee Art Gallery on campus, as well as the historic Strawn Art Gallery in Jacksonville. In addition, each semester, art students accompany their professors on trips to major museums and art galleries in Chicago, St. Louis, and may enroll in a January tour, which focuses upon the art of Europe, Central America, the Southwest or New York City.
Facilities
The studio facilities are located in the new Putnam Center for the Arts. The facilities include a state-of-the-art digital art lab; an art history lecture room for 30 students; a painting studio for 20 students, equipped with easels, painting tables, student lockers, and painting storage; a design studio for 20 students, equipped with drafting tables; a ceramic studio for 20 students, equipped with potter's wheels and kilns; a sculpture studio for 15 students, equipped with modeling tools, hand tools, and shop power tools; a full-scale photography darkroom; and studio areas available for students. Art majors have 24-hour access to the studio facilities where they may work or study in comfort and privacy.
Internships
Each student may choose a career-related minor or enroll for credit in internships in local and area art businesses, which relate to his/her major interests or personal goals.
Examples:
- For students interested in Photography, internships are available in photojournalism with one of the area newspapers or internships working with a photographer, shooting portraits, events, and mastering darkroom techniques.
- For students who are interested in graphic design, internships are available with one of several full service design studios in the area.
- For students interested in fine art or art history/museum studies, internships are available with the Strawn Art Gallery, Illinois State Museum, or the Applebee Art Gallery.
- For students interested in Art Therapy, internships are available with local hospitals and mental health agencies.
Faculty
Khara Koffel, M.F.A.
Associate Professor of Art
B.A., Juniata College
M.A., University of Alabama
M.F.A., University of Alabama
Phone: 217-479-7092
Email: khara.koffel@mac.edu
