Art Practice

The UC Berkeley Art Practice Department offers undergraduate and graduate programs in studio art, which provide firm grounding in basic techniques and principles while encouraging guided experimentation. Our curriculum is designed to expand students' creative, technical, and critical abilities across a range of artistic media and disciplines, and with the guidance of accomplished faculty.

We provide technical and conceptual training, with a primary focus on painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, digital photography, installation, performance, social practice, video, and selected courses offered in sound, animation, and game design. Art Practice majors are expected to round out the required studio courses with Art History and seminar classes. The department encourages an ethical, global scope, with a necessary emphasis on diversity of viewpoints and modes of practice. 

Art Practice seeks to graduate students with the necessary skills to have significant artistic and cultural impact, whether within the professional art world or through a range of other. creative fields, including as art directors, arts educators, and arts-related jobs with museums, galleries, arts management, design firms, publishing, and artists' organizations.

Course of Study Overview

Art Practice majors need to complete thirteen courses (five lower division and eight upper division). These include ten studio courses and three courses in art history. For more details, visit the undergraduate webpage: art.berkeley.edu/major.

The Honors Studio Program

Each semester the Honors Studio Program awards studios to nine senior Art Practice majors who show exceptional commitment and promise.

Senior Capstone Project

During senior year students take the required course ART 185 Senior Projects/Professional Practices and work toward a thesis exhibition in the Department's Worth Ryder Art Gallery. 

Applying to the Major

The Art Practice Department is a "high demand major" which means that not all students who apply to the major will be accepted. The portfolio submission is a competitive one and plays a significant role in the review process. Students are encouraged to submit their strongest work along with thoughtful written responses. 

Continuing undergraduates are encouraged to apply as early as possible as long as they have completed the prerequisites, and are not allowed to apply to the major past the beginning of junior year starting in Fall 2023. Seniors are not allowed to apply. Faculty review applications once per semester. Application deadlines can be found on the Art Practice website. 

In order to apply to the major, students must:

1. Have an overall GPA of 3.3.

2. Complete the R&C requirements.

3. Complete or be currently enrolled in: ART 8

4. Complete or be currently enrolled in one lower division studio (any)

5. Complete or be currently enrolled in one lower division History of Art course (any)

6. Submit an application and portfolio of 12 images (include work from UC Berkeley studio classes).

7. Submit a statement of intent answering two questions.