Art Major

Requirements for the Major in Art

The Art Major is intended to prepare highly motivated students for further work on a graduate or professional level. Students with a strong interest in the visual arts are encouraged to establish a solid foundation by taking art and art history courses early in their college career. In keeping with the goals of a liberal arts education, art majors are urged to explore a broad range of courses at Pomona. Courses in art taken at the other Claremont Colleges or at any other location, including study abroad courses must be approved by the department to count towards the major.

Aspiring art majors should establish a working relationship with an art advisor.

All art majors must take at least one art course from each of the disciplines offered. ART 190 PO  and ART 192 PO  will not count for this requirement. 

All courses for the Art Major must be taken for a letter grade.

1. Lower-division work: Four lower-division Art courses and ARHI 001B PO  .
2. Upper-division work: Four upper-division Art courses and an Art History elective course. Note that ART 190 PO  and ART 192 PO  are in addition to these five upper-division courses. A total of 13 courses are required for the art major.
3. Junior-Senior Joint Seminar (ART 190 PO ). Required in the fall of the junior and senior years. Covers topics of significance to the practice of contemporary artists and provides a forum to critique and give feedback to student majors of their own art production. Juniors who are abroad during the fall semester of their junior year will need to take an extra art class in lieu of ART 190 PO  during their junior or senior year.
4. Junior Exhibition. In the junior year, art majors are required to present an exhibition of a body of work. Students work toward the exhibition in consultation with their advisors.
5. Advanced Projects in Art (ART 192 PO ). An advanced seminar centered on the production of a body of work in preparation for the senior exhibition. Investigation will include readings, visiting artists and critique of ongoing projects. Mandatory for senior art majors.
6. Final Exhibition. All senior art majors must present an exhibition of their work as a final requirement of the degree. The progress of the senior project is guided and evaluated by the art advisor and members of the art faculty.

The artists who teach at Pomona College work closely with students to expand their creative and conceptual awareness and develop their own visual and technical abilities. Majors in art participate in a seminar during the fall semesters of their junior and senior years in which they (1) create a body of work of their own choosing; (2) read widely and discuss the theoretical concerns within contemporary art practice; (3) talk with visiting artists who show their work and the context in which their practice exists; (4) learn to write artists’ statements; and (5) document and publicize their work.