Art Department

Our contemporary world shares a common intellectual and physical culture that is significantly determined by the visual arts. Whether through the physical environment, information media, entertainment, or consumable products, the visual and design arts influence our beliefs, choices, and actions with increasing sophistication. The Taylor University Art Department, in conjunction with the broader liberal arts community, sees its purpose as the training of Christian professionals who are adept at reading this visual environment and engaging it creatively and redemptively.

It is evident that the visual arts are playing an increasingly significant role in our world today. We see this as a time of tremendous opportunity for the Christian community. The visual arts are significant not only for their communicative and expressive value, but because the creative impulse is central to our humanity reflecting the truth that we are made in the image of God, the ultimate creative agent, whose character is seen in His artwork, Creation. Human creativity is a gift we believe we should celebrate and enjoy, as well as put to good use.

The Art Department at Taylor University has four specific goals:

To provide undergraduate art majors with strong foundational skills that will prepare them, technically and intellectually, for success in graduate or advanced professional programs in the fine arts or the design professions.
To provide teacher training in art education (.pdf) for certification and instruction in primary and secondary schools.
To offer liberal arts students (.pdf) art courses which will enrich their comprehension of cultural issues.
To encourage our faculty to serve as role models by actively producing in their chosen field of the visual arts and by articulating how Christian faith, the visual arts and the current issues of our culture interrelate.