This major is a deep immersion in creative expression. You will expand your perspective, build your technique, and find your own artistic voice.

Develop your talents and live your passion

In small classes, you’ll work side-by-side with talented artists who love to teach. You’ll study the subtleties of painting and drawing, deepen your knowledge of art history, and practice your hand at printmaking, design, photography and sculpture. In a curriculum deeply rooted in the liberal arts, you’ll sharpen your critical thinking skills and gain a new understanding of the broader society and culture. You’ll learn to present your work effectively, to discuss it intelligently, and to communicate visually with refinement and impact. This major will prepare you for a meaningful career and for lifelong intellectual competence.

More ways to learn, on campus and beyond

Practical, hands-on experience is built into the curriculum. Our internships draw on Chicago’s lively gallery scene and world-class museums. We make our connections your connections, so you can test drive your dream job in the real world. You can combine academic study with compassionate service to people in need, in the Chicago area or around the world. We encourage you to take full advantage of the university’s outstanding study abroad program. Many art history students spend a summer in Florence, the center of the Italian Renaissance, taking studio courses in photography or drawing. It’s a perfect combination for art students.

We encourage you to complete a minor or second major in a complementary field. You can choose from among 45 minors and more than 60 majors, including business, communications, fashion design, film studies, informatics, and psychology. If you plan to teach grade school or high school, you can combine your painting major with the secondary and K-12 education major. Offered by our excellent School of Education, the program includes a semester of student teaching. The art department offers minors in art history, graphic design, photo-cinema and sculpture.

Alyssa Davis

Painting and Drawing Graduate

“I went to Florence for a month to study drawing and literature. On the weekends we traveled all over Italy, to places like Venice, Rome and Pompeii. It was just an amazing experience.”

Our campus is an art student’s natural habitat

You’ll take classes in our Digital Media Center, which features large-screen iMacs, a photo lightbox, flatbed and film scanners, and comfortable spaces for faculty and student collaboration. You’ll also enjoy ready access to spacious painting and drawing studios, digital photo labs and traditional darkrooms, a woodshop for ceramics and sculpture, and printmaking studios with great natural light. The O’Connor Art Gallery, steps away from our classrooms and studios in Lewis Hall, exhibits the work of contemporary artists of national renown who will introduce you to innovative movements, strategies and techniques. It is also the site of the art department’s annual juried student show and senior thesis exhibitions.

You can apply for grant funding to support your creative work. The university awards funding on a competitive basis that enables students to complete original research or creative work or travel to academic and professional conferences across the U.S. It’s all part of URSCI—the Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Investigations Program—a distinctly Dominican initiative. URSCI also will give you a chance to present your work at a campus expo in April.

Kelsey Wilcoxon

Painting and Drawing Graduate

“Dominican’s campus was a huge draw for me. It is absolutely beautiful, a special environment for learning. The campus even inspired my art.”

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