Department of Art

Student Art Alliance

Open to students in any art program, the SAA promotes the visual arts within the community. Weekly meetings bring members together to collaborate on art projects that improve the understanding of art and opportunities for local involvement.

Join the Student Art Alliance

Midwest Press

Midwest Press members attend meetings, create exhibition opportunities and review national conferences with the goal of bringing printmaking to the USD community.

AIGA USD Student Group

AIGA brings design to the world, and the world to designers. As the profession’s oldest and largest professional membership organization for design—with more than 70 chapters and more than 15,000 members—we advance design as a professional craft, strategic advantage, and vital cultural force. 

AIGA Student Group at USD is very active student organization that involve the regional to state level activities and workshop conjunction with AIGA South Dakota Chapter. Students help on community design projects and collaborate with regional professional designers to build their professional skills. Members must hold AIGA membership and attend weekly meetings. 

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Sculpture Culture

Sculpture students attend meetings, create exhibition opportunities, attend national and regional conferences/workshops and visit museums and exhibitions. The club creates works to fund chosen projects and strives to bring sculpture to the USD and Vermillion communities, while creating a community of their own.

Earn your art history credits over spring break! Offering more opportunities for travel, the study abroad program exposes you to cultural experiences that can transform your view on art while transforming your life. Our students have participated in exhibitions and faculty-led programs around the world, and our USD alumni help make those experiences affordable.

New York City - Spring Break

Consider a trip to New York City to experience art on display as it was meant to be experienced. Immerse yourself in the culture, broadway shows, cuisine and popular architectural masterpieces and museums such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET), The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of Art, The Morgan Library & Museum, 9/11 Memorial & Museum, Christie's Auction House, Trinity Church, St. Paul's Chapel & Graveyard, Harlem Museum, The Frick Collection, Cathedral of St. John the Devine, VOLTA New York, Brooklyn Museum and more.  

Italy

Discover the art and architecture of Italy over spring break while earning your art history credits. Study abroad tours are an experience of a lifetime, giving you a chance to enhance your coursework through cultural immersion. Explore sites in Rome such as the Colosseum, Vatican Museum, St. Pater's Basilica and Sistine Chapel. Additional stops historically have included Assisi, Florence, Ravenna and don't forget Venice for your gondola ride!

As a fine art student at USD, you will have a variety of opportunities to share your work with others both on campus and within the community to build a robust professional portfolio of your work. 

Portfolio Reviews

Annual student reviews are part of our ongoing process of evaluation and testing of the MFA program. This method of periodic assessment is strongly supported by the National Association of Schools of Arts and Design, the school’s accreditation agency to provide the entire faculty and students the opportunity to review, critique and assess student work during their years of study. 

These reviews support the art department in its own self-evaluation by gauging strengths and weaknesses in its curricula, teaching methods and program objectives. Additionally, the reviews foster student self-evaluation through comparison with the work of fellow students, providing a basis for increasing critical insight and analysis among students and between students and faculty. Most importantly, these reviews serve as a checkpoint work test of each student’s ability and potential to successfully continue in a degree program.

Gallery Attractions

The University Art Galleries consists of three galleries, located throughout the University of South Dakota's campus. The galleries educate the university and community through rotating contemporary and historical art exhibitions, artist lectures, research programs and campus events. 

• John A. Day Gallery
• Oscar Howe Gallery
• Gallery 110
• Permanent Collection

Northern Plains Indian Art Residency 

The Northern Plains Indian Artist Residency program guides emerging and mid-career Native artists to integrate new media, methodologies or technologies with traditional Native arts practices, history and culture.

Oscar Howe Curatorial Fellowship

The Oscar Howe Curatorial Fellowship is a semester-long fellowship program for Native students enrolled at USD who are interested in learning how to curate Native American art exhibitions. Each spring, two fellows will be selected to produce a professional, museum-quality exhibition using the Oscar Howe permanent art collection

USD offers a range of scholarships to recognize and reward outstanding students for their accomplishments and potential. The Department of Art has a wide variety of scholarships for incoming students and returning art majors, which are awarded through applications from portfolio reviews, conducted by art faculty. Incoming students will submit a portfolio of original artwork. Incoming art majors' portfolios double as scholarship portfolios, and scholarships are offered based on excellence in artistic merit and/or academic success. The portfolio reviews allow prospective students and university art faculty members to discuss the direction of student work and evaluate applicants for scholarships and program placement. All students will apply for a general art scholarship.  

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