Rowan’s Art Education program is well recognized at regional and national levels by professional teaching associations. We offer a strong curriculum based on the ever-changing/evolving research in our field. Students are introduced to the latest theory and innovative teaching practices involving: Lesson and curriculum design, differentiated instruction for special needs students; instruction in how to engage children with varieties of artistic media and, developing strategies for teaching aesthetics and art criticism, art history, and assessment.

Our fully equipped ceramics studio provides the laboratory for aspiring entrepreneurs, designers, and art educators to learn the skills necessary for success in meeting their own career goals. Courses in the ceramics area challenge students to design and execute projects that express their unique conceptual ideas. Students in the ceramic arts create exciting portfolios of work that demonstrates mastery of basic and advanced techniques and development of their personal style.

The art department offers illustration courses that enable students to develop a portfolio of work demonstrating their personal style and understanding of technical and conceptual skills necessary to compete in the job market. Assignments are presented in context of the fine arts, graphic design, web and print applications. They focus on relevant issues encouraging exploration of traditional and digital media, critical thinking skills such as the ability to communicate effectively in a professional environment, the ability to generate ideas and perform necessary research and open-minded discussion.

Students in painting discover personal aesthetics, developing technical expertise and creative artistic strengths to represent a consistent and cohesive expression in their work. Within the BFA program students explore their studio area in breadth and depth through a range of artistic problems. They develop bodies of work that are comprehensive and personal; as a result they are well-prepared for continuing into top MFA programs and for confidently exploring their independent work. The BA students (who often have a double major with Art and another area of study) who study painting also gain experience within the expressive medium. In the painting studio, part of the study focuses upon understanding one’s personal nature and independent vision and how one's personality shapes the creative process.

The sculpture area offers students an arena to develop technical competencies alongside critical and conceptual thinking. Introductory courses focus on the relationships between form and content through a variety of materials, processes and methodologies. Intermediate and advanced courses provide a platform for further development of students’ individual relationships with the creation of sculptural form and personal concepts. Interdisciplinary approaches to making are encouraged in the area and the history of art is taught as a tool to highlight works of historical and cultural importance. Our large studios include a fully equipped wood shop, metal fabrication/welding shop, plaster and mold making studio, and an indoor foundry for casting aluminum and bronze. The area also offers students the opportunity to utilize digital fabrication equipment such as a 40-watt epilog laser cutter and the 3D printing lab.