Visual and Performing Arts Program Opportunities for UArts Students

Welcome, UArts Students!

University of the Arts Majors	Loyola University Maryland Majors of Interest
Acting - BFA	Performing Arts with Theatre concentration - B.A.
Art (Interdisciplinary) - BFA	Visual Arts with InterArts concentration or Interdisciplinary Studies - B.A.
Directing, Playwriting & Production - BFA	Performing Arts with Theatre concentration - B.A.
Fine Art - BFA	Visual Arts with Studio Art concentration - B.A.
Musical Theater - BFA	Performing Arts (Comprehensive) - B.A.
Photography - BFA	Visual Arts with Photography concentration - B.A.

Undergraduate Admission Information

Visual Arts

The Visual Arts program at Loyola University Maryland provides an intensive course of study in the creation, discussion, dissemination, and application of visual arts practice in contemporary society.

Students in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at Loyola University Maryland do more than master their discipline. Through the University’s core educational program and robust interdisciplinary opportunities, they learn how to apply their creative practice to many different fields while also engaging with larger issues and ideas relevant to contemporary society.

Within the Visual Arts major, students have four paths of study:

• Studio Art, in which students build an interdisciplinary artistic practice with a slate of classes ranging from life drawing, landscape, and printmaking, to digital art, mixed media, and public art.
• Photography, which while rooted in fine art practices, provides an array of technical, conceptual, and thematic courses designed to develop and nurture student’s talents across disciplinary bounds: from commercial and editorial to photojournalism, portraiture and historic practices.
• Art History, which involves the study of the history of art from the West and from other traditions and incorporates insights learned from studio and photography course work.
• InterArts, an interdisciplinary track that allows students to combine elements of Studio Art, Photography and Art History in a personalized course of study allowing them to create the work most meaningful to their interests.

Visual Arts maintains a range of studio facilities, including

• Multiple painting/drawing studios
• Graphic design studio
• 3D design and clay space
• Digital photography labs with large-format printing capabilities
• Analog and historic practice photographic darkrooms
• Photographic lighting studio
• Printmaking studio

In addition to our core offerings above, the Visual Arts program also participates in Loyola University’s Interdisciplinary Studies program, which allows students to combine two participating majors within Loyola College of Arts and Sciences into an interdisciplinary degree of their design. Recent Visual Arts pairings have included:

• Visual Arts & Digital Media (Communication and Media)
• Visual Arts & Biology
• Visual Arts & Psychology
• Visual Arts & History
• Visual Arts & Writing

As a member institution of the Baltimore Student Exchange Program, students are also eligible to take specialized studio courses at MICA (Maryland Institute College of the Arts), Johns Hopkins University, Towson, and other regional institutions.

Performing Arts

The Theatre program prepares students for the rigorous demands of working in the professional theatre and/or further study on the graduate level. Required coursework is designed to expose students to all aspects of the collaborative process – acting, directing, designing, and theatre history. Plays are taught not as literature but as blueprints for theatrical production.

Students at Loyola may complete a major in performing arts with a theatre concentration, an interdisciplinary major, a major in performing arts with a comprehensive concentration (combining theatre and music, perfect for musical theatre), a minor in theatre, or take theatre courses as electives. All LUM students are invited to participate in our theatrical performances – on or backstage - regardless of their major or minor.

Complementing our program’s coursework in acting, directing, production, design, history, and stagecraft is participation in our robust 5-production theatrical season. There is no pre-casting and no exclusion of first-year students. We are committed to mounting a wide range of plays and musicals, exposing students to a wide variety of dramatic literature and a variety of production styles. At Loyola, you will gain valuable experience for your growth as a theatre artist.

The Theatre Program at Loyola builds on the long standing tradition of Jesuit involvement in the theatre. In the contemporary sense, this means a dedication to cura personalis: care for the whole person. Through the teaching of theatre, Loyola seeks to produce well-rounded students able to synthesize theory and practice, body and mind, interpretation and action.

Contact Us

Visual Arts

Until July 21: Barnaby Nygren, associate professor of art history, department chair of visual and performing arts 
BRNygren@loyola.edu 
410-617-2885

After July 21: Jon Malis, associate professor of photography, department chair of visual and performing arts 
jdmalis@loyola.edu 
410-617-2556

Performing Arts

Natka Bianchini, associate professor of performing arts, theatre area head 
nbianchini@loyola.edu