The Art Department is housed in the Fine Arts Building and contains the studios, classrooms, galleries and faculty offices for the art program. Adjacent is the University Museum, which has an excellent African and African-American art collection and also offers an extraordinary exhibition series and programs with guest artists.  The Art major has three interrelated yet distinctive sequences of study: Studio Art, Visual Art and Art Studies.  

•  The Studio Art concentration includes studies in Painting, Printmaking, Drawing and Ceramics
•  The Visual Communication concentration includes Computer Graphics, Advertising Design, Illustration, Type and Graphic Design.
•  The Art Education concentration enjoys full NCATE accreditation and is focused preparing students to be excellent teachers of art.

Students enrolled in these programs can choose Art History courses that range from Prehistoric times to the 21st Century. The Art Department also offers for non-majors throughout the university.

Why study art at North Carolina Central University
As a part of the College of Liberal Arts at NCCU, the Art Department offers all students opportunities for enriching their visual experiences. We are proud both of the depth and scope of our program.

Major fields of study include studio arts, visual communication and general art study. The art history offerings pay special attention  to African-American art history in a curriculum that is technically and conceptually integrated. Classes with low teacher-to-student ratios promote interaction between faculty and students and among the students themselves.

The Student Art Gallery, dedicated to individual and group exhibition of student art, enriches the art program. Throughout the academic year, students may exhibit new works of art to their peers, faculty and staff, the local and University community. Field trips to New York, Washington and Atlanta provide students with the opportunity to visit major museums and galleries. An annual Art Faculty Lecture series, visiting artists, and local and regional art exhibitions and competitions further augment the art program.

Students are encouraged to enter the annual juried student art-exhibition now known as the New Horizon at the NCCU Museum of Art as well as local and regional art exhibitions.  Numerous opportunities exist for Art students to travel and study abroad, particularly in Africa. 

At the core of our Liberal Arts curriculum are comprehensive Visual Arts, Art History, Art Education, and Art-Studies curricula. The department celebrates the artistic traditions of the past and encourages emerging artists to situate themselves in this cultural continuum. The Art History sequence brings the great masterworks and their creators to life, engaging students both visually and critically. We believe that artists, in addition to being visual communicators, must also be able to express their ideas as effective writers and speakers.

Every artist, regardless of medium, is a storyteller. Thus, the department's unique program of studies focuses not only on the fundamentals of writing, but also on the elements of narrative. In addition to these core sequence courses, students have the opportunity to choose from a wide range of subjects in the Humanities, Social Sciences, Sciences, and other studies.

We make special efforts to connect Art Department instruction with the broader Liberal Arts curriculum. Art majors specializing in fashion or interior design, for example, are encouraged to attend Theater Department productions and perhaps take a course to learn about costuming, set design and production work.  An illustrator might be steered toward Creative Writing, to learn how words and pictures interact in children's literature.  Graphic designers and students in imaging Photographers who learn the intricacy and properties of light while studying to create fantastic images via digital means, while students in video and film production in art history discover that Scorsese and Coppola are fans of Caravaggio. In Semiotics, graphic designers, and students in imaging decode symbols used in advertising, print media, and film. Marketing courses from our business school give artists the tools to promote and protect their work and to start their own businesses from the ground up. And the annual Study Abroad program in collaboration with international affairs and global studies allow student artists to finding inspiration in the breathtaking experiences in the Caribbean Islands, Europe, and Africa.

The Art Department strives to nurture the entire artist, and the Liberal Arts program is an integral component in this process.

Art is a necessary component of a complete life; it is an essential element of a quality liberal arts education. As such the primary objective of the Art discipline is to provide opportunities for all students to develop aesthetic awareness. The study of art and artists is a continuing search for ultimate meaning. Therefore, a major in art is offered for students who posses the interest, potential and motivation for creative production. The major is a preparation for graduate study, gainful employment and life-long learning.

Concentration in Studio Art, Visual Communication, Art Education and Art Studies matriculate with a BA, degree from the Art Department. Study abroad programs in art history and studio art are offered in the summers in Ghana and Ethiopia. The NCCU Museum of Art provides on-site opportunities to study original works from its collections of African and African-American Art.