Build a Strong Portfolio through the Visual Arts Program

Written by
Topic

2-3 Minute read

The B.A. in Visual Art Studies is delivered by a diverse faculty of artists, academics, and art professionals active in both the local and international art scenes. The program offers a unique synthesis of art history, curatorial studies, and studio art, laying a solid foundation in the theory and practice of the visual arts. Students develop skills in the traditional art genres of drawing and painting combined with the new media, photography and film. By the time they leave, graduates will have experienced and understood the full spectrum of artistic creation, from theory to practice.

Class of 2024 graduate Anna Cook exemplifies the strong portfolio students can build at AAU:

Cook is inspired by the natural world and where it intersects and cohabits with the human world as well as religion. Her final project at AAU interrogated the Book of Revelation, the last in the Bible, where Armageddon and the ultimate destruction of the Earth is prophesied. Cook’s art explored the conflicted feelings she has with her own beliefs and the fact that “some Christians feel that the Second coming will precede environmental catastrophe, leading them to lack the urgency needed to address environmental issues.”

Img_7235
“The primary inspiration for the project is my concern that assuming one will be saved from the prophesied end of the world could lead to apathy about the state of the world today.” Cook incorporated both natural, organic and traditional materials in her paintings and drawings to create juxtaposition. Her methods also varied from adding organic matter to the canvas, using it for color, or stamping plants to make shapes that “would not have been achievable using only a paint brush.” – Cook
Copy of img_7240
“Portrait- Streak on the forehead to reflect Passover where lamb or other animal’s blood was put on doorways and on the sides of the doors. God struck down the firstborn male from every household in Egypt, but spared the homes with the blood on the doorposts (Exodus 12). During the Second Coming, Christ will appear with eyes like fire and with a sword coming from His mouth. I used ashes around the eyes and a dead flower in the place of the sword.” Oil on fabric, coffee grounds, ash, hydrangea flower" – Cook
Cook, anna grace. “angel covered with eyes,” 2024.
“Angel Eyes- Angels appear throughout Revelation and some are covered with eyes. One appears like a lion, one like a flying eagle, one like a man, and one like a horse. Each has six wings (Revelation 4). The star “Wormwood” falls from the sky.” Oil on canvas, pine needles" – Cook
Img_7241
“Hands- Adam and Eve’s hands reaching for the apples. I used charcoal so the hands could be seen through. This intends to reflect on the creation of Adam from dust, and the Fall of Man.” – Cook. – Charcoal, printed paper on canvas
Img_6241
Anna Cook