Fine Arts teaches the how and the why of making. The how involves a wide-range of material and digital skills from ceramics, painting, print media, and photography, to cutting-edge technologies such as 3D printing, digital imagery and DSLR filmmaking. The why helps students develop criticality in visual culture—a rigour that hones an understanding of what things look like and mean within the current global condition. Our faculty is outstanding, and students often work with them one-on-one.
![Students in an art class, seated at easels drawing fabric.](/fine-arts/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/uploads/images/img_4650crop500x300.jpg?itok=D0FWNMM1)
![Half opened sketchbook with written notes and a drawing of Big Ben clock in London.](/fine-arts/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/uploads/images/visual-culture-banner_500x300.jpg?itok=LwRsM7r3)
![View from above of an artist's studio with the artist working on a painting](/fine-arts/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/uploads/images/eryns-studio_500x300.jpg?itok=-dVhx-4a)
Undergraduate students major or minor in Studio and/or Visual Culture; they can also participate in co-op through Waterloo’s Arts and Business program with a Fine Arts major. Graduate students pursue a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) with its unique Keith and Win Shantz International Research Scholarship.
Find out more
To find out more about our department, follow any of the links above or in the main menu. Our faculty and staff are also happy to talk with you via email, over the phone, or in person to answer any questions you might have.
For undergraduate inquiries contact our undergraduate administrator, Brett Roberts, or our undergraduate chair, Bojana Videkanic. The Fine Arts undergraduate office is in East Campus Hall room 1206.
For graduate inquiries contact our graduate chair, Cora Cluett.
The Department of Fine Arts stands in support of our Black, Indigenous, POC, and LGBT+ students and supports the Faculty of Arts’ commitment to doing better.
News
Fine Arts student work at the Region of Waterloo Library Ayr branch.
A Fine Arts and Region of Waterloo partnership provides an opportunity to display student work at the Region of Waterloo Library’s Ayr branch.
Fine Arts faculty member Xuan Ye is part of the 4th Kamias Triennial exhibition.
Fine Arts faculty member Xuan Ye is part of the 4th Kamias Triennial group exhibition being held in Toronto July 4-29.
"pieces of you are pieces of me" artist talk
"pieces of you are pieces of me" artist talk, a conversation between Lois Andison and Bojana Videkanic at the Olga Korper Gallery on Saturday, July 6 at 2 pm,
Events
UWAG exhibition openings, featuring the work of Sadko Hadžihasanović and Emily Neufeld
The fall exhibitions at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery (UWAG) open on September 12 with the work of artists Sadko Hadžihasanović and Emily Neufeld.
(On)going - an exhibition of the work of 2nd year Grads, August 28 to September 15
Join us for the first exhibition of the new school year featuring the second-year MFA students.
Life drawing
Free life drawing sessions are scheduled for Wednesday evenings, 6:30-8:30 pm in East Campus Hall 1224A.