Our experience of contemporary life is remarkably visual. Images cover gallery walls and city streets and are perceived in person and online in a range of institutional and unconventional settings. Photographs, signs, sculptures, advertisements, corporate logos, furniture, and architecture define and organize global cultures. We are surrounded by powerful images and ideas, in both everyday objects and creative visual statements, which help us live, work, understand, experience and learn. The Art and Design Department at Vancouver Island University provides students with the skills and knowledge to become active participants in understanding, shaping and contributing to the visual world in which we live.
The Art and Design Department at Vancouver Island University is proud of its dynamic and experienced faculty of professional artists, designers and academics who are committed to preparing students for promising futures in visual culture. Students receive rigorous instruction in art and design fundamentals and experiment with a wide range of technical and creative options. The history of art and design, practical issues in two and three dimensional media and the exploration of languages of expression are integral to all three programs.