Art and Craft

Student painting mural

Bachelor of Arts Major and Minor

Do you want to pursue a career as an artist, artisan or creative professional? Or further hone your skills and talents in a graduate program? Built for both the student interested in creating within a variety of mediums as well as the student who wants to focus on one—our program is perfect for you.

Study art by experiencing and doing. Develop a foundation in making art, discover your creative potential, and explore the impact of art and craft on human life and culture. Hone your problem-solving skills, and learn about making as a practice of building community. Learn not just to create, but to make a living doing it.

Why study Art and Craft at Warren Wilson?

  • Spaces to Create: Our large arts complex features a variety of spaces and tools to create your next masterpiece including a printmaking studio, a media arts studio, darkrooms, kilns, and a foundry.
  • A Key Location: From the downtown art galleries to the River Arts District to the legal graffiti walls, you will find space to thrive in Asheville.
  • Sustainable Focus: As you develop your skills, you’ll learn new sustainable practices.
  • Hone your Entrepreneurship: You’ll develop your sense of entrepreneurship by selling your work on campus and in Asheville.

Why Choose One?

Explore visual art-making in all forms, and have the choice to dedicate your studio courses to improving skills and creativity in:

  • Ceramics
  • Sculpture
  • Painting and Drawing
  • Printmaking and Book Arts
  • Material Studies: Woodworking, Fiber Arts, Blacksmithing
  • Media Arts: Photography, Animation, Film
Ceramics student runs a pottery wheel in the outside 3d art space during a craft fair.

Every student will complete community-engaged coursework, an internship, and original research as part of their major

A Sample of Our Partnerships

  • Asheville Darkroom
  • Fierce Flix
  • Handmade Film Institute
  • Local Cloth

See how Art and Craft students put our education into action

Internship

Stevii Randall worked with local weaver Deanna Lynch at the Biltmore Industries Homespun Museum documenting and archiving old fabric swatches and information about the cloths.

Community Engaged Course

In our Take Back the Screen course, you’ll work with the local nonprofit organization, Fierce Flix, that uses filmmaking as a space for trans, nonbinary, queer, and femme youth visions to take back the screen. You’ll research trends in youth-led and queer centered creative media, film, and music projects to then collaboratively make a film and work with the nonprofit organization to develop and implement an event during the semester.

Work

You can work on any crew as a student but many Art and Craft students choose to be on crews such as:

  • Holden Visual Arts Center Crew
  • Fiber Arts Crew
  • Ceramics Crew
  • 3D Crew
  • Blacksmithing Crew
  • Fine Woodworking

Senior Capstone

Art students have the option to work with a faculty mentor to develop their skills as a researcher and creator on a year-long research project. Propose a topic, develop a thesis, apply a research method, and present your results at the end of the year. Previous student topics were:

Popular Courses

Introduction to Handbuilding

Learn hand-building, focusing on the development of construction skills as well as sculpture and vessel techniques.

Introduction to Fibers

Discover the methods of making with fiber arts such as weaving, dyeing, felting, and sewing. With a focus on material study, use a variety of construction methods and develop an understanding of fiber qualities.

Furniture Design

Create functional furniture pieces using traditional materials such as steel and wood and have the opportunity to explore building furniture with alternative materials that promote sustainable practices.

See the Catalog

Where Our Art and Craft Graduates Go

  • Cloverdale Forge
  • Smithsonian Institution Exhibits
  • Dartmouth
  • Rejuvenation Portland
  • Superior Image Embroidery
fiber student

Like this program? You might like these too.