The Departmental Honors Program is a one-year course of study designed to bring a select group of seniors towards a level of professional practice. Honors students receive a studio and participate in an honors critique seminar each quarter. They are also strongly encouraged to work with faculty members in individual studio visits.
The fall quarter is dedicated to getting a consistent studio practice established and to create a fruitful group dynamic. In the winter, the honor students continue to deepen their practice and organize an open studio event where they present their current work to visitors from the department and beyond. In the spring, the program culminates in two honors group exhibitions in the Glass Box Gallery. In addition the honors participate in the UCSB Museum of Art, Design and Architecture Undergraduate Exhibition at the end of the Spring quarter.
The program simultaneously encourages experimentation as well as refinement of craft, and students are expected to maintain a high level of initiative in their research and practice. Our students are innovators in a wide-range of areas, as practicing artists, and as film, design, and museum industry professionals. Many go on to graduate programs including those at Yale, UC Berkeley, Art Center, NYU, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Cal Arts, UCLA, Washington University in St. Louis, Slade School of Fine Art (London), Parsons School of Design, and Hunter College.
Eligibility
The Honors Program is open to Letters and Science Art and CCS Art majors, with at least a 3.5 average in the major, and a 3.0 or better overall. Preference will be given to qualified applicants who will be seniors next year and ready to graduate in the end of that year. A year-long program, fall, winter and spring, Honors students must be in residence (meaning, not abroad) the entire year.
Please note that this is a Departmental Honors Program, which is not affiliated with the University Honors Program.
Requirements
Applications include the submission of a portfolio and written statement, submitted through an on-line portal. Please see Honors Application Guidelines for details and specifications.
The Honors call for entries occurs each spring quarter, with no exceptions.