A biomedical artist is a professional artist trained in science who creates visual materials to help record and disseminate medical and biological knowledge. CIA's biomedical art program incorporates innovative concepts, media and techniques through the intersection of art, science and medicine. The foundation of the program is built on the traditional field of scientific and medical illustration with the integration of new digital media techniques and animation. CIA's program is one of only a few undergraduate programs in the country that offers this unique major of study.

Biomedical art majors combine artistic talent, natural science and biomedical intellect with strong visual communication skills to foster creative efforts in a broad range of new media. Students learn a versatile set of illustration, modeling and animation techniques through both traditional and digital methods.

lay-a natural material found in abundance worldwide has been used as a vehicle for the expression of ideas for thousands of years. Expression in class is through two major traditions: works of sculpture and works of utility.

The Ceramics Department at the Institute embraces both traditions, exposing students to the rich history of the medium while exploring clay's contemporary potential as a vehicle for the expression of ideas.

We understand drawing as a unique way to think, inform and communicate within the discipline's own long history and enduring tradition. We understand and practice drawing as its own medium in which we are able to frame moments, research and think visually.

Mark-making, tracing and tracking, representation and concretion of thoughts build up to an experimental and versatile visual language necessary to be an artist and/or a designer. Consequently, we educate artists as well as designers in our drawing major.

The Institute's focus on enameling is unique among the nation's art schools for a number of reasons. In the history of twentieth century enameling, Cleveland has emerged as a center in the development of the art form.

Noted enamellists from Cleveland have led the field, developing technology and publishing numerous books advancing the discipline. As a result, enameling majors at The Cleveland Institute of Art enjoy strong support from both the industry and patrons devoted to the medium.

When you gaze into your closet, the clothing that you choose for the day shapes your identity to the world. White netting, black lace, hand-beaded silk and camouflage twill, we know the vocabulary of these things.
Fiber and material studies is a media-rich field, deeply woven into everyday life. The coded language of textiles eloquently describes matters of identity, gender, status and ethnicity. Artists working in fiber and material studies challenge the belief that sight is the primary sense. Touch is also an important way of knowing - a powerful, tactile path to knowledge. Questions of technique and material mingle closely with questions of ideology and symbolism, creating discourse that inevitably encompasses cultural and social anthropology, history, science, architecture, linguistics, poetry and design.

Glass has enjoyed an exciting, though relatively recent, history as a field of art and craft. Prior to the early 1960s, designers worked separate from the teams of craftsmen who would actually produce glass objects in factories. The 1960s saw development of the studio glass movement, in which artists and craftsmen bridged the gap from making one of a kind sculpture to creating handmade functional glass objects, melding personal expression with the business of being a viable working artist. In less than 45 years, there has been exponential growth in private artist/owner-operated studios, community-access studios and programs in universities?from virtually none to more than several thousand across the world.

As instructors, we have devoted our study and practice to the field and are well aware of the Institute's enameling tradition. Not only are we committed to our students and state of the art facility, but many of us are also recognized nationally and internationally as leading contributors to the medium.

The department of illustration emphasizes the understanding of contemporary themes and concepts as a basis for nurturing the student's ability to translate this acquired thematic vocabulary into inventive visual solutions.

As with all areas of communication arts, illustration studies must cover some diverse areas: presenting ideas, conveying emotions, illuminating text and creating narrative without text. Throughout work in each area, problem solving remains a core objective for the illustrator. A solution to any problem must be rooted in the deepest respect for the meaning of your activities and the potential impact of your work on the immediate and greater culture. To help you meet these responsibilities, the department constantly requires a high standard of work, thereby celebrating both the value of good illustration as well as its social and environmental potential. Finally, the department of illustration aims to customize each student's education while maintaining the strongest core of generalist capabilities.

The crafts hold a singular position in a period of artistic advancement. While one of our strengths lies in our ability to perpetuate contemporary applications of some of the oldest materials and technologies, our abilities as artists and teachers to adapt and apply the "new" perpetuates our role as contemporary cultural interpreters and shapes the future of our disciplines.

The study of jewelry and metals ensures a lifetime of exploration and engagement as an artist. The Institute's program operates in an environment that fosters risk taking and creative problem solving and encouragement of interdisciplinary study.

The Liberal Arts Environment seeks to enhance, enrich and expand the intellectual development of students at The Cleveland Institute of Art. Through the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree curriculum, our students develop their understanding of many cultures of our world-both past and present-and discover the importance of ideas to the growth of their creative lives.

In work at both the introductory and advanced levels, we believe it's important for you to engage in rigorous academic work in a number of fields. After completing Foundation-level Composition, Literature and Art History, you can choose from a variety of Liberal Arts electives such as film, anthropology, creative writing and multi-cultural studies.

Your Liberal Arts education at the Institute serves two main purposes. The first is skill-based. In your study of history, literature, anthropology and other academic subjects you will develop sophisticated reading skills, an enhanced vocabulary and a crucial proficiency in communicating ideas about cultural products, past and present. Through completing rigorous assignments in research papers and crafting analytical, argumentative essays, we make sure that our students become strong writers, able to convey their point of view while integrating diverse perspectives on the issue at hand.

The second purpose to the Liberal Arts curriculum is idea-based. In order to make art, the artist needs ideas, as well as the skills to express them. The Institute puts creativity at its center. We therefore structure our Liberal Arts curriculum around the notion of culture as a generator of creative ideas. Our students are makers themselves, not merely students of other creators. We have built our own Liberal Arts curriculum around this creative core, and the reading and writing we assign are crucial to the development of your own artistic ideas.

A singular feature of the Institute's Liberal Arts curriculum is how we meld the study of literature with that of art history. At the Institute, you will learn about ancient and medieval literature and culture while also taking a course in Ancient and Medieval History of Art. This parallel curriculum continues through Foundation-level study, culminating in concurrent courses in Contemporary Literature and Contemporary Art. This carefully calibrated educational experience provides you with a broad sense of the trajectory of world history itself. Each of our students graduates with a valuable, comprehensive framework upon which to build a unique set of lifelong learning endeavors.

Our program envisions the contemporary painter as someone who gives expression to his or her own unique vision, while contributing-visually as well as intellectually-to our society as a whole. With this vision in mind, the department of painting's course of study fosters the practical skills and knowledge of painting, but not at the expense of encouraging creativity, intellectual curiosity, innovative practices, experimentation and risk taking.

The print field is as vibrant and vital as ever; bracketing a 500-year history of influencing culture with watershed technology-from relief printing to online distribution of digitally based projects. Students who graduate as print majors are typically aesthetically creative as well as technically competent. They are computer literate and possess a range of practical and professional skills relevant to a variety of career options.

Our studio workshop cultivates an innovative atmosphere where the exchange of ideas and methodology easily facilitate multiple directions for artistic inquiry and expression. The program combines learning approaches that range from kinesthetic to theoretical.

Sculpture is a discipline that synthesizes diverse materials, processes and spaces. As befits an art form that embraces a myriad of elements-from sound and video installations to landscape and furniture design-our curriculum offers both focus and flexibility.