Our students tell you what it’s like to study in beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia. They are our greatest resource – all we need is you!
Your first year at NSCAD begins with two semesters of Foundation Studies. This experience builds a broad base of knowledge in the visual arts. A prerequisite for further study, Foundation introduces critical thinking, the development of a visual vocabulary, and key concepts and practices in art, craft and design. After exploring a wide range of ideas, approaches, processes and materials, you will be well-equipped to start making choices about where to focus your creative abilities and academic energies in the following years at NSCAD.
The principal courses of the Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Fine Art program offer opportunities to explore the media and practices of four different disciplines: drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture. After the second year, you will progress to more advanced study in a chosen area. You will continue to take courses from at least two different disciplines to satisfy your studio credits, as well as art history classes and open credits from other Divisions. This requirement ensures that you graduate with a well-rounded visual arts education across disciplines.
The BFA Interdisciplinary program offers students the opportunity to explore a variety of media and practices in the areas of fine arts, media arts, craft, and design. This program enables you to tailor your studies to your individual interests as an artist. Students will develop a range of skills, knowledge, and techniques that foster crossdisciplinary ways of working. As you engage in the critical discourses of your chosen disciplines, you will gain an understanding of diverse practices and approaches, historical and contemporary issues, and the relationship between conceptual concerns, material, and process.
Created for students who already hold a visual arts degree (BFA or BDes) that wish to study a new discipline, the Visual Arts Certificate in Studio is similar to adding a minor to your existing education. You will further your exploration of visual art processes through concentrated study in one studio discipline in which no more than 12 credits were earned during prior degree work.
The Master of Fine Arts degree is internationally recognized as a standard qualification required for teaching craft and visual arts at post-secondary educational institutions such as colleges and universities. The NSCAD MFA Program provides students with the opportunity to develop their work in a context of intense critical discussion. Pedagogy, Research/Creation and other integral academic courses enhance the studio focus. Students are selected for their capability as artists and craftspersons, their critical abilities, and the personal qualities and interests that might contribute to their success as teachers and scholars.
Fine Arts students experiment with both traditional techniques and unconventional methods and routinely show their work on and off campus.
The Fine Arts facilities are divided between the Fountain and Port campuses. Many of the studios are accessible twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. The Fountain Campus has studio spaces for all levels of printmaking.
Lithography (three direct presses; over 150 stones of variable sizes up to 81 x 111cm; photo sensitive positive plates, plate backers and dedicated exposure unit.)
Intaglio and Relief (five direct presses; ferric chloride etching; rollers and brayers; etching and engraving tools.)
Water-based Screenprinting (eight printing tables; three vacuum tables; two large size light tables; squeegees of variable sizes.)
Book Arts and Letterpress (four proofing, two stamping, three parlour and one hand press; over 1,000 drawers of lead and wood type; wide range of book binding equipment and hand tools; dedicated polymer plate maker).
Our facilities include an exposure unit room for coating and exposing screens; applying, exposing and developing intaglio polymer films; and developing photo litho plates. We also offer digital media equipment and software for preparing film positives with access to digital printing in the Photography Department.
*NSCAD uses Vegetable Cleaning Agents (VCAs) and safer alternatives as a replacement for a majority of petroleum-based solvents and products in the studio.