Program Overview

Explore an unparalleled combination of accessibility, affordability, collaboration, diversity, professional preparation, technology, and—most of all—opportunity for creative exploration and growth with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University.

The 126-credit hour Ceramics BFA program explores the discipline’s many forms and fosters diverse perspectives on process, including the use of digital technologies. It encourages community-based collaboration, interdisciplinary exploration and the development of hybrid work. Due to the complexity of materials and processes, the curriculum incorporates aspects of chemistry, technology, and kiln and furnace design and construction. Students learn product design and production, studio management, and gallery installation, as well as critical thinking and problem-solving—transferable skills that help prepare them for success in any artistic discipline or profession, including as educators, gallery operators, architectural designers, curators and more. Students also have opportunities for internships in Philadelphia’s extensively networked clay community.

Led by a faculty of practicing artists, Ceramics majors work in a close-knit environment, side-by-side with graduate students, as they explore traditional and experimental clay techniques. The program draws on the energy and resources of the urban landscape of Philadelphia, a city with a longstanding clay culture and vibrant visual art scene, to forge community partnerships that lead to broader, inclusive perspectives, conversations and exchanges of ideas.

In partnership with Temple University’s Fox School of Business, Tyler offers a BFA with Entrepreneurial Studies as an option for students who want to learn skills for entrepreneurship, from innovative thinking to how to start a business, as part of their art education. Program coursework is an interdisciplinary blend of art, art history, business, entrepreneurship and other courses, as well as open electives. The BFA with Entrepreneurial Studies gives students the skills needed for success as entrepreneurs in the studio discipline of their choice and the necessary preparation to pursue graduate studies in their studio discipline, entrepreneurship or related professions upon graduation.