Find Schools offering Fine Arts Degree Programs

• The fine arts include all career fields that are concerned with making the world a more beautiful place.
• Painting, dancing, writing, cooking, landscaping, and sculpture are just a few of the many opportunities umbrellaed under the category of the fine arts.
• About 63 percent of the artists working in the fine arts are self employed.

What are the fine arts?

The fine arts refer to a field of work dedicated to creating or preserving beauty. It's a term taken from the French phrase meaning "beautiful arts." If the field of fine arts sounds like a broad category, you're right. The distinction between fine art and other creative fields is that the fine arts are usually reserved for the more classical forms of art like painting, drawing, printmaking, and sculpture. A professional in the fine arts could either produce fine art, or be an expert of the history and technique of fine art.

What education is needed to get into the field of fine arts?

Though talent goes a long way to produce fine art, professionals in the field of fine art are usually more respected with a post secondary education in art. Either a bachelor's or a master's in fine art will help artists refine their skill, and provide art lovers with a broad foundation of art history and evolution. Liberal arts colleges offering a more academic track, while private art schools offer more training on the technique of creating art. What are the career opportunities in the field of the fine arts? Professionals working in the fine arts have a wide variety of options to choose from. Most artists fit into one of four categories: art directors, craft artists, fine artists, and multi-media artists. Art directors usually manage galleries, or design concepts for groups of artists to follow. Craft artists recreate and create hand made pieces for sale, fine artists classical paintings and sculpture, as well as drawings for different media such as magazines, and cartoons. Multi-media artists are the newest form or artists and they create special effects, and animation using computer technology. About 63 percent of all artists in this field are self employed, either as freelance artists or contract work. This high percentage is likely to lend to the fact that this field very competitive. For the few salaried jobs in the fine arts, there are many, many more qualified professionals seeking employment. Those who find a market for their work, though, are usually very happy with the freedom they have in their career.

How much money do fine arts professionals make?

With the many different types of artists that fit it the area of fine arts, there are many salary categories. Art directors, on average, have a yearly salary of $63,840, with a range between $35,500 and $123,300. Craft artists usually make an annual salary somewhere between $14,700 and $44,500. Fine artists pencil their salaries in between $17,400 and $69,000. Multi-media artists and animators have an average salary of $50,360 per year, with a range from $30,000 to $94,300. Some fine arts professionals find a way to make a living as an artist full time, but many, however, find it difficult to rely solely on income earned from selling paintings or other works of art.

What are the leading schools offering programs in Fine Arts?