Art
By majoring in Art at Hastings College, you’ll be ready for a career that weaves your passion for art with other interests. The result? Opportunities as diverse as education, glassblowing, owning your own studio, scientific illustration, sculpture and more!
Gain skills to help you grow as a professional and as an artist.
Hastings College professors create an environment for collaboration among faculty and students, investing in your success. Plus you’ll have opportunities to try glassblowing in the best glassblowing studio of any college or university in the country while exploring sculpture, ceramics, painting, printmaking, drawing and photography. All in the incredible 25,000 sq. ft. Jackson Dinsdale Art Center. Design your own experience and build a career you’ll love!
Coursework in Art and other areas on campus culminate in your senior thesis exhibition featured in the Hastings College Galleries, preparing you for a meaningful life as a working artist, professor, gallery director, art therapist, art teacher and more.
Opportunities for internships abound in the art-loving Hastings community, from Hastings Museum to advertising agencies. Through internships and events sponsored by these and other venues, you’ll build a solid network as you prepare to launch your career and stretch your portfolio through exposure to new ideas and techniques.
Create your future
See for yourself how we tailor your education to your talents and your goals. Schedule a visit and we’ll demonstrate how Hastings will inspire you to reach your potential, or if you’re a high school senior, apply today.
Go further with a Hastings education
Thanks to our small class sizes (most have fewer than 20 students!), and a student-to-faculty ratio of 13:1, you’ll work closely with faculty and your advisor to complete your degree in four years. In fact, most students who graduate from Hastings do so in four years!
Our block-style semester structure means you’ll take just one or two classes at a time — which really lets you focus more intently on each class. It also lets faculty devote more time to every student because they’re only teaching one or two classes in a block!
Graduate with experience
Hastings College alumni:
- Have art on display at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History;
- Serve as curators for art museums in North Carolina, Chicago and Scottsbluff, Neb.;
- Manage stage sets on Broadway;
- Own glassblowing studios;
- Teach in high schools and universities;
- Pursue additional studies at the Pratt Institute, the Rhode Island School of Design, the San Francisco Art Institute and St. John’s University School of Divinity and more.
You’ll also find hundreds of graduates who integrate their study of art into careers such as clinical psychologists, musicians, spa owners and other exciting careers. Art can be an amazing experience — and Hastings is the place to make it happen.
Your experience matters
Maximize scholarships — Yes, you’ll get an academic scholarship. But you’ll also get a “plus one” scholarship from the group, team or area you’re part of. It’s a great way to help pay for school — but also to find your people.
We’ve thought a lot about the ways students learn and built a four-year plan to help you navigate it all. From finding your place and in Year 1, to showing the world you’re ready for what’s next four years later.
Your transition from college to a career begins your first semester. Every class, internship, research study and activity adds up. We love to celebrate all the ways you shine — your experience matters!
Art Scholarships
All students, regardless of major/minor are eligible for an art scholarship. Non-majors earn the scholarship by actively participating in art activities and taking at least one art class per semester.
While we accept scholarship applications year round, for best consideration, we recommend you:
- Complete your admissions application by February 15, and
- Meet talent scholarship requirements by March 15.
Complete this form and let us know you’re interested Art at Hastings. We’d love to arrange a time to view your portfolio!
Your high school achievements can both fuel and fund your success at Hastings. We offer a range of generous and renewable academic scholarships based on your GPA. Then there’s “plus one” scholarships — an additional scholarship for participating in anything from art to athletics to media (it’s a long list!).
It all adds up to making Hastings an great choice for you and your family.
Faculty
John Chrise
Adjunct – Graphic Design
Dr. Brian Corr
Associate Professor of Art – Glass, Chair of the Department
Jerome Dubas
Visiting Instructor of Visual Arts – Ceramics
Jenna Hermann
Adjunct – Art Education
Shabnam Jannesari
Assistant Professor of Art – Painting/Drawing
Turner McGehee
Professor of Visual Arts
Patrick McGuan
Assistant Professor of Visual Arts – Sculpture
Brad Mellema
Adjunct – Photography
Sarah Nottage-Tacey
Director of Performance for Visual Arts and Theatre
Creating Success
As Ally Goad guided a visitor through the Robert Henri Museum and Art Gallery, she pointed out one of her favorite paintings, “In Amsterdam,” a moody urban landscape illuminated by...
Coming from two different eras at Hastings College, Eric Johnson ’97 and Cora Lanter 05’ share something in common: they both aim to continuously build and shape the culture at...
Stephanie Mlynarik, a senior studio art major from Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, is gaining an experience she never thought was possible. Mlynarik spent the summer before her senior year working in...
On her family farm, near Minden, Nebraska, artist Sally Jurgensmier ’93 uses a wire welder to transform cold scrap metal into wondrous, expressive sculptures that fill her farmyard and showroom:...
Since she was young, Josie Polacek, who graduated in May with distinction in psychology, knew she wanted to become a practicing art therapist and counselor. To do that, she knew...
Savanah Ellis spent last summer in a basement. Painting for more than 100 hours in that basement, she was able to complete a full room mural for the Axtell (Nebraska)...
An advocate for continually exploring outside her comfort zone, Hastings College alumnus Cheyenne Knehans ‘18 is currently pursuing her master degree at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Knehans...
One way or another, most materials used to create art come from the natural environment. Hastings College junior art student Joseph Campell from Columbus, Nebraska, explores that in a sculpture...
Some students spend months searching for the opportunity that will give them real world experience, networking and pieces to add to their portfolio. For seniors Avery Muff and Christian Hessler,...