Digital + Studio Art Department

The Digital + Studio Arts major focuses on the development of creative, technical, formal and critical skills in digital, analog and hybridized art forms. The major offers three concentrations which guide students toward building high level skills in a medium: Graphic & Interactive Design, Media Arts, and Fine Arts. The courses offered through the Digital + Studio Art department provide opportunities for artists and designers to develop the formal and technical skills that will enable them to create works that engage and challenge a changing society while maintaining a commitment to traditional making within a contemporary art practice. These areas are broadly defined and will commonly overlap, corresponding to students’ specific skills, interests, and goals. D+SA courses emphasize the integration of theory and practice across a wide range of artistic mediums: drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, digital fabrication, digital audio, digital video, graphic design, web design, creative coding, animation, photography, and immersive media (VR/AR).

D+SA coursework is based on hands-on learning experiences and creative challenges, along with abundant peer and faculty feedback. The major builds on the broad critical skills central to the liberal arts. Students will be introduced to a diverse range of artists and designers and develop the ability to frame their work in historical and critical contexts.

D+SA curriculum culminates in a capstone Senior Seminar course in which students apply what they have learned to produce new artwork for a Senior Exhibition.

To help students achieve their creative and professional goals, special emphasis is placed on developing effective project development skills and a robust portfolio. Students will integrate pre-professional work experiences and refine professional writing skills. D+SA students are encouraged to pursue an off campus internship experience to further develop their skills and networks that will prepare them for careers after graduation. Student professional development experiences and off campus travel experiences are supported through generous, competitive departmental grants and scholarships.

Hamline’s D+SA major is ideal for future artists, designers, makers, and professionals who will become immersed in the vanguard of current and developing media arts practices, such as audio-visual installation, interactive media design, digital fabrication, sound design, physical computing, graphic design, animation and filmmaking, as well as traditional modes of drawing, painting, sculpture, and printmaking. Department faculty are engaged with emerging digital media forms and theory, which positions students on the leading edge of a rapidly evolving media arts landscape and actively seek interdisciplinary work between faculty, students, and the greater university institution.

Internship, Research, and Work Study Opportunities

D+SA has generous funding to provide students with high impact learning experiences off campus and to support internship experiences through competitive funding and grants. Professional development grant funding has enabled D+SA majors to travel internationally to attend conferences, attend workshops at prestigious art centers such as Anderson Ranch in Colorado, explore new forms of artmaking such as blacksmithing and stained glass, and spend a summer in New York and Boston completing internships at high-profile arts organizations and galleries, among other opportunities. The department values and cultivates internship experiences as transformative experiences that propel students’ careers forward after graduation. D+SA faculty also encourage students to participate in the Summer Collaborative Undergraduate Research program.

The Department of Digital + Studio Art also offers work study positions where students further their education and build applicable skills for the future job market working closely with faculty in a wide range of positions: gallery assistant, sculpture lab technician, assistant print shop supervisor, equipment desk manager, digital fabrication lab assistant, and multimedia designer, among others. D+SA students can also gain professional design, marketing, and communications experience through other on-campus work study positions on the HU Student Activities Programming Board, student publications, athletics, residence life, and HU Marketing and Creative Services offices.

Student Success After Graduation

D+SA majors enter the world after graduation with a breadth and depth of skills and the individual attention that helped students hone their talents and interests. Pre-professional practices are embedded into the curricula throughout the department. Students have built successful careers in: web design, software engineering, video production, filmmaking, arts education, arts nonprofits, fine art fabrication, public sculpture, museum and curatorial practices, graphic design, arts management, among many others.

Facilities

Housed across several campus buildings, D+SA has recently updated facilities, studios, and lab spaces dedicated to student use for all students enrolled in the courses and additional support for majors and fosters interdisciplinary work across the department and the college.

Bush Media Lab - BML 21 - Bush Memorial Library Lower Level

20 iMac computers with Adobe CC Suite and a wide range of other software tools installed. The computers are organized into pods, with each pod sharing a large HD display for displaying group work.

Media Arts Lab - BSC 2 - Bush Student Center Lower Level

16 Windows computers laptops with Adobe CC Suite and a wide range of other software tools installed. This lab also houses seamless backdrops and photo-quality inkjet printing for digital photography courses.

MakerLab - BSC 6 and 6A - Bush Student Center Lower Level

Raspberry pi computer stations, five 3D printers, soldering stations, electronics tools, Arduino microcontrollers, and a wide range of electronic components for making hybrid digital/analog artwork.

Audio Suite - BSC 3B - Bush Student Center Lower Level

iMac computer with Reaper, Ableton Live, Waves, and iZotope RX software installed, Genelec 8030C monitors, RME UFX III audio interface, rolling monitor for Foley and SFX design, and a range of Foley props for audio post production projects.

Video Suite - BSC 2C - Bush Student Center Lower Level

27” iMac installed in a separate room for a quiet editing space, outfitted with a high capacity external hard drive, reference monitor for color correction work, and audio monitors.

Painting and Drawing - Drew Fine Arts

The 2,000-square-foot painting studio and 1,500 square foot drawing studio each has almost 1,000 square feet of windows for brilliant natural light. Students enrolled in painting and drawing courses have access to the studios seven days a week.

Printmaking - Drew Fine Arts

The printmaking studio provides a creative environment for students to explore cross disciplinary concepts with intaglio, relief and digital printmaking techniques. It has two presses including a large format Takach press, with accompanying acid room, rosin box and large work tables. A letterpress workspace includes a wide variety of antique wood and metal movable type, for use on a tabletop proof press and large-format sign press. Students enrolled in printmaking have access to the studio seven days a week.

Sculpture Facilities

Housed in separate buildings are over 3000 square feet of large studio spaces to allow students maximum flexibility and production of large scale work. The sculpture studios house an active foundry for casting bronze and aluminum as well as a fully equipped metal shop for steel fabrication. The metal shop has multiple MIG welders, torch cutting rigs, drill press, plasma cutter, horizontal bandsaw, sand blaster, a plethora of hand tools, and a bridge crane to move monumental scale work. The sculpture studio building also houses a flexible working space for students to work on various projects in a multitude of media. Students enrolled in sculpture have access to the studios seven days a week. A fully outfitted wood shop includes table saw with SawStop safety mechanism; band saw; compound miter saw; thickness planer; drill press; large disk and belt sander; scroll saw; joiner; router table; a plethora of hand tools for shaping, carving, drilling, and sanding; and a new CNC router to bridge traditional making with new media and computer aided design. Studio C houses a flexible working space for students in foundations courses as well as a documentation gallery for students to install and photograph their work with high quality studio lighting.

Faculty

Faculty in the Digital + Studio Arts program include internationally recognized artist-practitioners in a range of fields as well as scholars engaged in analyzing the ways art and digital media are changing society.

Joshua Gumiela, associate professor. BA 2003, MFA 2011, Southern Illinois University. Josh Gumiela is a new media artist and maker whose work explores themes of time and displacement using media including sound design, performance, installation, and digital fabrication. Gumiela has performed at venues including Nashville’s Centennial Black Box Theatre and his sound design work has screened at venues including Ethnografilm, Paris. His past exhibitions include New Adventures in Sound Art’s Deep Wireless Festival, Currents New Media Festival, and ISEA International.

Curt Lund, associate professor. BFA 2001, Iowa State University; MFA 2015 and Ph.D. 2020, University of Minnesota. Curt Lund (he/him) is an educator, designer, collector-curator, historian, writer-performer, and mixed media artist – all reflections of his passion for connecting words, images, and objects in nerdy and satisfying ways. Lund’s art and design work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, at venues including the Minnesota Museum of American Art, Eden Theological Seminary, Plains Art Center, Sangre de Cristo Arts Center, Goldstein Museum of Design, Marin Society of Artists, University of the West of England, and the Mall Of America. His research in the areas of design history, marketing, and museum studies has resulted in numerous national and international presentations, publications, and exhibitions.

Brighton McCormick, assistant professor. BFA 2015, University of Minnesota; MFA 2019 University of Washington. Brighton McCormick is a sculptor, arts educator and community organizer living and working in South Minneapolis. Their interdisciplinary practice focuses on sculpture and gallery installation, community engaged projects, and public art primarily utilizing metal working and reinterpreted found objects. McCormick has shown work at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, the Henry Art Gallery, and the Burke Natural History Museum. Past exhibitions included Once Upon an Instant in Berlin Germany and Waterfalls: A Fire Arts Perspective at the MSP International Airport. They have permanent installations at Sloss Furnaces and Midwest Specialty Services Sculpture Garden in St. Paul, MN, and have been part of the fabrication team at the Chicago Ave Fire Arts Center creating multiple permanent public artworks throughout the Twin Cities.

John-Mark T. Schlink, senior lecturer, Director of Exhibitions, Soeffker Gallery and Permanent Collection. BA 1991, Hamline University; MFA 2000, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Schlink’s work in printmaking has been selected for national and international juried exhibitions including recent biennials and triennials in China, North America, Bosnia and Herzegovina, New Zealand, Poland and Hawaii. His prints are included in academic and museum collections including the Franciscan Museum, the China Printmaking Museum, the Krakow Print Society and the Museum of Texas Tech University, among others. He has been an artist in residence at The Print Association in Rheine, Germany and at Constellation Studios in Lincoln, Nebraska. Schlink has received awards and grants for his work in printmaking including an Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board.

Affiliate Faculty

Richard Pelster-Wiebe, senior lecturer. BA 2004, University of Minnesota; BA 2004, University of North Carolina-Wilmington; MA 2009, University of Iowa; PhD 2018, University of Iowa. Publications: Aliki (2010), Saskatchewan (2011), War Prayer (2015), The End (2022).

Affiliated Interdisciplinary Program

Digital Storytelling Minor

Programs

Major

Minor