Student wearing gloves, goggles and a heavy coat sliding a brick into a ceramics kiln that has flames rising out of a vent hole.

School of Visual Arts

The Penn State School of Visual Arts (SoVA) is a place where creative and critical thinkers, makers, and educators shape awareness and change the way our world is seen, experienced, and understood.

You belong here

Our challenging undergraduate and graduate programs span Studio Art, Digital Arts and Design, and Art Education. We also offer online courses tailored to diverse learners.

SoVA’s internationally recognized, award-winning faculty are dedicated to learning, research, and educational imagination. Visual thinkers, creators, shapers, and educators – you belong here.

Contact

School of Visual Arts
210 Patterson Building
University Park, PA 16802
814-865-0444
814-865-1158 (fax)
sova@psu.edu

Vagner Mendonça-Whitehead
Director of School of Visual Arts

Alumni Spotlight

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alumni spotlight

Devan Shimoyama

“While I’m still dreaming bigger and bigger, I always think about the incredible foundation that my Penn State education has provided for me.”

Devan’s award-winning art uses painting, sculpture, and photography to challenge gender stereotypes and confront racial and cultural injustice with a vibrant, modern edge. He has exhibited at the Andy Warhol Museum and in numerous major cities including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Paris.

www.devanshimoyama.com
A wealth of student artwork featured in the Zoller Gallery

Faculty Spotlight

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faculty spotlight

Cristin Millett

Professor of Art

Straddling traditional disciplinary boundaries, SoVA Professor Cristin Millett’s investigations of medicine and its history are integral to her artistic process. Her toolkit of sculptural processes incorporates new advances in digital technology along with established methods of sculpture, such as stone carving and bronze casting. The resulting objects and installations prompt a contemporary cultural critique of societal issues surrounding reproduction and gender identity. Millett was awarded a Fulbright to the University of Western Australia in 2020.

See all our Faculty