Alberta College of Art and Design
Encyclopedia
History
The Alberta College of Art & Design (ACAD) is a Canadian degree-granting, publicly-funded art and design college located in Calgary (1995-present). It was known as the Provincial Institute of Technology and Arts, which was part of SAITSouthern Alberta Institute of Technology
-Academics:SAIT Polytechnic offers two full baccalaureate degrees , four applied degrees, 66 diploma and certificate programs, 32 apprenticeship trades and 1,600 continuing education and corporate training courses....
until 1985. It was known as the Alberta College of Art from 1985-1995.
Founded in 1926, ACAD has been a major contributor to Canada's visual culture in the 20th century, with many of its graduates gaining significant national and international reputations as artists and designers. With an annual budget approaching $12 million, and employing over 150 staff, ACAD provides accredited degree-standard education and learning opportunities to more than 1000 students enrolled in full- and part-time studies in a wide range of Art + Design studio disciplines together with academic study in the history of Art & Design, theory and criticism and related subject areas. Approximately 3000 students are registered each year in Extended Studies courses, including 400 in children + teens programs.
ACAD has had an important presence in the educational post-secondary sector in Alberta and, in 2001, celebrated its 75th anniversary. Originally part of the Provincial Institute of Technology and Arts (now SAIT Polytechnic), the Alberta College of Art, as it was then known, separated from SAIT in 1985 to become designated by the Alberta Government as an entirely autonomous and free-standing Art + Design college within the public sector. In 1995 the College amended its name to the Alberta College of Art & Design in order to acknowledge the separateness and importance of design education at the College.
In 1995, the ACAD was granted degree accreditation by the Alberta Government's Ministry of Advanced Education and Career Development. Since that time the College has been able to grant Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees to those students who successfully complete the BFA requirements of the College's four-year programs.
In 2000, the College was further granted authority by the Alberta Government's Ministry of Learning to award a Bachelor of Design degree to those students studying Design for their degree. This approval signifies an important step by the College in clarifying the distinction between Design as a discipline and those of the Fine Arts, and now provides the College with two degree programs. Most recently, in 2009, the College was also granted Foreign-Equivalency Status by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. By earning this designation, ACAD is recognized by NASAD as having met rigorous qualifications and standards related to educational quality and institutional integrity. For our students, ACAD's NASAD Foreign-Equivalency status will mean that our Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Design degrees, and their individual class components, will be recognized as equivalent in post secondary institutions throughout North America. This important designation will ensure that ACAD artists and designers will be able to pursue graduate degrees internationally, and will become a crucial factor in our own imminent graduate program offering.
Programs
With 11 unique programs including Photography, Visual Communications Design, Ceramics, Drawing, Fibre, Glass, Jewellery + Metals, Media Arts + Digital Technologies, Painting, Print Media and Sculpture, ACAD offers a rigorous studio program which produces inventive thinkers, visually acute learners and leading problem solvers for today’s creative economy.Bachelor of Fine Arts Program (BFA)
ACAD's Bachelor of Fine Arts program is one of Canada's most prestigious studio-based fine art programs offering students a unique opportunity to access an impressive range of quality facilities while developing advanced technical, conceptual and problem-solving skills. The BFA program offers students a unique opportunity to access an impressive range of quality facilities while developing advanced technical, conceptual and problem-solving skills. The BFA Program embraces traditional, contemporary and conceptual approaches to art making in a learning environment that is both focused and flexible. Consisting of nine complementary studio majors, the Program allows students to immerse themselves in a wide spectrum of creative directions and opportunities while acquiring essential skills for professional activity in their chosen field. Students are encouraged to enrich their experience by accessing other studio areas and to develop unique skill sets that reflect their personal aspirations and individual career trajectories.
Graduates from the Program have created successful and fulfilling careers in Canada and throughout the world as fine artists, scholars, cultural workers, inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs. The Bachelor of Fine Arts Program may be completed on a full or part time basis.
Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree
The Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree is offered in the following majors: Ceramics, Drawing, Fibre, Glass, Jewellery + Metals, Media Arts + Digital Technologies, Painting, Print Media and Sculpture.
Bachelor of Design Program (BDes)
ACAD's Photography and Visual Communications Design program prepares students for successful careers as professionals in the discipline, practice and culture of design. We have an established track record of excellence that continues to create exciting opportunities in the newest design fields.
The Photography and Visual Communications Design majors prepare students for successful careers as professionals in the discipline, practice and culture of photography and design. The outstanding track record of alumni from both majors has established a reputation of excellence that continues to create exciting opportunities in the newest design fields. Alumni from Photography and Visual Communications Design work in a broad range of careers in the entertainment, advertising, new media, publication, editorial, corporate, television, film, fashion and environmental design industries and character design for the gaming industry. Both majors are four-year, full-time Bachelor of Design degrees with courses offered throughout the academic year, including evening classes. Admission to the Photography and Visual Communications Design Majors is competitive and is based on a combination of GPA and portfolio assessment.
The Bachelor of Design (BDes) degree is offered in the following majors: Visual Communications Design (with program specialities in Advertising, Illustration, Character Design and Graphic Design) and Photography.
ACAD offers programs in the Fine Arts, Crafts, Graphic Design
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
, and New Media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
.
Faculty highlights
Dr. Daniel Doz, PresidentDr. Daniel Doz joins ACAD from Ryerson University in Toronto, where he has served as Dean of the Faculty of Communication & Design. During his tenure at Ryerson he was actively engaged in major university capital projects including the Ryerson Gallery and Research Center, the Student Learning Center as well as the University Master Plan. Dr. Doz brings a strong background in scholarly research and creative activity support to ACAD, having more than doubled the research contribution made by Ryerson during his tenure. Prior to his position at Ryerson University, Dr. Doz was Head of the Division of Architecture and Art at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont.
Born in Montreal and educated in France, Dr. Doz has a wide range of academic experience that spans several disciplines including art, cinema, photography, theatre, and architecture. He holds a Doctorate in Theatrical and Cinematographic Studies from the Université de Paris VIII, and is licensed as an architect by the French government. Dr. Doz’s scholarly research and creative activities focus on themes in cinema, photography, and architecture. His photographs have been published and exhibited in the U.S. as well as in France. His research on film and design has led to presentations at institutions in North America and Europe. He strongly values interdisciplinary and global learning as a means to better prepare students for the future.
Past and present faculty have included noted artists such as: Lars Jonson Haukaness
Lars Jonson Haukaness
Lars Jonson Haukaness was a Norwegian born American-Canadian impressionist painter and art instructor who was particularly noted for his landscapes.-Background:...
, Mary Scott, Laura Vickerson
Laura Vickerson
Laura Vickerson is a Canadian artist who uses rose petals and obsessive technique to create installation art.She has exhibited at the 5th Istanbul Biennial, The Textile Museum of Canada, Surrey Art Gallery, the Southern Alberta Art Gallery and the Oakville Galleries. Laura currently lives and...
, Don Mabie
Don Mabie
Don Mabie, also known as Chuck Stake, is an artist based in Nakusp, British Columbia who has been performing, drawing, assembling, trading and mailing art since the early 1970s....
(a.k.a. Chuck Stake), Alan Dunning
Alan Dunning
Alan Dunning is a Canadian artist based in Calgary, Alberta.Since the eighties, he has produced monumental installations accompanied by artist books addressing the mutability of meaning and intertextuality. The late nineties marked a turning point for Dunning when he began in-depth research into...
, Derek Michael Besant
Derek Michael Besant
Derek Michael Besant is a Canadian artist living in Calgary, Alberta.Besant Studied at University of Calgary, where he received a BFA Honours in 1973 and continued with Graduate Studies in 1974. He was Exhibitions Designer for The Glenbow Museum between 1973 -1977...
, Don Simmons, Katie Ohe
Katie Ohe
Katie Ohe is a Canadian sculptor living in Alberta.Ohe is known as one of the first artists to make abstract sculpture in Alberta, and has been influential as a teacher at the Alberta College of Art and Design...
, Christopher Willard
Christopher Willard
Christopher Willard is an American-born novelist, critic, short story writer and visual artist. He currently lives in Calgary, Canada and teaches at Alberta College of Art and Design....
, Kay Burns
Kay Burns
Kay Burns is a Canadian artist based in Calgary, Alberta working with audio, video, computer/electronics, installation and performance art; she is also a freelance curator and writer.Burns’ work often involves research and experimentation with New Media...
, Dick Averns
Dick Averns
Dick Averns , is an artist, who produces installations, sculptures, photography, text and performances.Averns writings include Art in the Face of The Project for The New American Century and Cataloging Canada’s Schools of Art and Design for Artichoke magazine. Averns' recent installation...
, Don Kottmann
Don Kottmann
Don Kottmann is a Canadian painter living in Calgary, Alberta. He was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri.Kottmann is a painter who uses light, colour, line, paint, relationships and energy - to orchestrate and structure the two dimensional plane and spatial dimension...
, Jane Kidd, Bill Morton and Mitch Kern
Mitch Kern
Mitch Kern is an American photographer living in Canada whose work explores the relationship between the individual and society. Kern uses portrait photography as a vehicle for social commentary....
.
- Fine Arts: Laurel JohannessonLaurel JohannessonLaurel Johannesson is a Canadian artist who studied at the University of Calgary in Alberta , the University of Saskatchewan , and the Royal College of Art in London, England...
and Derek Besant - Ceramics: Mariko Patterson
- Media Arts and Digital Technologies: Mary Scott and Alan DunningAlan DunningAlan Dunning is a Canadian artist based in Calgary, Alberta.Since the eighties, he has produced monumental installations accompanied by artist books addressing the mutability of meaning and intertextuality. The late nineties marked a turning point for Dunning when he began in-depth research into...
- First Year Studies: Tim ZuckTim ZuckTim Zuck is a Canadian artist living in Calgary, Alberta.Zuck has lived in Canada since 1969. He earned a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1971 and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 1972...
Alumni
Joni MitchellJoni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
(did not graduate)
Several members of the United Congress
United Congress
The United Congress is a long-standing artist collective active in Calgary, Alberta. The group has combined conceptual art, silkscreen, music, constructed language, abstraction, propaganda and anti-art in its activities....
, a well-known Calgary Artist Collective attended ACAD in the 1980s.
See also
- Education in AlbertaEducation in AlbertaAs with any Canadian province, the Alberta Legislature has exclusive authority to make laws respecting education. Since 1905 the Legislature has used this capacity to continue the model of locally elected public and separate school boards which originated prior to 1905, as well as to create and/or...
- List of universities and colleges in Alberta