The SMC Art department offers courses in a wide range of media including: drawing, design, figure drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, glass-blowing, stone carving, jewelry, digital media, and programming. Our students are encouraged to develop their visual language through exploring and combining media while building rich portfolios for transfer and continued art practice.
We believe that an art degree is a solid foundation for any profession and this can be seen in both our students who have entered successful art and non-art related fields. The combination of applied skills and critical thinking encountered in an art program enables art majors to think quickly and creatively and to approach problems with curiosity and a drive for design solutions that questions functionality, practicality, aesthetics and ethics. Art majors are are equipped with a versatility that has placed our SMC alumni in successful careers as exhibiting artists, designers, animators, art directors, architects, art educators, curators, and business owners. Our program has additionally produced art majors who have taken their foundational knowledge of art and design and built thriving careers as engineers, psychologists, software designers, lawyers, educators, and sales and marketing professionals.
Art majors develop skills that are highly valued in professional fields including:
- Critical and creative thinking
- Ability to initiate a project, define the parameters, research it and realize its ideal form
- Visual literacy and the strengths of visual communication
- An understanding of materials and applications and how they can be interpreted
- A love for problem solving through design principles
- Methods of capturing and directing the eye
- Consideration of the moral, ethical and environmental responsibilities inherent to making
Articulation Agreements with Colleges/Universities
Students who plan to transfer need to know which courses completed at Santa Monica College will be accepted at the college/university they plan to attend.
If the school you are transferring to is not included in the lists below, please connect with a counselor(opens in new window) (opens in new window) to find out more about the requirements for your school of interest. SMC counselors are dedicated to ensuring your academic and transfer success!
Virtual Art School Panel Presentation
Are you interested in transferring to an Art and Design School? View the zoom presentation recorded on October 6, 2020 via the link below.
Learn more about financial aid and the ways to afford private art college!
Participating Schools:
- Art Center College of Design
- California College of the Arts
- California Institute of Art
- Otis College of Art and Design
- Laguna College of Art and Design