Department of Visual Arts

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The Department of Visual Arts hosts three vibrant areas of practical specialisation – Fine Art, Creative Jewellery & Metal Design, and Visual Communication Design – which integrate intensive studio practice with critical academic inquiry to foster thoughtful creative practitioners who challenge convention. On the theory side, Visual Studies combines visual culture studies, art history, and media studies into an essential interdisciplinary toolkit for navigating today’s evolving visual landscape and digital futures. Our teaching faculty comprises nationally and internationally recognised artists, designers, writers, and scholars who actively contribute to global discourse through landmark exhibitions, pioneering research, and industry-driven projects that push the boundaries of creative expression. The integration of traditional skills, emerging digital technologies, design innovation, interdisciplinary methodologies, and workplace-integrated learning enable students to engage with contemporary creative practices and industries in meaningful and impactful ways and establishes the foundations of their future professional networks in a supportive and nurturing environment. 

“Rooted in Africa yet globally connected, the Department of Visual Arts fosters ethical, critically engaged, and forward-thinking creative practice and critical enquiry, empowering graduates to shape the evolving creative economy in South Africa and beyond”

Integration & Specialisation

The complex and shifting nature of the 21st century society and job market is the reason that disciplinary integration forms the foundation of our practical programme. We produce students who are adept at generating new knowledge through trans-medial research skills and technological innovation. Our undergraduate programme thus links traditional art-making skills such as drawing, sculpting, printmaking, typography, illustration, painting, photography, object- and jewellery design & goldsmithing with progressive, new-media technologies to equip students with a sustainable understanding and command of design. 

Students specialise in Visual Communication Design, Fine Art or Creative Jewellery & Metal Design, and thus exit the degree with a professional qualification. Throughout the degree, we cultivate the ability to act and think critically and creatively with appropriate self-knowledge and confidence. Our ethos is to create thought-leaders who create and design in a way that changes the world around them for the better. The four-year degree is the equivalent of an honour's degree with an NQF level 7. This enables students to continue their studies through entering a range of Master’s programmes locally and internationally. Our highly skilled staff offer postgraduate degrees all the way through to doctoral level. 

Why obtain a Visual Arts degree at Stellenbosch University

Whether you choose to specialise in Visual Communication Design, Fine Art or Creative Jewellery & Metal Design, you will have exposure to diverse approaches to art and design thinking paired with advanced conceptual and technical skills in well-equipped studios, workshops and labs.  

In addition to being some of the most recognised names in the South African art and design worlds, our graduates are uniquely equipped to enter a diverse range of professional fields including arts administration, advertising and marketing, curatorship and art dealing, film and media production, education, entrepreneurship, GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums), scientific and book illustration, journalism and publishing.