Department of Visual Arts

The Department of Visual Arts is an internationally recognised school that offers award-winning programmes in Jewellery Design, Fine Art, Visual Communication Design and Visual Studies from undergraduate to PhD.

Rooted in Africa yet globally connected, we are committed to an ethical, critically engaged, and forward-thinking creative enquiry. By integrating emerging digital media, practical skills, design innovation, and interdisciplinary approaches, our students are exceptionally well-prepared for the highly competitive and rapidly evolving creative economy. Our approach fosters creative problem-solving, independent creative development, and conceptual depth, empowering graduates with highly transferable skills and a truly diverse set of career opportunities and pathways. 

Our faculty of practising artists, designers, writers, curators and scholars, supported by invited guests, contribute to local global creative discourse through landmark exhibitions, cutting-edge transdisciplinary research, and socially-responsive projects that push the boundaries of creative expression. 

Because our graduates can demonstrate the ability to innovate through the integration of traditional craft and digital skills informed by sophisticated conceptual and theoretical knowledge, Visual Arts alumni are highly sought after in industry, and many have become leaders in the fields of art, design and education both here and abroad. They make excellent entrepreneurs, either establishing their own studios or creative agencies, or becoming professionals in fields as diverse as advertising or marketing, film & media production, the museum and heritage sectors, galleries and auction houses, education, journalism and communications, academia and research, and many more. 

The Visual Arts Department is also proud to manage the university art gallery, known as GUS, on behalf of the university. A very popular destination for art lovers and tourists alike, GUS showcases work by department staff, students and guest artists to our campus community and the public and provides a space for students to develop their professional skills.

Contact us
Phone: +27 21 808 3052
E-mail: [email protected]

Physical address
Visual Arts Building
Victoria Street
Stellenbosch

“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”

Our Programmes

BA in Visual Arts (Fine Arts)

This Visual Arts programme pathway offers comprehensive training in various Fine and Contemporary Art disciplines, including sculpture, printmaking, painting, drawing, photography and new media (video, digital art), and practical curatorial and exhibition-making skills. It prepares students for professional practice or further study.

BA in Visual Arts (Visual Communication Design)

The Visual Communication Design (VCD) programme pathway covers a broad range of communication design skills and techniques including graphic design, digital design, experience design, illustration and photography. As a critical and socially minded discipline, the programme encourages students to become creative agents of change within society. The programme therefore emphasises transdisciplinary, participatory and interactive design processes and solutions.

BA in Visual Arts (Jewellery Design)

This Visual Arts programme pathway focuses on designing and creating contemporary, creative jewellery and metal design, combining traditional techniques with innovative approaches. Jewellery design is a multi-faceted communication and representation tool that interlink two aspects: the visual conceptual design component and the technical execution/representation.

BA in Visual Studies

This theoretical programme consists of various modules that explore visual culture, art history and critical theory. It is ideal for students interested in the academic inquiry, critical analysis, and the evolving discourse of visual art, media, and culture.

Postgraduate Programmes

BA Honours in Visual Arts (Illustration)

This one-year programme focuses on advanced illustration modes and practices, encouraging experimentation and critical engagement with contemporary visual communication and the relationship between image and text.

MAVA (Art Education)

A research degree supporting specialised study in Fine and Contemporary Art, Visual Communication Design, or Jewellery Design practice, culminating in a thesis and creative body of work. A coursework-based degree which focuses on the role of art and design in education. It aims to develop socially conscious art and design educators who can contribute to transformative practices in diverse educational contexts, and critical scholarship on teaching and learning for art and design education.

MA in Visual Arts

A research degree supporting specialised study in Fine and Contemporary Art, Visual Communication Design, or Jewellery Design practice, culminating in a thesis and creative body of work.

PhD in Visual Arts

The doctoral programme offers an opportunity for independent, advanced research that contributes to the visual arts field, encompassing theoretical and practice-led studies.