As one of the most overlooked departments on campus, the art department offers some of the most creative courses at UNA. Whether you think of yourself as a modern-day Michelangelo or have never picked up a brush in your life, the faculty of the art department will mold you into a shining beacon of creativity.

Sitting quietly amongst a cacophony of band and theatre students, the art department boasts one of the tallest departmental buildings on campus, next to the Floyd Science building. These four floors house a variety of arts, from drawing and painting, to ceramics and digital design.

Before proceeding to class, I stopped by the offices in the Visual Arts building.

From there I was kindly directed to the art gallery, which was currently showcasing winners from the campus publication “Lights and Shadows.” Exhibitions vary throughout the year, but often include works from senior artists.

One of the first classes I had the pleasure of visiting was a Design II class, which is design for three-dimensional art. The variety of materials I saw the students working with ranged from plastic drinking straws to nails. This variety didn’t stop as I returned later in the day for a painting class to see students working on hand-stretched canvas and large organic slabs of wood.

I ended my day-long photo journey with students in an afternoon ceramics class. Seeing a pottery wheel in action and then seeing the final result is a thrill within itself, and it was a great way to end a tour of one of my new favorite places on campus.