MU’s Art program develops creative thinkers, professional artists and cultural leaders through a curriculum that balances innovation, traditional craftsmanship, and critical thinking. Art majors can study drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, ceramics, fibers, sculpture and new media. Students have access to a print studio, digital and darkroom photo labs, a papermaking/fiber facility, an anagama kiln, and three state-of-the-art digital labs. The MU Art Program, founded in 1877, offers BA, BFA and MFA degrees. The undergraduate Summer Study Abroad Program alternates between Italy and Netherlands/Belgium.

Students can encounter art and exhibit work at the School of Visual Studies’ George Caleb Bingham Gallery, which features student, faculty and visiting artist exhibitions. The MU Ellis Library has an extensive art collection (including an important collection of comic, underground and editorial cartoons), The university’s Museum of Art and Archaeology is an accredited museum with an extensive collection of art and artifacts. The Art Program also has a relationship with the Center for Missouri Studies collections and gallery and with many galleries in Columbia.  The School of Visual Studies offers field trips to the St. Louis Art Museum, and other St. Louis museums and galleries and also to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and other Kansas City museums and galleries.