   Studio Angelico is Siena Heights University’s nationally accredited art department, offering degrees in Graphic Design, Art History and Fine Arts. As part of these degrees, you can explore art media such as animation, ceramics, drawing, graphic design, metalsmithing, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, video editing and web design. In addition, opportunities are available for you to combine your art degree with various other majors, minors and certifications in areas such as business, psychology, chemistry, museum studies, and teacher education, which will help you prepare for careers in such fields as advertising, art therapy, art conservation, museum work and art education.
At Studio Angelico, you will enjoy small class sizes, personalized attention, up-to-date facilities, and a supportive and diverse community of learners that will foster your growth as an artist. Our Visiting Artists Program connects you with experts from around the world; the Klemm Gallery in Studio Angelico not only features the work of our visiting artists but provides a professional venue for our BFA majors' senior projects. Educational travel opportunities are also available.
We invite you to meet our faculty, to tour our facilities and to present a portfolio of your artwork for possible scholarship. Visit us on Facebook. To arrange a campus visit, or to request more information about Portfolio Review Days, contact the Admissions Office at 517-264-7180 or 800-521-0009, Ext. 7180.
For more information about the Art Program, please visit Studio Angelico’s official site.
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Art Department Mission Statement –The program’s primary goal is to develop the visual artist. Students are encouraged to take risks, speculate, explore, research, create and pursue artworks of quality. Students are asked to deal in materials and in ideas, to explore past perceptions of the world of art and their interior and exterior worlds of imagination and values. These expectations call for a commitment to study, a disciplined approach to work and a willingness to integrate personal and cultural identities in their artwork. | - Creative Stages
- Creative Design
- About the Program
- Meet the Faculty
- Klemm Gallery
- Promising Artists Day
Learn more about this nationally recognized youth programChildren in grades 1-12 are invited to participate in Siena Heights University's Creative Stages program. This winter's program runs from Feb. 11-April 26, 2013 on the Adrian campus. Drama classes run from 4:15-5:15 p.m. each week. Students in grades 1-3 will have creative dramatics class Mondays, students in grades 4-6 will have advanced creative dramatics class on Tuesdays and students in grades 7-12 will have a young actor’s workshop Thursdays. Creative Stages teachers include professional teaching artists as well as Siena Heights University students. NEW: The additions of Siena Teen Acapelicans, aka "Trebled Teens," for grades 7-12 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. each Thursday and Youth Choir for grades 4-6 (4:15-5:15 p.m.) and 7-12 (5:30-6:30 p.m.) each Tuesday. All will be conducted in Performing Arts Center on the SHU campus. Cost is $85 per child, $115 for two or $145 for three or more for dramatics and young actors, $65 for acapelicans and youth choir. Private lessons are also available for voice, piano and guitar. To register or for more information, contact Amy Sturtevant at 517-264-7890. To view a printable brochure and registration form, click here.
Robert Conlon Balances the Business and the Artistic Realities of Graphic Design
SHU Assistant Professor of Art Robert Conlon (above) has brought a combination of real-world practicality and artistic innovation into his graphic design classes.
Creative Design
Robert Conlon Balances the Business and the Artistic Realities of Graphic Design
(Note: This feature story appeared in the October 2009 edition of "Campus Connection," a collaborative publication of colleges and universities in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan.)
Robert Conlon’s teaching career originally wasn’t by design.
In fact, the former theology student had sketched a different plan when he moved to Chicago to study for his doctorate degree in philosophy more than a decade ago.
However, because of his background in audio and video production – and to pay some bills – he accepted a job working as an art director for a small design firm. This eventually led to a marketing manager position for the movie company Paramount Communications. Eventually, he began teaching graphic design part-time at a local college. It was there he discovered his passion for teaching.
“I felt like I had found what I both loved and needed to do,” Conlon said.
In 2007 Siena Heights University hired Conlon as a full-time faculty member to teach graphic design in its nationally recognized art department. At SHU, he has brought a combination of real-world practicality and artistic innovation to the classroom. Finding the right balance for each student is his goal.
“The first thing I want students to realize is that graphic design is a service,” Conlon said of the “business” side of graphic design. “Students will be working for clients, and ultimately the only thing that matters is meeting the client’s need.”
However, he said employers also value designers’ skills such as creativity and idea generation.
“I also like to make sure students don’t forget they are artists,” he said. “Nothing makes me happier than when a former student finances their ‘art career’ by working as a designer.”
Conlon started in graphic design when tools like rubber cement and X-Acto knives were the norm. Now, they are primarily electronic, with computers and high-end software the industry standard.
“The tools are something that always change, but being able to use one’s creativity to generate exciting ideas is what will give someone a successful career in design,” he said.
Gregg Milligan, a computer information systems major who graduated from SHU last May, completed two of Conlon’s graphic design classes to help develop his creative side. These skills currently help him in his job with Human Element, a web site development company based in Ann Arbor, Mich.
“He’ll give you a project, let you work on it and ask questions,” Milligan said of Conlon’s easygoing teaching style. “You have the freedom to expand. You’re learning the material, but you’re also learning to branch out and forge your own path rather than just being handed a syllabus.”
Conlon said his students often have “free reign” during the creative process.
“I have a certain core of things I want students to learn,” Conlon said of his teaching philosophy. “But the bottom line is, the best commodity students can take out of my classes is learning how to come up with ideas. We are moving from the ‘information age’ into the ‘idea age,’ so finding that creativity within themselves may be the most important asset they will have for the future.”
Conlon, also an accomplished musician, pushes the boundaries of his own creativity. Last fall, he taught his first animation class, and also led an experimental filmmaking class this past summer.
“Our emphasis was on good ideas rather than learning about all the technical aspects of animation,” Conlon said of the animation class. “It was about pushing creativity into the realm of motion.”
His students can also interact with him on Facebook, a popular Internet social media channel.
“I have a (Facebook) group for each class I teach,” Conlon said. “There they can post pictures or comments and put up interesting links. It makes for more informal connections and adds some fun.”
Learn more about the Art program, degrees and its concentrations.Studio Angelico, the name of the building that houses the Art Program at Siena Heights University, has been a center for art and art education for more than 60 years. Named for Fra Angelico, the Renaissance painter of the Dominican Order who lived in 15th century Florence, the Studio continues a long tradition of valuing quality, creativity, craftsmanship and reflection in the making of art.
The Art Department offers Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Bachelor of Arts (BA) degrees. The BFA is an intensive studio program intended for students interested in pursuing either graduate school or professional studio careers. The BA is a strong liberal arts degree well-suited for students interested in combining the visual arts with other disciplines such as psychology, literature, or business.
Offerings include:
- Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Art
- Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Graphic Design
- Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art
- Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Art History
- Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art with Visual Arts Education K-12 Certification
- Minor in Art History
- Minor in Art
The Art Program has concentrations in:
To learn more about the Art Program, click here.
Mission Statement
Studio Angelico, a community of artists and educators, stimulates, challenges, supports and educates students to become:
- educated viewers with visual literacy and critical thinking,
- professional artists with technical and creative direction,
- thoughtful and responsible citizens in a global community.
We seek through dialogue and practice to work together within a liberal arts context to appreciate, understand and communicate the diversity and complexity of the human experience as expressed through the visual arts. Meet the Art faculty members. Professor of Art Historypbarr@sienaheights.edu517-264-7863  Associate Professor of Artrconlon@sienaheights.edu517-264-7864  Professor of Artcreising@sienaheights.edu517-264-7866  Assistant Professor of Arttvanbeke@sienaheights.edu517-264-7848  Assistant Professor of Artnlanese@sienaheights.edu517-264-7862  Assistant Professor of Artezerbe@sienaheights.edu517-264-7861 Learn more about our major venue for a broad range of art exhibitions, Klemm Gallery.The Klemm Gallery provides a venue for a broad range of art exhibitions supporting the University's mission and reflecting the concerns and interests of the faculty and students in the Art program.
The gallery is named after Sister Jeannine Klemm, former chair of the Art program.
Each fall semester the gallery schedules three month-long solo or group exhibitions.
For a complete schedule of gallery events, please click here. Learn more about these workshops for high school art teachers and students.In the late fall, the Art Department at Siena Heights University usually invites high school students to participate in Promising Artists’ Day — a day of workshops designed to bring together, celebrate, and stimulate the creativity of high school art teachers and students.
For more information, click here. Additional InfoDegree:- Bachelor of Arts
- Bachelor of Fine Arts
Division:- Division of Visual and Performing Arts and Education
Location(s):Meet Siena Assistant Professor of Art; Ceramics & Foundations Digital Concepts  Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree; Minor: Art History; Concentration: Print Making
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