Art History & Digital Media Art Department

Whether you’re creating digital art or pursuing an art history degree, you can explore both and hone your artistic skills in the Art History & Digital Media Art department. We’re a rapidly expanding department, which is part of a vibrant arts community that exists on campus, in New York City and around the world. We have award-winning faculty in our department, and students investigating the history of art within broad trans-cultural contexts.

Virtual reality, graphic design, digital drawing, photography and video are some of the subjects you can expect to learn about in the Art History & Digital Media Art department.

Our faculty have relationships with world-class museums, galleries, and artists in the New York metropolitan area, through which students gain unparalleled hands-on experience in their chosen fields.

Our students have interned at:

The Museum of Modern Art
The New Museum
The Art Students League
numerous graphic design firms, graphic art magazines, and production companies.

The department also offers the Guggenheim Internship Program (see Guggenheim Internship Program), which takes place in Venice, Italy. The program partners with the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy – a distinction shared by only a handful of art departments in the world.

What Will You Do?

Capitalizing on these opportunities, our graduates have pursued careers as:

art historians
museum curators
art gallery owners
architects
copyright lawyers
exhibition designers
fashion designers
librarians
graphic designers
illustrators, photographers
film producers
advertising executives

Also critical to our students’ success are the study abroad courses regularly taught by the department faculty. With options ranging from a VR/360-degree video course in Venice, Italy, to an in-depth study of public memorials in Buenos Aires, Argentina, students are able to use the world as their classroom.

Meet an Art History Major: Laureta Ismailaj

“I came to America from Albania back in 2000. I started at Parsons School of Design and graduated with a degree in fashion design. [Later on], I was looking to go back to school and I was thinking to go back to Parsons, but I found Manhattan College, which is nearby where I live. I was torn between these two decisions — should I go to Parsons or should I go to Manhattan College? I started at Manhattan College and I found myself filling in the gaps I had from the past. Back in Europe, I had studied history of art, but not in this depth and detail. We learned things by practicing. We had to go to museums and study a specific artist and a specific event. The art department at Manhattan College isn’t big, but its professors are amazing and fully equipped with knowledge. They’re kind of like a second family for me — it’s gotten to that point. The Parsons idea was gone forever after that.

"This semester, under the instruction of Dr. Pottinger, chair of the visual and performing arts department, and with the help of two other amazing professors, Dr. Savoy and Dr. Lerer, and Amy Surak at the library, we organized my first exhibition at the O’Malley Library. To prepare, I worked closely with Dr. Savoy and Dr. Lerer and went over what works were going to be displayed. We brought together everything from my sketches to the most advanced 3D digital media.

"The exhibit has a story behind it. It’s about what we learn in our society and how it’s connected to nature, how women in nature are oppressed, how we somehow still face gender inequality in our society. Also, environmental issues have always been important to me since I was a little girl, actually. I was always connected to the beauty of nature. So, some of my artwork is related to environmental issues. They are very simple works, but they make a big statement.

"After I graduate, I would love to be more involved in an organization that deals with environmental issues, to help through art. My choice may be between an environmental organization and going back into something like design. I ran my own business for a couple years and I’m ready to introduce more eco-friendly materials into fashion design if I can.”

Our Programs

The Art History & Digital Media Art Department provides you with an opportunity to study, develop, perform and pursue your creative passions in a supportive environment, surrounded by one of the world’s greatest hubs of art, history and culture: New York City.