Career Information
Pursuing a degree in art or design opens the doorway to a wide variety of career paths related to the visual arts. The purpose of Western's Associate of Arts in Art Foundation is to provide our graduates with maximum flexibility to customize their career trajectory, whether they choose to enter the workforce directly upon leaving here, or whether they choose to pursue additional educational opportunities.
While earning a degree in art certainly provides our students with the necessary technical background for an art or design related career, it also helps them to develop an array of skills that have broad application outside of the visual arts. Earning a degree in art is therefore beneficial no matter what direction a student's career ends up taking. These vital skills include:
- Critical thinking
- Design thinking
- Creative problem solving
- Visual literacy
- Collaboration
- Self-motivation
- Flexibility
- Adaptability
- The ability to give and take critique
- Advertising Artist
- Advertising Designer
- Animator
- Architect
- Archivist
- Art Critic
- Art Director
- Art Educator
- Art Therapist
- Commercial Photographer
- Conservator
- Craft Artist
- Curator
- Exhibit Designer
- Exhibition Coordinator
- Fashion Designer
- Fine Artist
- Gallerist
- Graphic Art/Printing Technician
- Graphic Designer
- Illustrator
- Makeup and Wig Designer
- Multimedia Artist
- Photographic Process Worker
- Photo Journalist
- Art Directors: $93k
- Craft Artists: $40k
- Fine Artists & Illustrators: $49k
- Multimedia Artists and Animators: $72k
- Fashion Designers: $73k
- Graphic Designers: $50k
- Archivists, Curators, and Museum Workers: $48k
- Primary Educators: $58k
- Secondary Educators: $60k
- Postsecondary Educator: $78k
- Architects: $79k
- Art Editors: $59k
- Art Therapists: $51k
- Photographic Process Workers: $29k
- Commercial Photographer: $34k
- Designers, All Others: $60k
- Artists and Related Workers, All Others: $65k
- Graphic Art/Printing Technician: 40k
*Median salaries listed are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics