The program is designed to provide intensive professional training for the student who proposes to pursue a career within the field of artincluding art making, criticism, and theory. The scope of the UC San Diego program includes painting, sculpture, performance, installation art, public art, photography, film, video, and digital media. The program is unique in that the course of study provides for and encourages student mobility within this range of traditional and media-based components. It also offers opportunities for collaborative work.<br><br>The educational path of students is focused around their particular interests in art. The department seeks to provide an integrated and comprehensive introduction to the possibilities of contemporary art production, the intellectual structures that underlie them, and the world view which they entail. All art-making activities are considered serious intellectual endeavors, and all students in the program find themselves confronted by the need to develop their intellectual and critical abilities in working out their artistic positions. A body of theory-oriented courses is required. Therefore, we have no craft-oriented programs or facilities, nor do we have any courses in art education or art therapy. The courses offered are intended to develop in the student a coherent and informed understanding of the past and recent developments in art and art theory. The program also provides for establishing a confident grasp of contemporary technological possibilities, including those involved in film, video, photography, and the electronic media.