Education Online - Online Degrees, Career Training, Continuing Education News & Articles by IEducationblogs.com

Art History Degree

Do you have a deep appreciation for art, but studio classes just aren’t for you? Perhaps earning an art history degree is right for you. With a degree in this field, you will begin to understand the influences and motivations behind the world’s great masterpieces as well as trends in contemporary art. Regardless of what area of art you choose to study, your knowledge of art’s rich history will provide you with solid career training.

A degree in art history will provide and enhance your skills in observation, research, communication, and teamwork as well as expose you to the artifacts and artwork of other time periods and cultures.

Art historians have a wide variety of career choices available to them, including:

• Teacher
• Art critic/reporter
• Buyer and archivist for public and private collections
• Collector and seller of art and antiques
• Scholarly researcher and grant writer

Working in this field involves researching, observing, and writing about a wide variety of types of art; you might also choose to study cultural influences and social and historical conditions that have contributed to specific works of art.

History student interested in the humanities will benefit greatly by studying art history; artifacts associated with specific periods throughout history provide insight and various points of view about events and cultural practices within particular time periods in history.

When earning your degree, you will take classes in language, writing, math, humanities, and sciences; courses related to your major in art history might include design, seminars, and art appreciation. Through your core courses, you will also gain an understanding of how all aspects of culture and history influence one another and are connected.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has predicted that careers for curators, archivists, and museum technicians will grow by approximately 18% through 2016. Competition is expected due to cutbacks in art funding; however, entry level positions in museums and galleries should be available to those who obtain a bachelor’s degree in the field. Archivist and curator positions will require a master’s degree. Based on data from May 2007, $46,000 was the median salary for museum curators.