BFAInterdisciplinary
Combine art, craft, design, and technology to create something only you could make.
Overview
Invent your own creative practice
Ben Solo's (BFA Jewelry & Metal Arts 2023) practice merges art, science, and engineering. His large-scale thesis project used acrylic, LED, Arduino, and 3D print cast silver.
Where tradition meets transformation
CCA’s Interdisciplinary BFA is made for students who don’t fit into a single category—artists, designers, and creatives eager to experiment and build a practice all their own. That could look like blending furniture making with digital design, pairing animation with sculpture, or specializing solely in ceramics. Whether combining practices or diving deep into a discipline, you’ll connect techniques and materials across fields to build a creative practice that’s uniquely yours. Your path is up to you.
PJ Parker (BFA Sculpture and Jewelry & Metal Arts 2025) is a surrealist sculptor and metal artist who produced his senior thesis project using nearly every shop on campus, from the Hybrid Lab to the Mold Making Studio.
Where digital meets material
At the heart of the Interdisciplinary program is a merging of time-honored craft techniques and emerging creative tools. Technology isn’t new. And it isn’t just digital. It’s been part of human creativity for centuries. From baskets to robotics, kilns to code.
A brand-new Craft & Creative Technologies (CCT) concentration embraces this idea so you can more deeply explore both traditional craft and cutting-edge tech. We integrate CCA’s deep roots in time-honored craft while exploring what’s possible—and what’s next—with emerging tools such as coding, AR/VR, digital weaving, 3D modeling, and AI.
Studios & Shops
Tools for every kind of thinking
Over 70 specialty studios support traditional and digital fabrication, such as the Furniture Machine Shop and Mold Making Studio, as well as Hybrid, AR/VR, and Digital Craft Labs.
Room to let your imagination thrive
Access a full range of tools, shops, and materials. All under one roof. This program’s flexible structure lets you experiment across CCA’s rich ecosystem of analog and digital making. You’ll test unexpected combinations and get hands-on with anything you want to try.
CCA is one of only a handful of art colleges in the U.S. that teach traditional and digital weaving using jacquard technology. The Weaving Studio has 16 floor looms and three computer-operated looms.
Whether you’re laser-cutting felt, 3D-printing models, or welding sculptural forms, the tools are here—and so is the freedom to use them boldly. Move between the digital and material using CNC routers, digital looms, potter bots, laser cutters, and many other tools that empower discovery across disciplines.
Faculty
Mentorship from working professionals
Learn from artists who cross boundaries
As an Interdisciplinary student, you’ll work across programs at the college. So will your faculty. That means you’ll gain expert insight into how different fields connect and how your own practice can grow through collaboration. From printmakers pushing the bounds of AI to ceramicists experimenting with laser cutting, your CCA mentors are those pushing the boundaries of what making means. Together, you’ll shape a practice that’s responsive to the world, rooted in technique, and alive with possibility.
Curtis Arima, Chair of Interdiscplinary
Curtis Hidemasa Nickerson Arima is a metalsmith, jeweler, and artist who explores the emotional and historical power of materials. He has exhibited and published work internationally, with features in Metalsmith Magazine and shows at the Fuller Craft Museum, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, and New York City Jewelry Week. As chair of Interdisciplinary Studies, he helps students to develop their artistic voice and explore more sustainable practices.
Curriculum
Freedom with structure
With tools like a KUKA Agilus Robot and 3D Potterbots, the Digital Craft Lab is home to experimental research in architectural design, digital fabrication, material science, data visualization, and robotics.
Investigate and innovate your own ideas
Our Interdisciplinary curriculum gives you both the support and freedom to shape your studies. You’ll take courses across departments, integrate writing and critical theory, and build a studio practice that reflects your personal questions and passions. Want to explore climate justice through ceramics? Animate ancestral knowledge systems through textiles and code? You can do that here.
Choose courses aligned to your interests
All undergraduates begin with a two-semester First Year Experience, where you’ll explore tools and materials across disciplines. Then, with faculty support, you’ll choose studio courses across departments and chart a study plan that reflects your unique interests. Along the way, you’ll take classes in art history, critical theory, and the humanities to help connect your studio work to bigger ideas. View sample courses.
Areas of study
- Animation
- Architecture
- Ceramics
- Comics
- Communication Design
- Fashion Design
- Film
- Furniture
- Game Arts and Design
- History of Art and Visual Culture
- Illustration
- Industrial Design
- Interaction Design
- Interior Design
- Jewelry and Metal Arts
- Painting and Drawing
- Photography
- Printmedia
- Sculpture
- Textiles
- Writing and Literature
BFA Interdisciplinary
Foundational Curriculum
- Drawing Studio
- 3.0 units
- 2D Studio
- 3.0 units
- 3D Studio
- 3.0 units
- 4D Studio
- 3.0 units
- Introduction to the Arts
- 3.0 units
- Introduction to the Modern Arts
- 3.0 units
- Writing 1
- 3.0 units
- Writing 2
- 3.0 units
- Foundations in Critical Studies
- 3.0 units
Interdisciplinary Major Requirements
- Interdisciplinary Mentorship
- 6.0 units
- Approved Studio Courses (1000/2000 level
- 6.0 units
- Approved Studio Courses (2000/3000 level)
- 12.0 units
- Approved Studio Courses (3000/4000 level)
- 6.0 units
- Media History (in any discipline)
- 3.0 units
- Junior Mentorship
- 3.0 units
- Junior Review
- 0.0 units
- Professional Practice & Critique
- 3.0 units
- Senior Project
- 6.0 units
- Studio Electives
- 12.0 units
Collegewide Curriculum
- Critical Ethnic Studies Studio
- 3.0 units
- Upper Division Interdisciplinary Studio
- 3.0 units
- Critical Ethnic Studies Seminar (2000 level)
- 3.0 units
- Literary and Performing Arts Studies (2000 level)
- 3.0 units
- Philosophy and Critical Theory (2000 level)
- 3.0 units
- Social Science/History (2000 level)
- 3.0 units
- Science/Math (2000 level)
- 3.0 units
- History of Art and Visual Culture (2000 level)
- 3.0 units
- Humanities and Sciences Electives (2000/3000 level)
- 6.0 units
- Humanities and Sciences Electives (3000 level)
- 6.0 units
Total 120.0 units
Concentration spotlight: Craft & Creative Technologies
Coursework for the optional Craft & Creative Technologies (CCT) concentration combines cutting-edge technology with hands-on craftsmanship from day one. Starting with digital tools like 3D modeling and AI-aided design, discover how to transform screen-based concepts into real objects using clay, metal, fabric, wood, and emerging materials.
Concentration requirements
- Approved Digital Tools Course (3 units)
- CCT Studio Courses (1000/2000 level) (6 units)
- CCT Studio Courses (2000/3000 level) (9 units)
- CCT Studio Courses (3000/4000 level) (6 units)
- Tech-Intensive Studio (3 units)
- Media History (CCT-approved) (3 units)
- Studio Electives (9 units)
Careers
Work across industries
Graduate with agility, depth, and direction
CCA Interdisciplinary students graduate with the skills and confidence to do their own thing—whether pursuing an individual path or working with a team. You’ll leave with experience in more than one field, a strong sense of what drives your work, and the ability to bring big ideas to life. That matters in today’s fast-changing creative industries. The ability to think across disciplines and adapt your practice is more valuable than ever.
A model wears work by Galen Boone (BFA Individualized Studies 2018), who founded PALLAS metals and has won awards like a $15,000 Windgate Fellowship.
What careers do interdisciplinary students pursue?
Our alumni use their diverse abilities to launch careers as artists, designers, educators, curators, fabricators, web developers, entrepreneurs, and more. Some start their own collectives. Others work in museums, creative agencies, research labs, or emerging tech fields. Most carve out hybrid careers that reflect their distinct mix of skills and passions.
Success stories
News & Events
Inspiration in every direction
How to Apply
Design your own experience
Ready to build a future only you can imagine? CCA’s Interdisciplinary BFA offers you the freedom to explore and the structure to grow. Combine crafts and coding, sculpture and storytelling, textiles and theory—your education becomes your own creative experiment.