Many of Dana Haugaard’s favorite stories about students making art involve those who don’t necessarily think of themselves as artists.
Take pre-med student Ameer Rifai, who graduated in 2023 with a co-major in biology and integrated visual arts (IVAC). For his IVAC honors thesis, he researched the life of his Syrian immigrant family in the years before he was born — back when his eldest siblings were still young.
Ameer Rifai poses with a piece from his honors thesis entitled “There is No Certainty: My Mind Tries in the Utmost Conjecture.” Photo by Selmam Hassan.
Rifai worked from film negatives and printed out old photos of family vacations and gatherings. Combining his passions for photography and science, he placed these images under a microscope.
“He worked with [associate professor] Jason Francisco to capture these microscopic views of family life that he then printed five-feet-by-five-feet wide, so they became abstract compositions that were really quite stunning,” says Haugaard, director of visual arts and associate teaching professor in the Department of Film and Media.
For years, Emory’s visual art instructors have used sculpture, painting, printmaking and other media to help students create striking artwork from the ideas that compel them.
New changes are allowing them to reach more students — artists and non-artists alike.
First, there are the recent additions of more full-time visual arts faculty — such as assistant professor Krista Clark and assistant teaching professor Aaron Putt. In spring 2026, the visual arts will nearly double its teaching space as the film and media program moves its sound stage from the visual arts building to a new location at Emory Point. More exhibits in the building’s spacious art gallery are on their way as well.
Expanded space, expanded classes
Kevin Karnes, senior associate dean of faculty and divisional dean of arts, calls the expansion of visual arts nothing short of game changing.
“It will allow us to increase our offerings in the visual arts, including courses that are in extraordinarily high demand already,” he says. Such classes include everything from introductory drawing and printmaking, to advanced videomaking to opportunities to study art abroad.
Karnes expects the changes to double the number of students taking visual arts classes.
At the same time, plans call for maintaining relatively small class sizes. “That keeps them really special,” Haugaard says. “We’re able to know everyone’s name and engage in profound critical dialogue together.”
“We are coming out very loudly and proudly, making a commitment to invest in artistic programming and faculty across the arts and humanities,” says Karnes, who notes that the ability to take a drawing or photography class matters to students, regardless of major. “They expect to be able to come here and study the visual arts at Emory at the same level as they study mathematics or economics or philosophy.”
Giving options and nourishing souls
Olivia Sung painted this piece as part of her senior capstone project. Photo by the artist.
Sung recalls choosing Emory over another college precisely because Emory gave her the choice to double major. While psychology first captured her imagination in high school, her passion for art is more deeply ingrained. “It’s always been an ongoing project in my life,” she says, “so doing both was non-negotiable.”
The latest chapter of her ongoing project is her senior capstone series: a collection of delicate oil paintings featuring sheep. The project builds upon a series she began in the fall relating to a family health crisis. Sung calls creating the work “a very cathartic way of expressing what I was feeling.”
Having a space to express himself was important for Rifai as well. “I think the best word for it is ‘nourish,’” he says. “Art helped nourish my soul at Emory.”
From creation to curation
As it builds capacity for its studio courses, visual arts is also expanding the scope of its gallery program thanks to a grant from the Office of the Provost’s Arts and Humanistic Inquiry Initiative.
Starting in fall 2025, a course that actively involves students in organizing and curating exhibits at the visual arts gallery will be offered twice as often — in both the spring and fall.
“So, they’re playing a role in conversations about: ‘What art are we choosing and why? What is the gestalt of the show?’” explains Haugaard.
For students interested in working in galleries or the auction world, the class offers valuable real-world experience engaging with artists.
It also gives students the chance to learn about practical matters such as how to create wall labels and hang a piece of art by carefully considering the space and surrounding artwork.
Art classes for chemists … and everyone else
Many of the visual arts classes are also intended for students who don’t necessarily envision careers in the arts.
“If a biology student wants to take, say, a sculpture class, we need to be able to offer them that,” Haugaard says.
After all, that’s how he got his own start as an artist.
While majoring in biology as an Emory undergraduate student, he felt himself drawn, more and more, to visual arts.
“I can pinpoint the minute my life changed directions,” he says. “I wanted to take a photography class, but it was full, so I landed in a sculpture class and everything just kind of clicked.”
His own story, which includes a successful career as a sculptor and arts educator, makes him an enthusiastic champion of potential young artists.
“Being able to provide that space for others is really important,” he says, “because they don't know if they want to do it or not until they try.”
Sung and Haugaard chat during Intermediate Sculpture. Small classes allow students and instructors to “engage in profound critical dialogue together,” says Haugaard. Photo by Sarah Woods, Emory Photo/Video.
In fact, he posits, it’s often his students who lack previous artistic experience and ideas of what art is “supposed to be” who create the freshest work.
The mix of majors and non-majors in visual arts classes “makes them so much more interesting,” says Sung, who is considering a career as a gallerist.
As an example, she mentions a friend from an intermediate sculpture class majoring in chemistry. “He’s making a sculpture about chemistry equations,” Sung says. “Certain equations reflect how lonely he felt during the start of college and the chemical bonds in others reflect how he grew to have friends.”’
Like Sung, the ability to double major in film and media and biology was key to Rifai’s decision to come to Emory.
“I’d been taking photos since I was 13 and didn’t want to lose that part of myself,” he says.
Rifai regarded his Emory photography classes as an important counterpoint to his pre-med curriculum. “Everyone’s concerned about the next research or internship opportunity,” he says, “so there’s a beauty to stopping to create something physical with your own hands.”
Rifai, who starts medical school in the fall, says his time at Emory helped crystallize the importance of art in his life. These days, he says he even sees “a certain artistry” in the specialty of surgery, which he hopes to pursue while he continues to take photographs in his spare time.
“I believe that everyone is creative,” he says, “and I’m glad there’s this push at Emory to encourage the creativity within every student.”