Visual Arts is an exploratory program designed for high school juniors and seniors who have an artistic interest, dedication and enthusiasm they wish to pursue in a structured course of study. The program is a carefully planned arts curriculum that promotes intellectual, aesthetic and emotional growth. Discipline is emphasized as an essential component of a personal work ethic.

Students take studio classes in drawing, graphics, color theory, two-dimensional design, and sculpture, as well as survey classes in art history, tracing visual arts from prehistory to contemporary philosophies. Studio assignments are designed to introduce the student to a variety of media and the nature of the creative process and art objects. The Visual Arts faculty also stresses the importance of the academic program as an integral part of each student's education.

The UNCSA Visual Arts Program took part in the Grand Opening Festival of the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) that took place March 24 and 25, 2010 in Raleigh.  Students and faculty mounted an exhibition in the North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation Education Gallery of the East Building.  This major retrospective of work from current students and alumni offered a powerful glimpse into the history and future direction of the program. The exhibit, entitled “Object Lessons,” included over 70 paintings, drawings, sculptures and mixed-media works, and was curated by Visual Arts Program Director Greg Shelnutt and faculty members Pamela Griffin and Will Taylor. 

The work of UNCSA VA alumnus and director Greg Shelnutt was featured in the August 2009 issue of Winston-Salem Monthly magazine:

The Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) inspired anti-smoking mural by Pam Griffin’s 2006 VA I class (installed near the entrance to the Student Health Center in the Hanes Student Commons) is featured as a part of the Youth Arts Gallery on Smoke-Free Forsyth’s web site: http://www.smokefreeforsyth.org/mural.aspx.