Visual Arts at Oklahoma City Community College

Oklahoma City Community College, originally known as South Oklahoma City Junior College was founded in 1972. OCCC has more than 60 degree and certificate programs for approximately 17,000 credit-seeking students. OCCC has to option for students in certain programs to transfer to a four-year school or have direct entry into the workplace. OCCC Visual Arts degree program is a 16-week course offered to students in two 8-week terms, earning a minimum of 61 credit hours to obtain an Associate degree in Visual Arts, with the capability to transfer to a 4-year college or university like Oklahoma Baptist University, University of Oklahoma, Mid-American Christian University, and many more universities (https://www.occc.edu/ca/articulation/). According to Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education (https://www.okhighered.org/transfer-students/policies.shtml) to transfer to an Oklahoma public 4-year university after obtaining an associate in arts, the policy guarantees you associates degree will satisfy all freshmen and sophomore general education requirements at the university you choose. Another positive aspect is if you are transferring before you complete your associate degree, you will still receive general education credit but only for those courses that match those at the college you choose. Jeremy Fineman is the coordinator of Visual Arts at OCCC. Fineman teaches ceramics 1 & 2, mosaics 1 & 2, Foundations: color and design, Art History Renaissance to Contemporary, Art appreciation and drawing. He graduated from the University of Hartford with a BPA in Photography and earned an MFA in Ceramics from East Carolina University. He has been teaching at OCCC since January 2015 and clearly enjoys his job. When asked about offered courses at OCCC for the Visual Art program, Professor Fineman shares a lengthy list of courses that are offered. Some courses Fineman states that are offered are foundations 1 for design and color & foundations 2 for 3D design, drawing 1 & 2, figure drawing, painting 1, and portfolio development and presentation among any general education courses required. “The forefront of the creative field, it does not matter if you are a doctor, lawyer, engineer, or banker, if you cannot think creatively, you do not have any agile, you are not going to be innovative” (Professor Fineman). According to Professor Fineman, the job options are a wide range of different selections. Fineman states that a student can find work in “digital cinema production for making children’s books, also in teaching, designer for clothing, architecture and graphic design”. After talking with Professor Fineman, I had the luxury to speak with a lady who is considering attending Professor Fineman’s Visual Arts program. Robin West is not quite to retirement age but like many other people, she is already planning her free time during retirement. According to Robin West, she is, “not sure how she is going to use her free time”. While having a talk with one of her children, they suggest that she attend college courses before she gets to retirement age. Robin West would like to work with “ceramics, mosaics or possibly even figure drawing,” once she obtains her degree in Visual Arts if that is what she chooses to do for her retirement.