Art Mission

As a Catholic, Norbertine and liberal arts school, St. Norbert College values the vital role of the visual arts in celebrating humankind’s pursuit of knowledge, truth and beauty. A liberal arts and Catholic education is impoverished without the opportunity to allow the visual arts to influence the process of learning and faith development. A St. Norbert College education is enhanced by a program of art historical studies and studio art courses that allow the student a variety of opportunities and means to visualize and give form to matters of personal and communal questions, discoveries and beliefs.

A modern Catholic education is rooted in three foundational elements: 2,000 years of tradition, central authority invested in the Bishop of Rome and a sacramental life of initiation, healing and communion with God. The Catholic imagination and leadership have consistently encouraged the study and expression of the visual arts throughout the course of their history and development, recognizing the vocation of the artist as crucial to the enrichment of life and community.

Because the very nature of a liberal arts, Catholic and Norbertine education is rooted in the welcoming and coming together of different academic disciplines, peoples, and ways of ritually celebrating life’s rich pageant, every student of the visual arts will be accorded the respect and dignity of Biblical hospitality. In this measure, all are received in the visual arts classroom and studio, all are encouraged to give form and expression to the many diverse and authentic ways of pursing knowledge, truth and beauty, and all are challenged to develop their full intellectual and spiritual potential.