The Fine Arts & Design College of Minjiang University (hereinafter referred to as the College) was formerly the Fuzhou Arts and Crafts School established in 1956. In 2001, the Fuzhou Arts and Crafts School merged with Minjiang Vocational University to establish the Department of Arts and Crafts. In 2002, the Department of Arts and Crafts was merged into Minjiang University and renamed the Department of Art. In April 2010, the Department of Art was renamed the Fine Arts & Design College. In July 2018, Minjiang University and Fujian Zhidao Investment & Development Co., Ltd. jointly established the College of Zhidao International Lacquer Art.
The College has a long history with prominent advantages in disciplines and outstanding characteristics in school running. The College now offers four programs, namely Environmental Design, Visual Communication Design, Sculpture and Painting. It owns Lacquer Art Teaching Center, Lacquer Art Creation Center, and 4 laboratories (Comprehensive Art Design Laboratory, Cultural and Creative Design Laboratory, Sculpture Laboratory and Ceramic Art Laboratory), and 3 university-level scientific research institutions (Chinese Lacquer Culture and Industry Research Center, Lacquer Print Research Center, and Lacquer Art Research Institute). There are 29 off-campus contracted internship and training bases, which provide favorable conditions for the College’s practical teaching. The arts and crafts building under preparation has a total building area of more than 14,600 square meters, and will integrate teaching and research experiments, work display, academic exchanges and other functions. The College boasts a strong teaching team, with 82 staff members, 67 full-time teachers, 24 with title of deputy senior and above, and 960 full-time students.
The “Fuzhou Bodiless Lacquer Decoration Technique” declared by the College was included in the first batch of National Intangible Cultural Heritage list. The “Fuzhou Bodiless Lacquer Art Research Platform” is the scientific research innovation platform and teaching practice base supported by the central finance. The Design discipline has been approved as the application-oriented discipline cultivation project of colleges and universities in Fujian Province, the university’s master training program, and the university plateau discipline. The Environmental Design and Visual Communication Design have been listed as the university’s characteristic programs. The specialty group of lacquer art cultural and creative design was approved as a pilot project for the transformation of ordinary undergraduate colleges and universities into application-oriented ones in Fujian Province.
In the past three years, teachers of the college have undertaken 2 national projects, 8 provincial and ministerial projects, published more than 200 academic papers, obtained more than 40 patents and 1 project of provincial university ideological and political work. More than 300 works have won national, provincial, and municipal awards, and the lacquer art team was awarded the title of provincial “May 1 Pioneer”. The students have won nearly 350 provincial-level and above awards in discipline competitions, 3 national-level innovation and entrepreneurship projects. The graduate employment rate remains above 97%.
The College gives full play to its professional characteristics and innovates on its display platform. In recent years, the College has held large-scale exhibitions and Intangible Cultural Heritage Seminars to increase social influence and improve foreign service levels. The College has focused on external exchanges and promoted connotative development, for which it has worked with the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, South China Normal University, and Beijing City Design School for exchanges and cooperation; organized teachers to the United States, Mexico, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, Russia, Brazil and other countries to carry out lacquer art cultural exchanges; supported teachers to hold lectures and art exhibitions abroad. Many teachers have held solo exhibitions and lectures in France, South Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan. While continuing to create specialty program of lacquer art, the College is committed to integrating special skills into the teaching practice of other programs. It has undertaken large-scale projects involving murals, sculptures, and landscapes in public spaces, actively contributing to local cultural construction and economic and social development.
Adhering to the teaching idea of “inheriting tradition and forging ahead with innovation”, the College inherits and develops the characteristics and academic advantages of the Fuzhou Arts and Crafts School to continuously deepen the teaching reform and strengthen the combination of art and science, thus cultivating high-level artistic talents who not only inherit excellent traditions but also bear innovation in mind.
