Students at St. Mary's take courses in art for many reasons, including to fulfill the Fine Arts requirements of the Core Curriculum, to obtain a minor in art, to obtain a Texas Education Agency-certified second teaching field in elementary or secondary education, or simply as an elective.

Students who take art courses as electives often choose Drawing, Design Fundamentals, 3-D Design, Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture, or Art Fundamentals. Because there are no prerequisites, any art course may be taken as an elective.

A student may obtain a minor by taking 18 hours of art courses. Of these 18 hours required for the minor, nine hours must be upper division coursework.