Strengthening the art education of college students is the requirement of development of the times, but also an important part of the comprehensive quality education. Xichang College, combined with the reality of college in minority areas, builds the way of art education taking a cultural atmosphere and local culture as a breakthrough, a full range of promoting the innovation of art education of college students. In this paper, through a comprehensive survey of college students, we know the cultivation status of artistic quality in detail, and find problems existing now, finally, explore the way out of college art education in ethnic areas after many demonstration and practice.