View images from the 2012 MFA First-Year Exhibition, Section 1
View images from the 2011 MFA Thesis Exhibition
In response to complex, shifting global cultures, rapidly evolving technologies, and changes to the environment, the Graduate School of Art offers a two-year, critically engaged studio program that provides the framework for collaboration and both disciplinary-specific and non-disciplinary study. Upon completion of their course of study, students at the Graduate School of Art are granted the Master of Fine Arts in Visual Art, the terminal professional degree in studio art. The Graduate School of Art subscribes to the standards for the MFA degree as set forth and accepted by the College Art Association of America (CAA) and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).
Today's vastly expanded context for creative work also requires artists to understand various modes of critical analysis. Throughout the program, students are encouraged to investigate the relationship between thinking and making, and to articulate the conceptual underpinnings of their work. Graduate seminars provide students opportunities to study theory through the lens of studio practice, while a robust thesis seminar supports students in their writing and in the development of their ideas.
The Public Lecture Series and various fellows' programs bring nationally and internationally recognized artists, architects, historians, and critics to campus, promoting new ideas in practice, theory, and technology in art, architecture, and design. Invited speakers often come to graduate students' studios for one-on-one reviews of their work.
On a broader scale, the graduate program prepares students to understand the broad landscape of contemporary creative practices and consider ways in which they can incite progressive social change, address challenges in the environment, and assume their roles as global citizens through avenues such as public engagement opportunities and study abroad programs, including the Berlin program. In furthering those objectives, the Graduate School of Art also offers collaborative research, production, and travel grants.
