Program Overview

The Master of Fine Art degree in Studio Art is designed to prepare students for careers as independent visual arts through the cultivation and refinement of a successful studio practice. The program emphasizes intensive personal investigation and the development of strong aesthetic and conceptual understanding. In addition to time in their own studio, students have opportunities to enhance existing skills and knowledge by observing undergraduate class demonstrations and critiques.

The M.F.A. is the terminal degree in the studio arts and is a requirement for those who intend to teach visual arts in higher education.

The Studio Art major comprises the following concentrations:

• The Jewelry, Metals and Enameling concentration allows students to build individual research strategies for developing a coherent and distinctive body of work. Investigations of inter-media and interdisciplinary relationships are part of the curricular focus. Students are expected to be conscious of and involved in contemporary practices, discourse and trends, nationally and globally, among the field and within the larger arts/crafts/design movements. In addition to time in their own studio, students have opportunities to enhance existing skills and knowledge by observing undergraduate class demonstrations and critiques. Students are encouraged to use both traditional and contemporary studio practices while having access to an array of metalsmithing equipment, enameling kilns and a digital fabrication laboratory.

Program Learning Outcomes
Graduates of this program will be able to:

• Demonstrate advanced professional competence in some aspect of studio art as exemplified by considerable depth of knowledge and achievement of a significant body of work.
• Demonstrate a deep and comprehensive awareness of historical and cultural contents of art production.
• Demonstrate advanced skills of aesthetic judgement and assessment, as well as integration/synthesis and independent thought.
• Demonstrate an awareness of contemporary art making and relevant issues through dialogues with professional artists and curators.