Fine Arts Master's Degree Program

The Ceramics program embraces utilitarian, sculptural and non-traditional approaches to the medium. Our facility and the numerous resources available are intended to provide students the opportunity for research and exploration toward their creative/artistic development. Students with a concentration in Ceramics will be expected to have a strong work ethic and practice professional skills such as exhibiting, documenting, and writing about and discussing their work within a conceptual framework.

The New Media Art program offers students the opportunity to invent, practice, and produce works that defy description. Using the most cutting-edge tools available, students are challenged to employ their most creative ideas to create multidisciplinary works that reflect the trajectory of art making in the 21st century. The disciplines we practice include digital arts, moving image, sound arts, performance, installation, projection, emerging arts with technologies, and combinations thereof.

The MFA painting & drawing specialization offers students a variety of approaches to contemporary painting and drawing, and differentiates itself from traditional illustration. Interdisciplinary practices including painting and drawing’s overlap with sculpture, performance, socially engaged practices, and a philosophical inquiry into the nature of what art can be is highly encouraged.

Advanced students in the photography program engage in rotating topics based courses that merge conceptual development with traditional and contemporary techniques such as; non-silver emulsions, camera construction, 4×5 and the zone system, color through digital darkroom, analog mural printing, studio lighting and advanced gelatin silver printing & toning. Advanced courses encourage students to explore their personal interests through self-directed semester-long projects. Contemporary photographic practice is also experienced through exploration of performance, collaboration, intervention, installation, and incorporation of photographic image with other media.

The printmaking facilities are spacious; the studio is about 36,000 sq.ft. with three Takach litho presses, two Charles Brand and one (40×70”) American French Tool etching presses and a Challenge letterpress. The stone library consists of about 50-60 stones. The acid room has two sinks to accommodate zinc and copper plate etching. Each etching press has a separate hotplate and inking area and a large aquatint box is housed in its own area.

Philosophically the sculpture program is guided toward a liberal exploration of the medium. The emphasis is on the professional practice of being an artist and a sculptor. Therefore students spend most of their time mastering the mental and physical skills needed to conceive, develop, and fabricate a body of artwork. The studio environment and facility are intended to provide students the opportunity for research and exploration of the medium for artistic expression. No particular style, aesthetic or theoretical approach is stressed over any other. While command of the material, and knowledge of its history and tradition are fundamental, students are also encouraged to experience other disciplines and integrate those practices into their sculptural work. The students are expected to be artists, who want to make a professional commitment to a career in the arts.
The Sculpture/Ceramics graduate studios are housed in a 25,000 square foot facility on the west campus. This facility includes a private studio designated for each graduate student admitted to the MFA program. These graduate students have 24 hour access to their studios.