Application deadline for fall 2015 entry: February 1, 2015
University of Iowa
School of Art & Art History
100 Studio Arts
Iowa City, IA 52242-0001
T +1 319 335 1758
[email protected]
The University of Iowa’s School of Art & Art History Graduate Program in Studio Art focuses on the development of professional visual artists and ranks in the top ten graduate art programs at public universities by U.S. News & World Report. Among public universities, the Printmaking Area ranks #3, Painting & Drawing Area ranks #6, and the overall MFA program ranks #9.
The School of Art & Art History provides a creative, multidisciplinary environment for 120 students in studio arts. Established in 1936, the School is grounded in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. It encourages interaction among its diverse faculty as well as collaboration with related disciplines across campus.
Through workshops, teaching opportunities and interactions with artists, writers, and curators, the program provides a framework for independent methods of artistic development. In addition to classes within the School of Art & Art History, graduate students are encouraged to pursue research throughout the university from an extensive selection of courses offered.
MA and MFA degrees are offered in four areas: Painting & Drawing; Printmaking; Dimensional Practice (Ceramics, Jewelry & Metal Arts, Sculpture, 3D-Design); and Media, Social Practice, and Design (Animation, Graphic Design, Intermedia, Photography).
Iowa’s studio art graduates enjoy success as practicing professional artists, professors of art, teachers, museum directors and curators, theater designers, and commercial designers. In recent years, graduates of the MFA program have received Guggenheim Fellowships and The Rome Prize, shown in national and international exhibitions, and attained faculty positions at institutions of higher learning.
Selected past visiting artists
Nayland Blake, The Eyebeam Roadshow, Michelle Grabner, Diana Al-Hadid, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Josh MacPhee, Mary Heilmann, Oliver Herring, Dave Hickey, Michael Krueger, Kerry James Marshall, Michael Jones McKean, Richard Notkin, Tom Nozkowski, Bryan Peterson, Marni Shindelman, James Siena, John Simon Jr., Robert Storr
Financial aid
Significant scholarships, fellowships, teaching and research assistantships are available for qualified graduate students throughout the three years of the MA and MFA program. Teaching assistants teach their own undergraduate courses. The Iowa Arts Fellowship, (approximately 18,500 USD, plus academic year tuition scholarship) is a two-year fellowship, renewable in the second year contingent upon demonstrated exceptional progress toward completion of the MFA degree.
Facilities
The award-winning Art Building West was designed by New York architect Steven Holl. The building opened in 2006 and houses Studio and Art History classrooms, the Art Library, and administrative offices. Steven Holl Architects has also won the commission for the new visual arts building. Designed to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration, it will be the most up-to-date visual arts facility in the US. The site is directly adjacent to Art Building West.
