Application deadline: January 15, 2014
Open studios
Reception: Thursday, December 12, 5–9pm
Friday, December 13, noon–8pm
Saturday, December 14, noon–6pm
School of Visual Arts (SVA)
133/141 West 21st Street, Floors 8 and 9
New York, NY 10011
T +1 212 592 2500
[email protected]
About the program
MFA Fine Arts is an interdisciplinary studio program that emphasizes exploration and experimentation. Led by department chair Mark Tribe, our internationally renowned faculty includes Polly Apfelbaum, Thierry de Duve, Kate Gilmore, Johan Grimonprez, Gianni Jetzer, Dave McKenzie, Suzanne McClelland, Marilyn Minter, Lisa Sigal, Amy Smith-Stewart, Julianne Swartz, and Fred Wilson, among others.
Graduates from the program include Katherine Bernhardt, Luca Buvoli, Andy Collins, Steve DeFrank, Inka Essenhigh, Michelle Lopez, Gary Peterson, Brian Rutenberg, Sarah Sze, and Phoebe Washburn.
Together, the faculty and students form a community of established and emerging artists from many backgrounds who work across disciplines and modes of practice. Our main goals are to provide a stimulating and supportive environment in which students can thrive and develop as artists, to foster rigorous critical engagement with contemporary art and other cultural forms, and to produce an ongoing conversation, through work as much as through words, about what we make, how we make it and why.
We respect craft and form, but we also encourage an approach to art-making in which ideas or questions serve as points of departure for artistic processes that may lead in unforeseen directions. While some students may remain committed to a single medium for the duration of their study, most experiment with multiple modes of production. In addition to drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpture, students may explore animation, digital art, installation, performance, photography, public projects, social practice, video, and numerous other disciplines. Students in the MFA Fine Arts program have the freedom to reinvent themselves.
The close relationship between faculty and students—formed in seminars and workshops, but also through informal interactions—gives students the confidence to produce as much work as they can and to follow a personal course of intellectual and aesthetic investigation.
The MFA Fine Arts program attracts ambitious emerging artists from many countries and backgrounds. In their commitment to art, and to one another, they provide a foundation for artistic growth that extends beyond graduation and forms an ongoing platform of professional support.
MFA Fine Arts is a full-time, two-year, 60-credit program. Seminars and workshops are complemented by weekly visits from artists, curators, critics and gallerists, who are invited to give lectures and meet with students in their studios. Students may audit up to four undergraduate or continuing education courses, and take advantage of SVA’s lectures and other resources. Each student is given a private studio with 24-hour access.
School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City is an established leader and innovator in the education of artists. From its inception in 1947, the faculty has been comprised of professionals working in the arts and art-related fields. SVA provides an environment that nurtures creativity, inventiveness and experimentation, enabling students to develop a strong sense of identity and a clear direction of purpose.
Prospective applicants are encouraged to visit the MFA Fine Arts website at mfafinearts.sva.edu and to call or visit the department prior to applying. To arrange a visit, please email [email protected] or call +1 212 592 2500.
