MFA Fine Arts

The program is now accepting graduate applications for fall 2021. Register for the info session here.

The Parsons MFA Fine Arts studios are located in downtown Manhattan, on the unceded territory of the Lenape people.*

During times of extraordinary change and upheaval it is essential for artists to harness the tools needed to re-think the future, create new possibilities and develop new forms of connection, both locally and globally. Parsons Fine Arts believes that this creative and bold labor of imagination evolves best from diverse learning communities that foster care, material innovation, and critical thinking. Our dynamic two-year, cross-disciplinary MFA program offers just that. Committed to diversity among students and faculty, our studio-based research and scholarship extends the boundaries of contemporary cultural expression through a global understanding of the arts. Housed within both Parsons School of Design and The New School University, the program is uniquely situated within a progressive educational environment. Our international student body has access to a wide spectrum of activities, ranging from rigorous formal and aesthetic investigations to cross-disciplinary collaborations with design, performing arts and humanities students, to public forums that address pressing social and political concerns.

Parsons MFA Fine Arts is home to an internationally acclaimed faculty whose work has been included in the Whitney Biennial, Venice Biennale, Documenta, the Sharjah Biennial and the Sydney Biennale; and exhibited in institutions such as the New Museum, the Whitney Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Current MFA faculty include: Aziz + Cucher, Andrea Geyer, Lydia Matthews, Rit Premnath, Lan Thao Lam (Lin + Lam), Simone Douglas, Peter Rostovsky, Mira Schor, Saya Woolfalk, Jessica Rankin, Kamrooz Aram, Terike Haapoja, LJ Roberts, Rania Lee Khalil, Ben Thorp Brown, Sowon Kwon, Carrie Yamaoka, Shellyne Rodriguez, Shane Selzer, Jonah Groeneboer, Thom Donovan, and Sharmistha Ray.

Each student is assigned to a dedicated studio space housed within a converted 19th century factory building located near Union Square. Adjacent to the studios is an extensive Making Center and tool check out area that includes a wood shop, metal shop, laser cutting shop, ceramics lab, printmaking studio, photography lab, 2D and 3D printing lab, animation studio, audio recording studio, motion capture studio, dance studio and numerous performance venues. The 25East Gallery is a student-run gallery located within the studios and it provides a year-round program of student curated exhibitions, installations, screenings and performances.

Our Visiting Artist Lecture Series and our Critic + Curator Series features renowned, multidisciplinary artists, curators and critics who are available for one-on-one visits with graduate students. This culture of dialogical exchange supports our graduate students to redefine their role as emerging artists in the field. The Spring and Fall 2020 Visiting Artists Lecture Series featured wide-ranging practitioners including Hong-An Truong, Dario Robleto, Guadalupe Rosales, Theresa Chromati, Ernesto Pujol, Ekene Ijeoma, Seffani Jemisson, Meriem Bennani, Indira Allegra, Jes Fan, David Reed, Jon Rubin, Jean Shin, Alison O’Daniel, and Adonis Volanakis. A full list of guest artists can be found here.

About Parsons School of Design
Founded in 1896, Parsons has served as a pioneer in the field of Art and Design education for more than a century. Based in New York but active across the globe, the school offers undergraduate and graduate programs across the full spectrum of art and design disciplines. Critical thinking, research and collaboration are at the heart of a Parsons education. Now an integral part of The New School, Parsons builds on the university’s legacy of progressive ideals, social justice and pedagogy. Parsons graduates are leaders in their respective fields, with a shared commitment to creatively and critically addressing the complexities of life in the 21st century. For the third year in a row QS World Rankings has named Parsons School of Design the #1 school for art and design in the U.S., and #3 world-wide. 2021 will mark the school’s 125th Anniversary.

For more information please visit finearts.parsons.edu and/or contact the current Program Director, Anthony Aziz: aziza [​at​] newschool.edu.

*The Parsons Fine Arts faculty would like to acknowledge and pay its respects to the Lenape ancestors and to present and future generations on this homeland, as well as throughout the Lenape diaspora. We would also like to extend this acknowledgement to all Indigenous peoples who now and in the future call these Lenape homelands, Lenapehoking, home.  This acknowledgement is a commitment to the process of addressing the ongoing legacies of settler colonialism and to actively work to dismantle these.