MFA program in the Department of Art

Non-media specific three-year program 
Set in the striking landscape of the San Bernardino Mountains and in close proximity to Los Angeles’ international art scene, the MFA program at UC Riverside offers an intensive environment of advanced art research and practice for highly motivated students. We provide a theoretically driven curriculum that prioritizes studio production. An explorative and open approach to both traditional and interdisciplinary media encourages students to experiment and pursue their aesthetic ideas in the media that most benefits their practice. MFA students receive beautiful generously-sized studio spaces (350+sq feet with twelve-foot walls) and have access to excellent state of the art facilities.

The intimate scale of the program boasts an unusual student-to-faculty ratio of twelve to eight that allows for deeply engaging interactions with the nationally and internationally exhibiting faculty members. Core to our program is the dynamic visiting lecture series which provides students with the opportunity to engage with internationally recognized artists, curators and critics through lectures and studio visits, broadening and intensifying the discourse.

Faculty: John Divola, Jim Isermann, Brandon Lattu, Charles Long, Lynne Marsh, Yunhee Min, Amir Zaki, and Anna Betbeze.

Funding and teaching assistant opportunities
Successful applicants receive excellent academic financial support through a combination of fellowships, stipends, and fee waivers that offset the cost of fees and tuition for all three years of study. Given today’s climate of escalated cost of higher education in the arts, this is a significant benefit to our highly focused program. Typically, graduate students are appointed a minimum of one teaching assistantship per year.

International students are eligible to receive teaching assistantships, fellowships, and other departmental awards. The UCR Graduate Division offsets the Nonresident Tuition Fee for all international students who complete their MFA degree within the normative time of three years. This means that International students are treated in the same way as California residents for funding, tuition and fees during their three-year tenure.

Virtual and in-person campus tours available:
October 20, 12pm PST (virtual) with Anna Betbeze / October 26, 11:30am PST with Lynne Marsh / November 4, 12pm PST with Charles Long / November 8, 10am PST (virtual) with Brandon Lattu / December 2, 11am PST with John Divola.

Please see our website for more information and application details, or contact Iselda Salgado, Graduate Coordinator: iselda.salgado [​at​] ucr.edu, T 951 827 7878.