MFA in Visual Art and MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ MFA programs offer students an interdisciplinary site for rigorous inquiry, intellectual generosity, and professional preparedness.  

Part of Washington University in St. Louis, a tier-one research university, our programs are inclusive, close-knit communities of renegade makers and thinkers. Our expansive facilities and studios serve as a think tank for intellectual and material experimentation across disciplines.   

MFA in Visual Art 
The MFA in Visual Art (MFA-VA) program instills students with the agency and resiliency essential for this generation of artists. The curriculum professionally prepares students for a diversified approach to the field of contemporary art that nurtures sustained, lifelong engagement while recognizing multiple pathways and definitions for a career in the arts and culture. There are numerous options to expand studies through the Office for Socially Engaged Practice and opportunities like the Berlin Sommerakadamie—which begins on-campus in the spring semester and extends into the summer for travel abroad, providing an understanding of how artists address history, communities, and social contexts in relation to the conceptual and practical dimensions of their work. Throughout the course of the program, students prepare work for several exhibitions, including a thesis exhibition at the prominent Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.   

Core faculty in the MFA-VA program: Lisa Bulawsky (chair), Jamie Adams, Heather Bennett, Joe deVera, Amy Hauft, Meghan Kirkwood, Arny Nadler, Patricia Olynyk, Jack Risley, Denise Ward-Brown, Cheryl Wassenaar, and Monika Weiss.  Crystal Z Campbell, the school’s Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellow, is teaching in the MFA program during the 2023-24 academic year.

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture
The MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture (MFA-IVC) program combines studio practice in illustration and writing with the study of visual and material culture. With a focus on illustrator authorship, this two-year, fully residential program is made for illustrators, comic artists, and designers who are interested in popular visual matter of the modern and contemporary periods. Students benefit from the vast resources of WashU, including the Dowd Illustration Research Archive. The curriculum includes a mix of studio work, history and theory, hands-on archive work, and electives. The MFA-IVC program is designed to help students find their voice, discover a conceptual home for their work, frame their practice, and build an audience. 

Core faculty in the MFA-IVC program: John Hendrix (chair), D.B. Dowd, Heidi Aronson Kolk, Shreyas R Krishnan, and Dan Zettwoch.  

Studios and St. Louis  
Studios for both MFA programs are located in Weil Hall, a LEED-Platinum facility. Students have access to numerous specialized spaces for making, including a digital fabrication lab, textile studio, expansive printmaking suite, wood and metal shops, and much more. Next door to Weil Hall, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum—the oldest art museum west of the Mississippi River—hosts regular, world-renowned exhibitions. MFA-IVC studios include Wacom tablets, bookbinding tools, audio-visual equipment, and more.  

We are proud of our location in historic and culturally thriving St. Louis. With four major art museums, two sculpture parks, 14 National Historic Landmarks, dozens of galleries and artist-run spaces, a world-renowned symphony orchestra, and a thriving literary scene, St. Louis serves as an extension of the studio and a site of engagement for art and artists. 

Applications and Information
Learn more about WashU’s MFA programs—including generous scholarship and financial aid opportunities—here. Apply online by January 10, 2024.  

Contact: samfoxgradadmissions [​at​] wustl.edu.