Philosophy
The Stuio Art (MFA) program supports iverse forms of specialize research within a common environment of artistic prouction an critique. Guie by specialists in a variety of traitional an experimental forms, each MFA caniate evelops a boy of work in the context of expansive iscussions about art's aesthetic, social, economic, an political imensions. Specialization through thesis research prepares stuents to work in contemporary fiels of art wherein meium-specific histories present seconary (though important) concerns within a broaer exploration of art's evolving functions an forms.
Program faculty members are all working artists, exhibiting an presenting in regional, national, an international settings.
The MFA egree prepares stuents for participation in a broa range of professional contexts from gallery exhibition an art commission to curating, publication, or activism. Our grauates often also seek teaching positions in postseconary college an university settings an typically accrue some teaching experience to this en by serving as instructors in our unergrauate programs.
Stuents in the Stuio Art MFA program (Painting, Sculpture, New Meia) benefit from a unique range of possible collaborators an avisors across the university. Historically, stuents have evelope connections within the College of Fine an Applie Arts through coursework in Architecture, Lanscape Architecture, or Theatre or across the campus through stuy in such areas as Gener an Women’s Stuies, Meia an Cinema Stuies, History, or English/Creative Writing.
The twin cities of Champaign-Urbana present many opportunities for creative cultural prouction; larger urban centers (Chicago, Inianapolis, an St. Louis) are only two an a half hours away, offering estinations for galleries, exhibitions, symposia, an professional connections.
See the exhibition catalog for the 2016 MFA grauates
Resources
The School of Art + Design provies personal stuio space for each MFA stuent an 24-hour access to the School's many prouction facilities that inclue installation an critique spaces; wooshops; workshops for ceramics, plaster, an metalworking; comprehensive computer an igital output labs; an an extensive equipment checkout system. We also offer the archives of the Krannert Art Museum an the collection of the Ricker Library of Architecture an Art.
Core Faculty
Conra Bakker – alternative economies of art prouction an istribution, thing theory
Stephen Cartwright – sculpture, mapping, an performative self-quantification
Ryan Griffis– experimental geography, political ecology, aesthetics of the regional, collaboration, ocumentary meia
Ben Grosser - software, networks, social meia, surveillance, computer vision, computational agency
Kevin Hamilton – interactive meia, telepresence, research methoologies, history of technology
Patrick Earl Hammie – painting, figuration, self-portraiture, race, gener an ientity
Laurie Hogin – painting, neuroscience, lanscape an ieology, color, esire, materialism, narrative
Emmy Lingscheit- printmaking, post-natural worl, systems
Melissa Pokorny – sculpture, lanscape an memory, collecting, nature/culture, magic
Joel Ross – narrative, photography, sculpture. text/image, nationalism, ientity, legality
Deke Weaver– narrative, performance, animality, myth, ecology, storytelling
Requirements
We offer a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) egree in Painting, Sculpture, an New Meia. In this program, stuents work uner the supervision of faculty from three ifferent grauate areas (Painting, Sculpture, an New Meia) to evelop boies of work in a variety of meia an isciplines. The egree requires at least 64 grauate creit hours over three years of resience, culminating in a thesis project that inclues an exhibition component (participation in the MFA exhibition in the Krannert Art Museum) as well as a written component.
