Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts

MFA

Fall  2012 Visiting MFA Faculty: Bruce Pearson

Bruce Pearson is, simply put, one of America’s most important exponents of painting this decade. Along with a reduced company of artists, like Karen Davie, Fred Tomasselli and Lisa Yuskavage, Pearson has helped inject new life into the Lazarus corpse of painting, in his case abstract painting. -by Christian Viveros-Fauné

Holly Coulis, Immigrants

Spring  2013 Visiting MFA Faculty: Holly Coulis

Holly Coulis received her BFA from the Ontario College of Art and Design and her MFA from the Boston Museum School. Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions in the United States and Europe. She has had solo exhibitions at Cherry and Martin (Los Angeles), Groeflin Maag Galerie (Zurich, Switzerland), Lamontagne Gallery (Boston) and Zach Feuer/LFL Gallery (New York City). Coulis cleverly employs the simplicity of traditional genres as a framework for a complex exploration of the language of painting. The work is simultaneously cerebral and emotional, playfully raising questions about our relationship to images while finding poignant tensions in an idiosyncratic sense of color, line, and material.

                                                                                                                              

Overview

The graduate program is based on intensive studio practice at an advanced level in the areas of painting, drawing, printmaking, and digital media. The program is highly selective and is presently limited to fifteen participants. Our graduate program was recently ranked among the top ten best graduate painting programs in the country by US News and World Report. This ranking is based on the professional reputation of our faculty and on the outstanding accomplishments of the Department’s alumni and alumnae.

The MFA in Fine Arts with a concentration in Painting and Printmaking requires the successful completion of sixty credits and is usually undertaken in two years of full-time study. Most of the credits are earned in studio areas and are augmented by related courses, including Art and Critical Theory and a graduate seminar that meets weekly to address topics related to contemporary art practice. In addition, we support an active and ambitious program of visiting artists and lecturers; leading figures in the world of contemporary art visit throughout the year to present lectures about their work, conduct workshops, and meet with students.

Each graduate student works in one of fifteen spacious, individual painting studios that are housed in the Fine Arts Building.

Scheduling a Visit

We welcome prospective applicants to the Department so that they may tour the facilities, speak with faculty and graduate students, and develop a sense of what our graduate program has to offer. However, due to the increasing number of prospective applicants visiting our program, we are no longer able to accommodate requests for individual tours or meetings. During the 2012-2013 academic year we have set aside the following dates/times to meet with applicants; please plan your visit accordingly.

  • Monday, November 5 at 12:00 noon
  • Monday, November 26 at 12:00 noon
  • Monday, December 3 at 12:00 noon

*** Please contact Hilary Wilder, at hwilder@vcu.edu prior to your visit so that we know to expect you.

Thesis Exhibitions

Click below to see thesis exhibitions for the 5 VCU MFA programs including Painting + Printmaking:

VCUarts 2012 MFA Thesis Catalog

Diversity

The VCU School of the Arts believes that art is inclusive.
Therefore, this diversity policy establishes that the
School of the Arts accepts and welcomes all people by
maintaining and celebrating diversity within our student
body, faculty and staff. The School of the Arts provides
equal opportunity and prohibits discrimination according
to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age,
and sexual orientation in accord with University Policy.
To support this policy and to stimulate understanding,
the School of the Arts will establish forums to explore
diversity in education, arts and design. We believe that
to achieve educational excellence, we must value and
practice inclusion.

Student Learning Outcomes

There are established Student Learning Outcomes for the M.F.A. in Fine Arts.  It is expected that during the course of study, students will:

  • Define work in relation to history and practice
  • Engage fully in critical discourse
  • Enlarge knowledge of materials and techniques
  • Develop professional practice and engage in opportunities that develop the experience required to manage a creative professional career

More information about graduate study at VCU can be found on the Graduate School website http://www.graduate.vcu.edu/ and in the Graduate School Bulletin http://www.pubapps.vcu.edu/Bulletins/graduate/ .