Course General Description

The MFA in Art curriculum provides graduate students a great deal of freedom in designing a course of study that best suits their individualized needs. Students are supported in cultivating their own areas of interests, and in developing research trajectories and critical skills necessary for a unique art practice. In critiques, seminars, individualized studio practice, independent studies and deeply engaging social environments, MFA students enhance their ability to consider and shape the physical and virtual world—and, by extension, the political and social fields they inhabit. To earn the MFA degree, candidates must pass two faculty reviews of their overall artistic and academic progress—once at mid-residence and again prior to graduation. Students are expected to present a project or exhibition during the first year, and required to do so by the end of the second. Graduate students work in individual studios.

School General Description

California Institute of the Arts is renowned internationally as a game-changer in the education of professional artists. The transformative cultural impact of its alumni over the past half-century shows why: CalArts brings out creative talent unlike any other university, school or conservatory. Founded by Walt Disney, CalArts offers comprehensive degree programs across the full range of the visual, performing, media and literary arts through its six Schools. Admissions are decided primarily on artistic merit and creative promise.