Course General Description

The Corcoran Master of Fine Arts in Fine Arts attracts students who want to expand the material and intellectual dimensions of what they create. Our curriculum encourages a rigorous and experimental approach to art that motivates students to enhance their creativity in the studio and beyond. Within our program, students engage critical and creative relationships between content and form, investigate how art and history intersect, and study diverse contexts of creative production. Students in our MFA program benefit from a dynamic community of peers, visiting artists, and knowledgeable faculty members. All students receive individual studio spaces where they can develop their artistic practice. Access to the George Washington University’s research resources allows students to enhance their practice with interdisciplinary considerations. Furthermore, Washington, D.C.’s abundant galleries and cultural events offer creative opportunities for students outside the classroom.

School General Description

The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design at the George Washington University prepares its graduates to be the next generation of global leaders. Part of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, the school functions as an incubator for artists, designers and scholars, who learn from internationally renowned faculty at the intersection of creativity and social innovation. It is an academic experience like no other—inspiring students to research, create and innovate with the potential to shape the world around them. We are a community of civically engaged artists and practitioners, aiming to impact the world through social change. Our students are poised to not just join the creative field of their choice, but to define it for themselves as they become well versed in both practice and research. We embody and exemplify the Columbian College’s Engaged Liberal Arts credo, which strives to link disparate fields and better prepare our graduates for rich, multidimensional careers in the evolving world we live in. The challenges society faces are diverse, requiring different modes of thought, and we prepare our students by encouraging inquiry and collaboration. While we at the Corcoran School can prepare specialists, we pride ourselves on the diversity of our practice and view ourselves as a place of possibility for students instead of teaching art in a singular way.