Visual Art, MFA

Program Description

The Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts in Visual Art is an advanced, terminal degree in art. Through interactive studio practice with faculty and peers, students establish their voices as artists while furthering their creative work to a professional level and preparing to teaching art at the secondary or university level.

The MFA in Visual Art at MIU distinguishes itself by being the only low-residency graduate program in art with a particular focus on consciousness as a primary driver of creative evolution. Our program not only prepares students for the resilience, adaptability, and professional rigor required in the world outside of academia, but also aims to integrate artistic practices with the broader development of full human potential.

In this 66-credit MFA program, students work in their own chosen media, including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, ceramics, installation, and video and performance art. In remote studio courses and online graduate seminars, students work independently while closely interacting with the MIU faculty remotely. This unique program combines a variety of interdisciplinary experiences that enrich work in the studio.

On-Campus Studio Residencies

Each semester, students attend a two-week Studio Residency on-campus, where they work in MIU studios and interact with other artist-students and faculty. During the first campus residency, students are introduced to the key ideas and experience of the Transcendental Meditation technique and its relationship to the creative process.

Science of Creative Intelligence

Following the 1st on-campus residency, students continue studying the relationship between their own creativity and consciousness in Creativity and Consciousness, a course geared toward nourishing and establishing a greater understanding of a personal creative practice in relation to the development of consciousness. The Creativity and Consciousness course is delivered in two 1-credit/one-month courses during the first and second semesters of the MFA Visual Art program. The two-part sequence of courses must be successfully completed to fulfill the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) requirement for MIU graduate students.

Independent Advanced Studio

In five Remote Independent Studio courses over five semesters, students spend a minimum of 15 hours per week working independently in their studios. Students document their work and process, then meet with the MFA program director via video conference each month to assess their progress.

Artist Mentor Evaluation and Response

During the five Remote Independent Studio semesters, students consult with the MFA program director to choose a professional artist-mentor who visits with the student in-person or via live video conference for at least 90 minutes four times throughout the semester.

Online Graduate Seminar Courses

Graduate Seminar courses are designed to strengthen students’ ability to make connections to themes and concepts in their work and develop a deeper understanding of their practice within the larger historical and contemporary context of artmaking.

In five Graduate Seminars over five semesters, students will learn to use writing, research, presentation, and discussion to evolve their approaches to artmaking and to think and respond thoughtfully to the work of others. Students in the Graduate Seminar meet online as a group once per week and are expected to participate in an online Discussion Forum by responding to prompts created by the seminar faculty. A weekly live webinar based on students’ research is designed to accumulate over the course of the program. Once a year, the Graduate Seminar will include a field trip when students and faculty meet for a 4-5-day intensive in NYC or another major city to visit galleries, museums, and artists’ studios.

Capstone Residency and Thesis Exhibition

In the final, on-campus residency of the MFA Program, students mount a thesis exhibition of their work in MIU’s Wege Center for the Arts accompanied by a formal presentation, including a professional-quality slide presentation that documents the work, their artist’s statement completed in a previous seminar course, and supplementary images illustrating historical/visual context and subject sources.

The capstone residency provides opportunities to meet with visiting critics to discuss their thesis work and participate in final group reviews with faculty and peers.

Entrance Requirements

Entrance requirements for applicants to the Low Residency MFA in Visual Art include the following:

• BFA or BA undergraduate degree with 3.0 or higher GPA from an accredited college or university.
• Portfolio of 15-20 images that meet the following criteria:
  • Virtual portfolios must be optimized for the Web with a screen resolution of 72 dpi.
  • Demonstrate a focused body of work.
  • Include a list of slides that designates title (optional), materials, size (dimensions), date.
• A 500-word statement of purpose.
• An interview with faculty and program directors

MFA Visual Art Program Learning Outcomes

Upon successfully completing the MFA in Visual Art, students will be able to:

1. Develop a professional, sustainable studio practice with resourcefulness and understanding sufficient to engage at a professional level outside of academia.
2. Create works for art that reflect a sophisticated understanding of form, materials, and process.
3. Demonstrate an intellectual and intuitive understanding of concepts expressed in form.
4. Deliver a cohesive body of authentic artwork at a level of sophistication sufficient to exhibit professionally
5. Research and present effectively about art, using relevant artworks as sources of inspiration, articulating in a general and specific way how their work connects to an historical and contemporary context.
6. Write and speak effectively and authentically about one’s art, articulated in an artist’s statement and in conversation.
7. Engage dynamically in a critical conversation about others’ art, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and making connections to broader contexts and ideas.
8. Engage themes of consciousness to illuminate and articulate deeper connections through the language of the discipline.

Graduation Requirements

To graduate with an MFA in Visual Art, a student must complete 66 total credits of study, including 2 credits of Creativity and Consciousness that fulfills the Science of Creative Technology requirement for all graduate students, one Forest Academy course in each semester in which the student is enrolled for 12 weeks or more, 25 credits of remote independent studio work, 10 credits for Artist Mentor evaluations and responses, 20 credits for Graduate Seminar courses, and 7 credits for five on-campus Studio Residencies and portfolios.

The 2-credit on-campus Capstone Residency includes a thesis exhibition, professional-quality slide presentation, and final group reviews with visiting critics, faculty, and peers.