Fine Arts

Central to CCA's Graduate Program in Fine Arts curriculum is the idea that developing a sustained, critical practice is an essential part of creating a dynamic career as a professional artist.

Our MFA program helps students to gain a deeper understanding of their own ideas and practice, to gain greater awareness of the global context of contemporary art, and to develop skills in presentation needed to pursue a career in the visual arts.

CURRICULUM

Courses in history and theory provide exposure to contemporary art movements and related ideas, while fine-art seminars with knowledgeable faculty offer extended dialogue based on focused issues in current art practice.

Graduate electives offered by the Graduate Program in Fine Arts as well as the graduate programs in Architecture, Design, Visual and Critical Studies, Curatorial Practice and Writing are open to students in any of these areas, allowing for interdisciplinary exchange. The MFA program's project-based electives are led by international visiting artists and curators in conjunction with resident faculty. These courses focus on group production of exhibitions, temporary projects, and public programs, often in collaboration with local museums and arts organizations. They give students crucial experience in creating fully realized projects that are embedded in the art world, and they help them to cultivate a network of fellow practitioners and supporting institutions that can be built upon after graduation.

SOCIAL PRACTICE

In addition to its main curriculum in studio practice, the Graduate Program in Fine Arts offers a concentration in social practice. Social practice incorporates art strategies as diverse as urban interventions, utopian proposals, guerrilla architecture, "new genre" public art, social sculpture, project-based community practice, interactive media, service dispersals, and street performance.

Because many of the opportunities for creating fully realized social artworks come from public commissions, long-term residencies, or the creation of alternative institutions or collectives, the SOPR concentration focuses on preparing students to conceive projects, articulate narratives that support them, and cultivate a network of fellow practitioners and supporting institutions.

FACILITIES & TOOLS

Students in each curriculum have access to technical facilities in digital media (including a designated graduate media lab), film, video and sound editing facilities (including a designated graduate editing suite), darkrooms and photo facilities, foam room, spray booth, wood shop, model shop, and alternative materials shop, as well as facilities for glass, ceramics, metalwork, and textiles.