The Graduate Program in Fine Arts 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.
Courses in history and theory provide exposure to contemporary art movements and related ideas, while fine arts seminars with knowledgeable faculty offer extended dialogue based on focused issues in current art practice. Graduate electives are offered by the Fine Arts program as well as the other graduate programs and are open to students in any of these areas, allowing for interdisciplinary exchange.
Extensive studio practice is essential to the program. Students 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.
AV equipment is available for checkout at the media centers on the San Francisco and Oakland campuses.
Weekly lecture programs ensure that there is a constant flow of national and international visiting artists, who also offer individual studio critiques. The program creates opportunities to meet with a wide range of regional and international arts professionals to learn more about how exhibitions are conceived and the possibilities for developing projects beyond the academic environment.
Course Descriptions
Studio Practice (24 units)
Studio Practice is a course of flexible, individualized study with the faculty. The form of this study takes place in the student's studio. It is the student's opportunity to gather disparate opinions and outlooks during the studio visits.
Dialogues & Practices (3 units)
This seminar provides a forum for introducing students to one another and to a broad range of CCA faculty, as well as to artists, curators, and writers who influence cultural practices in the Bay Area. Invited speakers will present their work and working methods. Not only will students use this course as a means of orienting themselves within the college and the broader Bay Area arts community, they will also learn more about Los Angeles galleries, artists' studios, and museums through a weekend field trip to the region.
Fine Arts Seminars (15 units)
These courses are intended to broaden and clarify students' perspective on contemporary art practice. Each semester, these seminars shift in focus and subject matter. Seminars may concentrate on art from the perspectives of art history, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, psychology, and so forth, or may take the form of a discipline-based critique focusing on the history, theory, and practice of painting, sculpture, photography, and so forth.
Courses that appear as "Graduate Electives" and are organized through the Graduate Fine Arts Program will fulfill this requirement.
History and Theory (6 units)
- Contemporary Art History and Theory: This course is taken in the first semester of the first year. It introduces students to a variety of aesthetic practices, art historical frameworks, and theoretical debates within contemporary international art. Through slide lectures, intensive reading, and group discussions, as well as preparation of written works, students gain awareness of historical precedents and global contexts for their work.
- History and Theory Elective: These courses are designed to hone students' critical skills through intensive reading and writing assignments. Recent course topics have included gender, ethics, disease, aesthetics, and discourse on global art movements of the past fifty years.
Graduate Fine Arts courses fulfilling this requirement are usually offered in the spring. Courses offered through the Graduate Program in Visual and Critical Studies and listed as "Graduate Electives" will also fulfill this requirement.
Thesis Seminar (4 units)
This course is a preparation and practicum for writing the MFA thesis, which is created in conjunction with the Thesis Exhibition. The written thesis is a document that articulates the nature of the student's work. A typical thesis includes a synopsis of the work's historical and philosophical context and an exposition of the work presented. This course is conducted during the student's second year of study (3 units in fall, 1 Studio Practice unit in spring).
In the first semester of the Thesis Seminar, students must present a thesis abstract to their Candidacy Review Committee. Students must pass this review in order to advance to their final semester. In the spring semester, students are required to do one Studio Practice unit with their thesis advisor and pass that unit in order to graduate.
Graduate Electives (9 units)
Graduate electives are offered by the Fine Arts program, as well as the other graduate programs. With a wide range of topics to choose, these courses are open to students in all of the graduate programs and allow for interdisciplinary exchange. Students in the Graduate Fine Arts program may substitute one undergraduate course for a Graduate Elective. Students wishing to take an undergraduate course should consult with their advisor and the Graduate Fine Arts Office.
Curriculum Overview
- First Year, Fall
- Graduate Studio Practice (6 units)*
- Dialogues & Practices (3 units)
- Contemporary Art History and Theory (3 units)
- Fine Arts Seminar (3 units)
- First Year, Spring
- Graduate Studio Practice (6 units)*
- History & Theory Elective (3 units)
- Fine Arts Seminar (3 units)
- Elective (3 units)
- Second Year, Fall
- Graduate Studio Practice (6 units)*
- Thesis Seminar (3 units)
- Fine Arts Seminar (3 units)
- Elective (3 units)
- Second Year, Spring
- Graduate Studio Practice (6 units)*
- Thesis Seminar (3 units)
- Fine Arts Seminar (3 units)
- Elective (3 units)
* Social Practice students will take 3 Graduate Studio Practice units and 3 Social Practice Workshop units every semester.
Current Courses
See the Course Schedule for current courses and their descriptions.