The OCAC MFA in Craft & Material Studies is carefully constructed to advance the creative practice, materials knowledge, and academic achievement of independent, self-motivated artists, makers and designers—particularly those with established professional or personal commitments that present geographic challenges to furthering their careers through traditional curriculum and academic calendars.
An integral part of our MFA in Craft & Material Studies is the opportunity for students to alternate between vigorous on-campus experiences in our exceptional OCAC studios and a self-directed, mentor-based studio practice in their home communities. The seven-semester curriculum is an intensive, individually tailored program, matching comprehensive investigations through local resources with the expertise of full-time faculty, a dynamic MFA cohort, and an extensive list of visiting artists. Regular online meetings with our OCAC faculty and peers augment the educational experience, providing students with new insights and methods to invigorate their individual studio practices and profoundly invest in their creative voices and professional aspirations.
This summer the inaugural class of Oregon College of Art and Craft MFA in Craft & Material Studies completed the first of their three summer intensives. The students, working in ceramics, painting, and sculpture, utilized their weeks on campus immersed in OCAC’s advanced facilities and welcoming community. The majority of their focus was directed towards personal studio practices with additional coursework, including Critical Studies in feminism and a Critique Seminar shared with the full-residency MFA in Craft: Practice and Innovation students. Both classes were supplemented with trips and introductions into Portland’s creative ecology.
OCAC’s MFA programs welcome four additional voices from new faculty and Instructor-in-Residence for the Fall term of 2018: Olivia Fu, Stephanie Gervais, Jeanne Nicole Medina and Seth Papac. The addition of their diverse perspectives and experinces brings a unique collective focus on knowledge through making and action, particularly regarding contemporary issues and social dynamics.
Seth Papac is joining OCAC as an Assistant Professor and Department Head of the Metals program at OCAC. Papac’s current research explores a relationship between jewelry and architecture, distilling the outward expression of the inner self through the domestic space of jewelry.
Stephanie Gervais is the MFA in Craft Instructor-in-Residence for the Fall 2018 Semester. Gervais’s work operates outside of boundaries, employing textile production, sculpture, portraiture and storytelling, “while exploring culture, in-betweenness, material construction and transformation.”
Jeanne Nicole Medina is an artist working across the fields of textile, fashion, and performance. With a collaborative spirit, Medina engages community to realize larger aspirations, “my role as an artist is to construct a different kind of fabric—one of ideas and people. I become the thread—mediator, connector, facilitator.”
Olivia Fu joins OCAC as an AICAD Post Graduate Teaching Fellow. Fu brings her abilities as a storyteller through illustration and animation. She is interested in making work about identity, sexuality, the human condition, and visual journalism.
Mentor-based
OCAC’s low student-to-faculty ratio provides a mentor-based approach allowing students to expand their creative processes, interests, and goals while working closely with our experienced faculty.
Interdisciplinary
MFA students have access to eight well-equipped studios on campus, including Book & Print, Ceramics, Digital FabLab, Digital Imaging Lab, Drawing & Painting, Fibers, Metals, Photography, and Wood. In our highly intensive and open community of diverse makers and thinkers, students are encouraged to develop their visions by selecting and integrating materials, forms and ideas that transcend specific media. A photo tour provides an inside look at the amazing array of tools, materials, machines and implements that are available on campus.
Financial support
OCAC provides access to generous tuition support for our students through scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study programs.
For more information about OCAC’s MFA programs, or to visit the campus, contact the admissions office at graduateadmissions [at] ocac.edu.
