3229 Art Culture and Technology
Irvine, California 92697-2775
USA
Application deadlines
MFA in Art: January 15, 2019
MFA in Art with a Concentration in Critical & Curatorial Studies: March 1
MFA in Art
Our generously-funded three-year MFA program provides thorough and intensive professional training in the study of art. We emphasize interdisciplinary approaches to art making, while also providing a solid grounding in various traditional mediums and post-studio practices. Students undergo a rigorous course of study, combining one-on-one meetings, seminars, and critiques; participate in numerous exhibitions in professional galleries and a state-of-the-art black box theater; while also availing themselves of presentation and exhibition opportunities throughout greater Los Angeles. A key component of the curriculum is a dynamic visiting artist lecture series, providing students with the opportunity to engage and have studio visits with world-renowned artists, writers, critics and curators. Beyond the department, students may take advantage of the academic excellence of UCI as a Research 1 university with courses in other departments. Some students, in addition to their primary graduate degree in Art, also obtain emphasis certificates from, among others, the graduate programs in Visual Studies and Critical Theory.
Faculty: Rhea Anastas, Kevin Appel, Sarah Awad, Jennifer Bornstein, Juli Carson, Miles Coolidge, Liz Glynn, Bryan Jackson, Jesse Colin Jackson, Ulysses Jenkins, Antoinette LaFarge, Simon Leung (Director), Joseph S. Lewis III, Monica Majoli, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Deborah Oliver, Jennifer Pastor, Simon Penny, Litia Perta, Shelby Roberts, Amanda Ross-Ho, David Trend, and Bruce Yonemoto.
Application/additional information here.
MFA in Art with a Concentration in Critical & Curatorial Studies
The program educates graduate students to pursue careers in the fields of curatorial practice, art criticism, experimental writing and public programming. Upon completion of this three-year program, students will be versed in debates defining art and visual culture, from modernism to the present, capable of conceiving new models of contemporary exhibition, criticism and theoretical writing, and trained to execute professional, innovative projects in the field. The core curriculum is interdisciplinary, taught by a faculty selected from the School of the Arts and the School of Humanities. Students complete their Concentration in the third year of study with a Final Thesis Exhibition in Winter Quarter, followed by a Final Written Thesis in Spring Quarter.
Faculty: Juli Carson (Director), Rhea Anastas, Kevin Appel, Daniel Martinez, Jennifer Pastor, Litia Perta, and Bruce Yonemoto
Application/additional information here.
Funding and fellowship opportunities
With a combination of fee waivers, stipends, and teaching fellowships, successful applicants receive excellent academic financial support for all three years of study. The department is committed to offering all successful applicants the best financial package possible, with a vast majority of all students receiving full support in tuition remission. Students also take advantage of numerous grant and fellowship opportunities available through UCI and beyond.
Teaching assistant/associate opportunities
Each graduate student is appointed six teaching assistantships, which may include Teaching Associate positions (teaching under faculty supervision after a student’s advancement to candidacy), over the course of three years. In addition, some students are appointed as Graduate Student Researchers during the academic year, and/or as instructors for Summer Academy, an outreach program for high school and middle school students. The department also appoints some graduate students to teach in Summer Session as lecturers in the summer immediately following graduation.
