Applications open for MFA study and graduate scholarships 2019/20

Tailored to students with a committed artistic practice, the Ruskin School of Art offers an intensive nine-month MFA programme structured to the production of ambitious new work and the establishment of critical working methodologies. Together we consider contemporary artistic production in material and structural terms relating to the contextual economics, histories, institutional and pedagogical systems that the work enters and circulates in. Foremost to the course is the question of the maintenance of a materially, conceptually and emotionally sustainable artistic practice. The programme specifically takes only 15 students a year allowing for a unique, demanding and supportive group environment for engaging discursively in what it means to work as an artist today. 

The course is inherently interdisciplinary, encouraging you to enhance your understanding of materials, media, processes and technical skills, and to reflect critically and ethically on your practice and its context within the broader fields of contemporary art, science and culture. Among our core community of Ruskin tutors are Oreet Ashery, Samson Kambalu, Ian Kiaer, Ghislaine Leung, Daria Martin, Katrina Palmer, Corin Sworn, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Recent visiting tutors have included Tania Bruguera, Maria Fusco, William Kentridge, Renzo Martens, Hito Steyerl, and Marina Vishmidt.

Studios and workshops are housed in new, award-winning facilities in East Oxford. Among our cutting-edge resources are new multimedia studios, fab lab, editing suites, print and casting rooms, and metal and wood workshops, as well as a multi-functional project space that serves as a gallery for exhibitions, film screenings and performances. You can also benefit from the extraordinary resources of Oxford University—including the famous Bodleian Library, the Ashmolean, Pitt Rivers, and Natural History Museums—and Modern Art Oxford.

We are delighted to offer a number of scholarships for the 2018–19 MFA, from University-wide initiatives such as AHRC and Clarendon funding, to NEON Grants for Greek nationals and Ruskin-specific scholarships including the Peel and Plachte Awards. All applicants will automatically be considered for MFA scholarships. Find out more about MFA fees and funding at www.rsa.ox.ac.uk.

More about the Ruskin
The Ruskin School of Art is an esteemed art school at the heart of the University of Oxford devoted to innovative artistic production and rigorous thought. Founded in 1871 by artist and critic John Ruskin (1819–1900), it currently offers BFA, MFA, and DPhil degree courses and boasts a rich learning history, counting many award winners among its past and present students and faculty. The Ruskin is characterized by its focus on the intertwining of practice and theory and emphasizes experimental histories of art and their potential to transform knowledge, forms, and situations.

Alumni of Ruskin’s graduate programs go on to work as practising artists, teachers, and art writers, or as curators in public and private galleries and for international arts organisations.

For more information about the Ruskin MFA, please see our website. Further details about the application process can be found at www.rsa.ox.ac.uk.