Contemporary Art Practice MFA degrees in Social Practice and Studio Practice

Portland State University’s School of Art + Design invites applications to Contemporary Art Practice MFA degrees in Social Practice and Studio Practice.

MFA in Social Practice
Recently included in Artsy’s list of The Top 15 Art Programs in the country, the Art and Social Practice MFA is a three-year, flexible residency program combining individual artistic practice, group work, community partnerships, and experiential learning. The program’s blend of critical and professional practice, progressive pedagogy, collaborative social engagement, and transdisciplinary exploration produces an immersive educational environment. As an extension of the program’s unique pedagogy, graduate students have the opportunity to collaborate directly in ongoing projects and partnerships across the city:

Columbia River Creative Initiatives (CRCI)
CRCI is an artist-led creative platform with programs and classes held at the Columbia River Correctional Institution, a minimum-security prison in Northeast Portland, Oregon. Programming includes an Artist Residency for currently incarcerated artists, focusing on a range of topics related primarily to collaboration, conceptual art, and socially engaged art, The Inside Show, a variety show produced inside the prison, as well as graduate student-initiated special projects. 

King School Museum of Contemporary Art (KSMoCA)
KSMoCA is a contemporary art museum inside of Martin Luther King Jr. School (PreK-5th) in NE Portland, OR. KSMoCA’s programs are collaboratively developed with the MLK Jr. School community, PSU students, and a team of artists.

To support writing and web based projects that offer documentation, critique, commentary and context for a field that is active and expanding, the program produces Social Forms of Art, a bi-annual journal. Graduating students each produce a public graduate project, an in-depth written text exploring a relevant connection to their practice, and a public artist lecture that surveys their work in the program. Each Spring the program hosts Assembly, a co-authored social practice conference with workshops, lectures, and participatory projects. Learn more.

MFA in Studio Practice
The Studio Practice MFA is built around a core of research-intensive creative investigation. This three-year, full-residency program is dedicated to interdisciplinary experimentation and exploration through the experience of making. Students are supported in a range of disciplines, from the traditional to the emerging, as they consider the various ways art lives in and beyond the studio. We provide a variety of resources including close ties with resident faculty, dialogue with visiting artists and scholars, seminars in current issues and contemporary art history, and exhibition and travel opportunities. Students collaboratively produce publication projects that examine the practices of invited visiting artists. The program culminates with project exhibitions for graduating students at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Learn more.

PSU’s School of Art + Design is a vital part of Portland’s progressive, nationally recognized arts community. Graduates from the program come from a variety of diverse backgrounds and have gone on to successfully engage with the expanded field of contemporary art through traditional and unorthodox avenues. More about admissions requirements can be found here or by emailing art [​at​] pdx.edu.