Montclair MFA Studio Arts

The Montclair State University MFA in Studio Arts is a 60 credit, two year, full-time program, located in Montclair, NJ, 13 miles, (a mere 20 minutes), from New York City. The program is an multi-disciplinary program, supported by 20+ visitors a semester and a notable full and part time faculty.

The program assembles a diverse group of artists who share in the desire to explore their artistic process, participate in critical discourse and contribute to contemporary culture. Study opportunities are offered in: painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking and papermaking, film-making and video art production, photography, ceramics, jewelry/metalsmithing, installation and interdisciplinary approaches. That said, as contemporary artists tend not to be bound by traditions and instead work concurrently in a variety of forms and media our students are encouraged to explore all disciplines that relate to their ongoing project and concerns. To support that process, the structure of the program is centred around the individuals’ private studio, which is bolstered through the classes with the visiting critic, the visiting artists, curators and other speakers, and through immersion in the NYC art world.

Each semester a Special Topics course is offered that allows students to develop professional skills as well as opportunity to meet working artists. Along with the Montclair Art Museum speaker series, over the last few years New York Times Critic Roberta Smith, the infamous Jerry Saltz, and Venice Curator Robert Storr have spoken here; as have historical luminaries Vito Acconci, Phillip Pearlstein and James Rosenquist. Shazia Sikander, Linda Nochlin and Arthur Danto and Brooklyn Rail publisher and curator Phong Bui have also spoken in the last year. Last semester Jeff Koons and Shirin Neshat presented their work and Dana Schutz held studio crits; and Tim Rollins, Petah Coyne and Mierle Ukeles took part in a panel discussion with Eleanor Heartney. Each Semester around 20-25 visiting speakers are brought in, most of which visit your studios.

The visiting critic post is an annual appointment where a prominent writer hosts a seminar on contemporary art one day a week. Previous visiting critics have included the Senior Editor of Art and America Nancy Princenthal; and David Levi-Strauss. This year’s critic is Art & Today author Eleanor Heartney.

And naturally, there's a full complement of full time, part time and adjunct faculty that conduct regular studio visits and teach various classes.

Every student has a private studio to which you have 24 hours a day access for the full two year duration of the program, as well as access to the full departments facilities in Sculpture, Photography, Printmaking and Papermaking, Jewelry, Ceramics, Film and Video and others. Also, recently students participated and worked in interdisciplinary projects with Robert Whitman in his Passport experimental theater performance, which took place simultaneously in our Kasser Theater and at DIA:beacon. Plus other opportunities frequently arise: this summer students also worked with the BMW Guggenheim lab in an experimental forum that investigated urban living. There’s also a growing summer abroad program which is conducted in London in collaboration with Goldsmith’s college and the London Print Workshop.

The program culminates in the Thesis Exhibition held in New York which, this year, will be held at the White Box gallery in the vibrant Lower East Side, along with an elegant catalogue. Together the exposure from the exhibition and catalogue, and the diverse and broad networks that you establish through the visitors and faculty prepare to launch you into a successful art career.

If you interested in knowing more please let me know, or visit the graduate school’s website.
This will help you through the online application process, and provide other information.

If this sounds like your cup of tea, let me know and I'm quite happy to tell you more,
And good luck with your search, I understand that its a big decision.

Yours Faithfully,
Andrew Atkinson
MFA Director