The primary mission of the Master of Fine Arts program at the
University of North Carolina is to prepare graduate students for
careers as professional artists. The secondary mission is to prepare
graduate students for teaching positions. MFA students work to develop
the practical skills necessary to execute their creative work while
refining the intellectual content within the work. Whether students
create art within traditional disciplines or transgress disciplinary
boundaries, the faculty expects them to engage in meaningful work with
personal significance. The department is interdisciplinary so that
students work with faculty members in all disciplines. We believe
students need to explore the concepts that motivate their work in the
most appropriate genre and media, and the faculty is committed to
working with each individual to find the most appropriate means of
articulating her/his ideas.
Work in the MFA program demands a self-directed and motivated approach.
Students are provided with studio space and are expected to work
independently. Students have access to all faculty members for both
technical information and critique. MFA students may enroll in
upper-level undergraduate courses to augment both formal and conceptual
frameworks.
The Program
The Master of Fine Arts degree at UNC-Chapel Hill is a two-year,
60-hour program. We are a medium-sized department that offers a 1:1.5
faculty to student ratio. MFA students have studio space and most
receive graduate or teaching assistantships with the opportunity to
teach their own classes. Students earn 26 of the 60 required credits
through independent study and critique under the direction of a faculty
member or visiting artist.
Interaction with other members of the studio faculty occurs through a
series of scheduled individual and group critique/reviews. In the first
year, students interact with the entire studio faculty. During the
second year, students select a Thesis Committee composed of at least
three members, two of whom must come from the UNC-Chapel Hill studio
faculty. Other committee members may be faculty with whom the student
has worked outside of the studio program. The Thesis Committee guides
the student formally and conceptually toward producing work that
represents her/his unique convictions.
The studio faculty believe that technique serves ideas, and we stress
object and image-making as integral to the execution of artwork. As
each student formulates her/his point of view, faculty members serve as
guides and instructors in form and content.
Because of the department's interdisciplinary approach, students need
not choose a particular medium for specialized concentration, but may
use different media to express a variety of aesthetic and conceptual
goals. This approach does not preclude a media focus, but does mean
that considered choices are integral to students' intellectual and
aesthetic explorations.
) "Natalia Vega-Forero, MFA Candidate")
) "Stacy Waddell, MFA Candidate")