Florida State University Graduate Bulletin 2007-2009
Department of Art
College of Visual Arts, Theatre, and Dance
Chair: Joe Sanders; Professors: Blakely, Burggraf, Hartwell, Messersmith, Roche, Sanders, Stewart, Williams; Associate Professors: Garcia-Roig, Hanessian, Hook, Lindbloom, Roberson, Rubini, Rutkovsky; Assistant Professors: Eby, Groeniger, Jones, Mann; Associate in Art: Kariko; Assistants in Art: Bowens, Raulerson, Simonsen; Coordinator: Straus; Professors Emeriti: Bell, Fichter
The Department of Art offers a course of study leading to the master of fine arts (MFA) degree. The program is national in orientation and contributes to the cultural life of the University, the Tallahassee community, and the state of Florida. The strength of the department lies in the excellence of its artist-faculty members and their commitment to the personal practice of art as a vital part of a university.
A major role of the University is to maintain and develop a sense of research and inquiry. Within this context, students of the department are taught how to approach and solve visual problems in two and three dimensions. The program has several general goals: to stimulate students to the free expression of their creative ideas, to provide instruction in the skills and techniques necessary to this expression, and to guide students to an understanding of contemporary issues in the visual arts.
The curriculum of the Department of Art is largely designed to train professional studio artists, giving students the discipline and artistic understanding required for life as practitioners. Students develop the capacity for creative thinking and a sense of open inquiry, together with a thorough awareness of the multiplicity of new and traditional principles, thus enabling them to make a valuable contribution as artists, teachers, or arts administrators.
Media
It is the graduate student's responsibility, in concert with his or her faculty, to find the appropriate media with which to express an original aesthetic vision. Work may be done in ceramics, electronic media, design, drawing, painting, performance, photography, printmaking, sculpture, video or any combination. The studio workshop class structure and interdisciplinary freedom that is part of the departmental philosophy allow the ideas to dictate the medium that students use.
Student and Faculty Responsibilities
Just as the primary responsibility rests with the students to find their own appropriate media, they are also expected to find an articulate visual language. The MFA program is for those persons who are ambitious and willing to grow as artists. As students, they must search for their own appropriate media and work toward becoming fluid practitioners in art. The faculty is challenged to respond to the students' individual needs, helping them in their search for a personal position in their work.
The representative career choices for graduates in studio art include: professional studio artist (painter, sculptor, photographer, ceramicist, printmaker, multimedia artist, digital arts artist), designer, creative director, illustrator, and production artist, to name the most obvious. Some graduates of the MFA program choose careers in college teaching, while others pursue careers as exhibiting artists or freelance designers. Faculty members are proactive in assisting students with individual professional goals both during and after their degree.
Facilities
The department is housed in four locations, including two large warehouses converted to studio spaces and equipped to meet the needs of working artists. All MFA students are provided with a suitable space to work. In these spaces, students participate in group seminar classes and individual tutorials, and faculty members will typically stop by and talk about specific problems suggested by the work, or they may bring up more general artistic issues or technical problems. These discussions may be formal reviews with the student's thesis committee or may be very informal. A rich dialogue always occurs among students.
Graduate students also have access to the department's photography labs, sculpture labs including a foundry, computer labs, printmaking labs and installation rooms. The new Big Bend Contemporary (BBC) gallery in the Arts District of Tallahassee provides an exhibition space devoted to regular MFA exhibitions while also serving other departmental uses. This space offers monthly exhibition opportunities with excellent public exposure.
Visiting Artist and Scholar Program
The Department of Art recognizes the value of presenting diverse experiences to our students, and the visiting artist and scholar program is essential to this goal. An active visiting artist and scholar program brings in artists, designers and critics from all parts of the country who are experts in their field. They will usually give a public lecture, as well as student critiques, seminars and workshops. The University's annual celebration of Seven Days of Opening Nights also brings prominent artists, critics, and historians to the campus.
Museum of Fine Arts (MOFA)
The Museum of Fine Arts is an integral part of the educational mission of the department. It has a tradition of originating exhibitions of important contemporary and historical issues, as well as bringing to the community some of the best shows other galleries have originated. The program regularly includes national and regional competitions and invitational, faculty, and student exhibitions, along with lectures and symposia devoted to significant developments in art history and art criticism. Graduating students display their thesis exhibitions in the museum. The University and the city offer a variety of other exhibition spaces.
Art History
Art history and criticism are an essential part of the MFA program with at least three courses required. A broad range of courses is available to help provide depth of understanding of fundamental artistic issues.
Financial Assistance
The art department offers financial support in the form of fellowships, teaching assistantships, and technical or laboratory assistantships. Those who are interested in a teaching assistantship are required to take a course in supervised teaching prior to the award. Technical assistantships may be awarded to first-year, second-year, and/or third-year students. Teaching assistantships may be awarded in the second and/or third year of residency except in the case of students with a master's degree or equivalent teaching experience, who may be awarded a teaching assistantship earlier. Financial assistance is awarded based on merit.
The Florence Award
The Florence Award is a highly coveted teaching award given to an outstanding graduate student. The award recipient is provided with an opportunity to teach art classes through the Florida State University International Program in Florence, Italy, generally in the spring term following their degree. In addition, the recipient is provided with an adjunct instructor position in the Department of Art the semester prior to the teaching abroad position. This award is jointly supported by International Programs at Florida State University.
Requirements
Admission
In addition to University admission requirements, the department requires that all applicants submit a portfolio of 20 slides of recent original work and an artist's statement describing and contextualizing the work submitted for review. Where it is necessary, other media, such as videotape or photographs, may be submitted in place of slides. The Department of Art faculty admits graduate students in the fall of each year. Please contact the art department for more specific admission information and a copy of the MFA Handbook.
Program
The master of fine arts is a terminal degree for those who wish to practice studio art, teach at the college level, or function in a curatorial role. It is a three-year residency with a minimum requirement of sixty (60) semester hours at the graduate level. The program includes a minimum of thirty-two (32) semester hours in studio art, eleven (11) hours of electives within or outside the department, a minimum of three courses (nine [9] hours) in art history at the graduate level, and a minimum of eight (8) hours toward preparation of the graduate thesis exhibition and written component. All students are required to produce an extended artist's statement as part of their graduation thesis exhibition.
Review Process
The student progresses through the MFA program by a series of regular reviews held each semester. During these reviews students present their work and engage in a constructive dialogue with the faculty. The students must pass their final formal committee reviews in conjunction with their thesis exhibition; students who do not pass are required to resubmit their work at a later time.
Definition of Prefix
ART—Art
Graduate Courses in Studio Art
ART 5907r. Directed Individual Study (1–4). (S/U grade only.) May be repeated to a maximum of twelve (12) semester hours.
ART 5934r. Contemporary Art Seminar (1). (S/U grade only.) Visiting artists forum: lectures by visiting artists and other guests with both group and private dialogue with each guest. May be repeated to a maximum of six (6) semester hours.
Graduate Workshops
The workshop system permits the student to select professors based on the students' interests and needs.
ART 5927Cr. Graduate Workshop (1–4). Tutorial. May be repeated to a maximum of fifty-one (51) semester hours.
ART 5928Cr. Graduate Workshop (1–6). Prerequisite: ART 5927C. May be repeated to a maximum of fifty-one (51) semester hours.
ART 5929Cr. Graduate Workshop (4). Prerequisites: ART 5927C, 5928C. May be repeated to a maximum of twenty-eight (28) semester hours.
ART 5937r. Graduate Instruction in Advanced Technical Problems (4–8). May be repeated to a maximum of eight (8) semester hours.
ART 5940r. Supervised Teaching (1–3). (S/U grade only.) May be repeated to a maximum of five (5) semester hours.
ART 5972r. Graduate Show and Thesis (1–8). (S/U grade only.) Students sign up for this course in preparation for their Show and Thesis review. This is typically during their fifth and sixth semesters of residency. May be repeated to a maximum of eight (8) semester hours. A minimum of six (6) semester hours credit is required.