Fine Arts

Overview

About the program

The Fine Arts program at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is an intensive, two-year experience that focuses on studio practice and individual artistic development. The program is interdisciplinary in nature and welcomes students working in a variety of media with a wide range of interests. Through seminars, studio classes, critiques, and visiting artist lectures, students are exposed to diverse viewpoints and approaches to art making. The program fosters a strong sense of community and students are both supported and challenged by their peers and faculty. The MFA program enables students to become independent, critical thinkers and makers who are engaged members of their artistic communities.

The MFA program offers seminars in theory, contemporary art, writing and professional practices. Students also enroll in studio classes with a range of topics that include: figure drawing, contemporary themes in painting, and video and animation. In addition, students have the option of taking an array of undergraduate courses such as mold-making and landscape painting. PAFA is a school that cares deeply about how things are made as well as the ideas behind them. The curriculum is structured to help students improve their abilities to see and make while also broadening and deepening their conceptual framework and skills to discuss and write about art.

The core of the program is students’ individual studio practice. Through experimentation, one on one discussion with critics, and group critiques, students develop their work and ideas into a sustainable, thoughtful artistic practice. In their studio work, students are encouraged to be independent, self-motivated and open to the new possibilities and ideas that arise through the course of making. Students have a private studio with 24-hour access and access to the print and sculpture shops, the Cast Hall and the tremendous museum collection.