Art Degrees Online

Master of Fine Arts Degree

The graduate program leading to the M.F.A. degree is a 60 semester-hour degree program comprised of 18 hours in the major, 12 hours in art history, 24 hours of related arts, and six hours of graduate seminar. Candidates for the Master of Fine Arts degree are encouraged to complete all course work for the degree within three years to ensure the sustained concentration requisite to the achievement of quality work at the graduate level. Students must complete the degree program within five years. Additionally, students are required to complete one academic year in residence during the course of their degree program. This residency is defined as 18 semester hours comprising a minimum of nine semester hours taken in two consecutive semesters.

Throughout the program of study, student will be evaluated on a regular basis. A progress review is required during each semester of enrollment in the graduate program.

Upon completion of all course work for the degree, all graduate students present their work in a thesis exhibition at the Blaffer Gallery, with accompanying photographic documentation. The creative work and supporting documentation will represent the visual thesis. In addition, students must produce a written thesis, normally in the first semester of the final year of work for the degree, and pass a comprehensive oral examination conducted at the time of the Thesis Exhibition. The examination will cover students’ knowledge of their major discipline, of art history, and of related areas of art.

Studio Art Overview

Welcome to the Studio Art program! The following information describes expectations for the Studio Art major at Willamette University. Further questions may be referred to faculty advisors and the Department Chair.
The Studio Art program is designed to provide both breadth and depth in your development as an artist. The program places emphasis on an understanding of general art concepts through a variety of courses including foundation studies, drawing, and two- and three-dimensional studies. In addition, students are required to take art history courses. Later in the program, students focus their development in an area of specialty. The program prepares students for their final thesis project created in Senior Seminar, the apex course for the Art Major. See the course catalog for the specific requirements of the major and variety of subjects and media available for exploration.
Students who declare a Studio Art major are asked to take a foundation course their first semester, Advanced Media and Design in the spring of their junior year, Writing for Artists and Senior Seminar their senior year, and balance the remaining program requirements with guidance from their advisors. It is highly encouraged that students declare their major by the beginning of their sophomore year and have at least three studio courses taken by the start of their junior year.
All declared Art and Art History majors meet as a group with the Art and Art History faculty at the annual Art Major Dinner in September. The dinner is an occasion for faculty and students to become acquainted or re-acquainted, to announce special upcoming events in the department, for the faculty and advanced majors to provide information about the program to newcomers, and for students to share additional thoughts concerning the Major and art community.
Course projects are regularly displayed in the Art Building and elsewhere on campus. In addition, the Student Art Coordinator facilitates special group exhibitions each semester. Art Majors are encouraged to regularly exhibit their work on campus and beyond.
In conjunction with Student Scholarship Recognition Day and the Senior Art Majors exhibit, all junior Art Majors participate in the Spring Review Exhibition in the Student Gallery in the Art Building in April. Students formally present their works for review by their peers and the studio faculty.
Studio Art Majors enroll in Senior Seminar in the fall and spring of their senior year. Students and faculty members meet as a group in weekly classroom sessions to develop senior thesis projects and discuss current issues in the arts. The thesis project builds upon art skills and strategies developed during the years in the program. Regular meetings with advisors encourage students to move beyond ordinary coursework to a new level of commitment and originality for the thesis project. Senior Art Majors present their final thesis project in the Senior Exhibition at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art each April. This is one of the most popular and heavily attended museum exhibitions of the year. A final group critique session is scheduled in which students present their work to faculty and peers.
The Department strives to maintain contact with alumni in an effort to track our graduates’ on-going work in the arts or other fields. Please keep us informed of your experiences beyond Willamette.

Photography
Photography is a contributing medium to much of the innovative work currently being pursued in the visual arts. Studies in photography consist of a careful balance between the development of the student’s personal interests and the acquisition of technical skills. As each student moves through the program they build a command of technique, meet the challenges of aesthetic debate, learn about opportunities for work after graduation and are given some of the essential business information which will help them survive and prosper in the professional market.

Courses include: color, documentary and photojournalism, view-camera, studio lighting, bookmaking with non-silver printing and internship with a commercial studio or regional gallery. In addition, students will take at least one digital imaging course. Our equipment in both traditional and digital imaging is housed in purpose-built studios. Many students aiming for a commercial career will also take a course in Winthrop’s highly respected College of Business.

During their time in the program each student has ample opportunity to identify the direction for their professional career. This decision is arrived at after experiencing a broad range of studio activities, from being required to work on highly structured projects to becoming capable of generating independent work, all the time working closely with professionals in the field. Part-time instructors are hired to bring commercial practice to a classroom setting.

Recent visiting lecturers have included internationally known photographers, including 5 Guggenheim Fellows (Emmett Gown, Stuart Klipper, Paul Kwilecki, Rob Amberg and John McWilliams). We hope to repeat our highly successful student workshop in Great Britain in the near future.

The range of careers available with a photography degree is quite astounding, including: Fashion, product, photojournalism, studio portraiture, architectural, food, editorial, and television, film and video, to name but a few. Recent graduates now work as commercial studio assistants, fine art gallery representatives, one medical photographer, in newspapers, custom-lab printing, computer generated imaging, and as exhibiting fine artists.