Art Degrees Online

The M.F.A. studio program offers concentrations in drawing and painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and digital art. Students usually focus on one of these but take courses in other areas and in art history. Periodically, their work is formally reviewed by the full faculty who also individually visit their studios for informal critiques. Graduating students participate in a large M.F.A. thesis exhibition, usually at a Manhattan gallery. The department has a fine arts rather than a commercial orientation and seeks a balance between the traditional and the new in its mix of students, faculty, and course content. The faculty includes internationally recognized artists whose work is found in such prestigious museums as the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art, and who have garnered numerous prizes, awards, grants, fellowships, and other honors. Many are represented by galleries here and abroad. Being in the heart of the art world, the department draws on New York’s vast community of distinguished artists for our faculty and for the many visiting artists, art historians, critics, and curators who regularly lecture and give individual critiques of student work as part of a program that supplements the formal curriculum. In addition, our students have easy access to New York City’s great museums and countless galleries.

A large percentage of our graduates are successful artists, many of whom sell their work in commercial galleries. Many also teach at leading art schools and universities. Others have become commercial artists, illustrators, computer graphics designers, architects, art directors, cartoonists, art restorers, and fashion designers-bringing their fine-arts sensibilities to these related fields. A number have won such major honors as the Guggenheim, Fulbright, Pollock-Krasner, and the Prix de Rome.

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.

The Fine Arts Department offers graduate courses leading to the Master of Fine Arts Degree (MFA). The program is in studio art and its areas of specialization are:
Drawing
Painting
Sculpture (including ceramic sculpture)
Computer Imaging

The MFA degree is intended to lead students to a thorough mastery of both material and conceptual skills, and is used as a guarantee of professional competence in the visual arts. It is accepted as the final degree in studio art, and is now generally required for those intending to teach in this field at university level. It implies professional mastery of at least one medium, as well as a thorough grounding in art history, and an understanding of contemporary critical issues. It provides the time and circumstances to develop one’s work in individual directions and also requires the successful completion, exhibition and defence of a coherent body of work in a comprehensive solo exhibition. The seminar course includes the writing of a major research paper in the first year, while the thesis exhibition will be accompanied by an extended artist’s statement. As it serves as a requirement for teaching art, a supervised opportunity to learn to teach will be provided.

Art Since Lunch
Art Since Lunch: A Postmodern Debate on What Is the Next “Ism”? Unlike a traditional art history class focused on the past, this class tries to predict and shape the future, critically analyzing the current debate about photography and the images being produced at the dawn of the 21st century and examining the role of technology in photographic production and dissemination and how that affects the global visual marketplace.

Foucault’s Pendulum
Foucault’s Pendulum investigates aspects of contemporary photographic practice and theory. Students examine the relationship between theory and praxis, and, more specifically, how practitioners use theory in making their work. We read and discuss writings by both practitioners and theoreticians as a response to and indicator of visual theory. Strong emphasis is placed on applying this knowledge to individual practice within the context of contemporary art and photographic discourse.

Graduate Seminar I,II,III
This three-part series course utilizes the artistic and intellectual wealth of the New York City to explore contemporary issues in art and photography.

History of Representation
History of Representation explores historical trends in pictorial representation and representational media to better understand contemporary practices.

Intellectual Property Law
Intellectual Property in the Digital Age explores this rapidly changing field through readings, lectures, and panel discussions. Students examine current copyright, trademark, and art laws as they relate to photography.

Teaching Methods
In the second summer term students will take a special course in new methods and pedagogy for incorporating technology effectively in the classroom and understanding how technology fosters new learning models.

Thesis and Exhibition
Thesis and Exhibition prepares students for their thesis exhibition. Working closely with their advisory and graduate committee, students compose a written statement about their exhibit and complete their oral exam with the Graduate Advisory Committee.

Wired Studio
Wired Studio is a skills acquisition course that introduces participants to new photographic technologies and working methods.

The nurturing environment in which creative visual artists use the ever-expanding photographic medium characterizes Barry University’s photography programs. Emphasis is place upon creativity and originality, encouraging the students to develop portfolios possessing the same diversity and uniqueness as each of the artists creating them.

Individuals who have advanced skills in photography and who enjoy the challenge of stimulating creative and technical photographic activity should consider pursuing a graduate degree in photography from Barry University. Barry University offers two graduate degrees in photography, the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and the Master of Arts (MA).

The MFA degree is the standard academic credential needed to teach photography at the university level. This program requires a minimum of 66 credit hours to complete as well as a written thesis and a solo thesis exhibition.

The MA requires 36 credit hours to complete and an exhibition of your work.

We invite you to explore our web pages to find out more about our programs.