Art
MFA in Art
The School of Art and Design offers graduate study leading to the Master of Fine Arts degree in Art. The objective of this program is to provide the essential theoretical education, technical training, and creative experience necessary for professional activity and college-level teaching in the visual arts. Students in the degree program are supported by dedicated and engaged faculty members with a broad range of research interests, explored through art history, ceramics, exhibition design and curatorial practice, furniture design and woodworking, graphic design, interactive design, interior architecture, jewelry and metalwork, multimedia, painting and printmaking, photography, sculpture, and socially-engaged art and design practice.
The Master of Fine Arts degree is a 60-unit graduate program that can be completed in three years. The program includes professional seminars and interdisciplinary critiques that provide an opportunity for more in-depth study leading to an exhibition of an original body of creative work defended during an oral examination and accompanied by a written report. Candidates in the MFA program are expected to achieve a high level of excellence and distinction in their creative practice.
The School of Art and Design has expansive facilities offering students studio space and state-of-the-art equipment. In addition, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego Museum of Art, Stuart Collection, and the Timken Museum of Art offer a range of contemporary and global historic art, as well as specialized libraries for art and design research. All venues are convenient to public or personal transportation. Numerous community college and commercial galleries also provide a wide variety of exhibition offerings.
Art, Art History Concentration, M.A.
(Major Code: 10031) (SIMS Code: 660517)
In addition to meeting the requirements for admission to the university, students wishing to be admitted to the art history graduate program with a classified graduate standing must complete the equivalent of the graduation requirements as specified in the current General Catalog (a minimum of 39 units of art history to include ART 593).
Students who do not meet the requirements for admission to the graduate program in art history but meet the requirements for graduate admission to the university, may, at the discretion of the art history faculty, be accepted with conditional standing.
Classified graduates should contact the graduate adviser to discuss their individual graduate programs before the third week of their first semester.
Before advancement to candidacy, classified graduate students working for the Master of Arts degree with a concentration in art history must pass a qualifying examination in art history. Classified graduate students must have completed three semesters of college level French or German or, on the advice of the art history faculty, the language necessary for thesis research. Alternately, with the consent of the art history faculty, students may demonstrate a reading knowledge of the appropriate language by passing the Graduate School Foreign Language Examination (the French MLA examination is given by the Testing Services Office during the beginning of each semester; contact the School of Art and Design for permission to take the examination). The language requirement must be met before the add/drop date of the student’s first semester as a classified graduate student, or the student must enroll for appropriate language courses.
In addition to meeting the requirements for classified graduate standing and the basic requirements for the master’s degree as described in Requirements for Master’s Degrees, students must complete a graduate program of a minimum of 30 units which includes at least 24 units in art from courses listed below as acceptable for master’s degree programs in art, of which at least 16 units must be in 600- and 700-numbered courses.
A written thesis is required as fulfillment of ART 799A. Master’s candidates in art history will also be required to give an open lecture on their thesis subject, to be scheduled with the approval of the thesis chair.
Those electing art history must complete at least 15 units from the 600- and 700-numbered courses to include
ART 799A - Thesis or Project Units: 3 selected in consultation with the art history adviser.
Students May Select Up to 15 Units
Students may select up to 15 units of 500-level courses in art, 12 units of which must be in art history and approved by the graduate adviser. The additional three units must be selected in consultation with the graduate adviser, to include
ART 578 - Seminar in History of Museums and Exhibitions Units: 3
ART 593 - History and Methodology of Art History Units: 3 if these courses are not already completed.
Thesis and Projects in Art
The project required for the Master of Arts degree with a concentration in studio arts and the Master of Fine Arts degree is an original body of creative artwork accompanied by a written report. Written reports accepted in satisfaction of a requirement for the master’s degree are cataloged and maintained in the SDSU library. A softbound copy of the report accompanying a master’s thesis exhibition must be provided by the candidate and will be retained in the School of Art and Design graduate advising office.
