Program Overview

MFA Studio Art: Ceramics

The nationally accredited MFA program offers varied and extensive opportunities for graduate study in a unique setting. Our location is just 90 minutes north of New York City in the historic Hudson River Valley, allowing access to cutting edge artists, historians, critics, and curators. The campus features expansive facilities, private and semi-private secure studios, and extensive computer labs and digital fabrication technologies. Additional exhibition spaces complement the prestigious Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art.

The intensive and selective two-year MFA program includes specializations in Ceramics (30CE), Metals (30ME), Painting and Drawing (30PD), Photography & Related Media (30PH), Printmaking (30PR), and Sculpture (30SC). The Art Department faculty members are dedicated teachers and practicing artists with significant national reputations. SUNY New Paltz is regularly included among the best schools in the Northeast and its Metals program has consistently been ranked among the best in the nation.

Financial assistance and tuition waivers are available. Students interested in a career in academia and pedagogical forms of collaboration have opportunities to assist and frequently teach their own undergraduate courses.

Emphasis is placed on disciplinary rigor and interdisciplinary scholarship guided by committed conceptual inquiry. Our graduate program is more than a collection of students, faculty, and facilities; we are a dynamic learning community engaged in and encouraging of authentic research, personal growth, and a professionally sustainable art practice.

MFA in Studio Art

60-credit degree program offering specialized study in the following areas:

Ceramics 

The Ceramics program cultivates the conceptual, technical, and professional growth of its graduate students by providing an environment balanced among pragmatic skill development, critical and theoretical dialogue, and intensive studio research geared toward a process of making and thinking, resulting in innovative and dynamic outcomes. We encourage students to have a strong sense of responsibility, self-reliance, and confidence. Faculty guide students in independent research and individual approaches to their practice. The curricular structure challenges students to critically evaluate their work within a material-specific and an interdisciplinary framework, as well as in theoretical and professional contexts. Students are encouraged to work with methodologies that explore the boundaries of the field while demonstrating an understanding of historic and contemporary ecologies. With private graduate studios within the program's expansive 10,000 square foot facility and access to a broad range of traditional and contemporary technologies, the program provides students with the resources and the latitude necessary to develop an authentic, significant contribution to the field. Web site: www.newpaltz.edu/ceramics

Metal

The Metal program is an active area of study that engages a wide variety of ideas, objects, images, and modes of making toward critical and dynamic outcomes. Students and faculty form a community of inquiry that seeks to expand the field’s discourse. The rigorous curriculum provides opportunities to explore the technical, aesthetic, and conceptual aspects of contemporary jewelry and metalsmithing in a state-of-the-art facility with faculty who are actively engaged artists and who exhibit and lecture internationally. The 10,000 square-foot studios supply equipment for working in a range of traditional and contemporary methods, instruction and access to expanding digital technologies, and designated private studio spaces for each student. Web site: www.newpaltz.edu/metal

Painting & Drawing

The Painting/Drawing program encourages the technical, conceptual, and professional development of its students through a balance of intensive studio experience and critical and theoretical dialogue. Students working in traditional, experimental, and multimedia formats are challenged to assess their work in a contemporary context.  The program’s 10,000 square-foot facility in Smiley Art Building includes private 200 square-foot studios for each MFA student. Web site: www.newpaltz.edu/painting

Photography & Related Media

The Photography program engages students in an expanded field of artistic lens-based practice to critically interrogate and deepen their creative research within a vibrant community of artists. Photography is an ever-changing field with a short and tumultuous history and immense and growing relevance in today’s shifting cultural and social context. We support our students in their process of independent experimentation as they hone their critical awareness, skills, and concept, and position themselves with their unique voice and vision in the field. The Photography program offers a range of state-of-the-art digital and analog facilities and equipment. Website: http://www.newpaltz.edu/photography/

Printmaking

The Printmaking program views the field expansively, honoring tradition while moving the medium ever forward through the use of digital, sculptural means to create two and three-dimensional and installation-based works. The program encourages students to formulate and articulate their philosophical and personal concepts and translate them into visual works, meeting these objectives by offering a mix of intensive studio experience with critical and theoretical dialogue. The printmaking studios are state-of-the-art facilities containing a full range of new and top-of-the-line equipment and presses. In our 10,000 square foot studio spaces students have the capability of working with intaglio, lithography, silkscreen, monotype, woodcut, and hand-papermaking as well as contemporary photography, digital, and mixed media printmaking processes. Access to the Art Department’s stellar Wood Studio and Digital Fabrication labs round out the offerings within the printmaking area. Web site: www.newpaltz.edu/printmaking

Sculpture

The graduate Sculpture program embraces and cultivates the diversity and complexity of what is defined as sculpture today. The program supports investigations that encompass installation, intervention, performance, sound, video, new media as well as more traditional approaches to sculpture. The Sculpture program encourages independent exploration, experimentation, critical awareness, and engagement in the issues, forms, and contexts of contemporary, professional investigation. The program challenges and expands on the individual graduate student’s rationale and modes of working. In a flexible program encompassing the breadth of today’s sculptural possibilities, each student has the opportunity to articulate an individual vision and make a significant contribution to the discipline.

The overall footprint of the sculpture facilities encompasses 10,000 square-feet of space, which is divided into individual studio space for MFA and BFA students, general class workspace, an area for woodworking, welding, and metal fabrication. The facilities also include a separate room for experimental work such as installations. Equipment includes welding and metalworking tools and machinery, woodworking tools and machinery, video and sound equipment, and a computer lab for digital imaging, sound and video production. Web site: www.newpaltz.edu/sculpture

Admission Requirements

• One official copy of all undergraduate and graduate course work; the baccalaureate transcript should be from a regionally accredited institution with a 3.0 cumulative grade point average (GPA). New Paltz is encouraging of interdisciplinary scholarship and we support applicants with degrees from non-studio areas who are able to demonstrate a strong body of work.

• Two letters of reference from former teachers or other professionals in the field familiar with the candidate’s qualifications who can support the candidate’s ability to do graduate work.

• A 300-500 word letter of intent that states the candidate’s goals for graduate study.

• Completion of the online application process requires

  • Uploading a 300-500 word artist's statement discussing the candidate's concepts, material processes, research methods, and influences, and

  • Uploading a minimum of 20 images, the majority of which must be in the major field to which application is made.

    • Please note that we require a minimum of 12 individual pieces; additional detail photographs and installation documentation can be included. You may include external links to videos as part of your portfolio. Each work sample must be labeled with the title of work, medium, size, and date. Images can be labeled and ordered as they are uploaded. For good image quality and fast upload, we recommend jpeg images no larger than 1280 x 1280 pixels @ 72 PPI.

    • Each image should document a finished work, or present a detail or alternate view of finished work. Please do not submit composite images that include explanatory text, preparatory drawings, and comparisons with other pieces. Our online portfolio includes a label section and we encourage you to provide more details and context about your work there and in your artist statement.

Ceramics Specialization (30CE)

Metal Specialization (30ME)

Painting & Drawing Specialization (30PD) 

Photography & Related Media Specialization (30PH)

MFA in Studio Art: Printmaking Specialization (30PR)

MFA in Studio Art: Sculpture Specialization (30SC)

¹

MFA student must complete 50% of their coursework in their area of specialization: ceramics, metal, painting & drawing, photography & related media, printmaking or sculpture.

²

MFA students are required to complete 50% of their coursework (30 credits) at the 700-level.

Graduate Checklist

Program Requirements

• File a degree plan of study during the first semester after matriculation.
• Convene a Thesis Review Committee including an external evaluator by the conclusion of the second semester.
• Complete prescribed course work and other requirements within five years after matriculation.
• Maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better in all courses taken at New Paltz, with no more than two grades below B-.
• International students must meet graduate school requirements for language proficiency. If remedial work in English is necessary, a student may be required to enroll in English as a Second Language. All entrance/placement examinations must be taken before any student may register for graduate classes.
• Present a thesis exhibition approved by the recommendation of your primary advisor.

Final documentation of the thesis exhibit must be filed with the library in accordance with departmental guidelines.

Complete submission is as follows:

1. Format: The thesis should be submitted as a single PDF, including the title page and signature (thesis approval) pages.  
2. The SOAR Release Form is to be signed, scanned, and submitted as a separate PDF.  
3. Margins: Standard 1-inch margins on all sides.  
4. Typeface: Double-spaced, with a 12-point font. We recommend a standard font such as Times, Times New Roman, Helvetica or Arial.  
5. Signature / Title page: Please type the names of your committee members on the page traditionally known as the “signature page” but which we will refer to as the committee approval page as it will not contain any actual signatures (committee signatures will be reserved for the SOAR release form). Please see these sample title and committee approval pages.  
6. Arrangement: Pagination must be correct (each page numbered). The main text is preceded by the title page and signature (thesis approval) page.  
7. Length: minimum 5 pages double-spaced not including title and signature page and images. This paper details the conceptual and material development of your research. Please contact the graduate coordinator if you have questions about the format and content of this paper. 
8. Bibliography and citations: Use Modern Language Association (MLA) format. MLA in-text citations are preferable to footnotes.  
9. Images: Your work should be documented as professionally as possible. Detail, process and installation images are encouraged. Images can either be embedded in your text or come after your bibliography. All images should be labeled with the following information: Title, Media, Dimensions, Date. If you are including images of other artist’s work, make sure to include their name.  
10. Approval: Theses must be approved, and the SOAR Release Form signed by your main faculty member (committee chair) before the library will accept them.  
11. Submission: Your thesis and SOAR Release Form should be emailed to thesis@library.newpaltz.edu by the final week of the semester in which you are graduating. This date can be found on the university calendar.  

The Library Collection Management Team must notify the Records and Registration Office that the approved thesis and signed SOAR Release Form have been received before the degree will be granted. Students have the right to opt-out from submitting their work to SOAR. If you would like to opt-out from submitting your thesis to SOAR, please complete and submit this SOAR Opt Out Form when you email your thesis submission. For more information, or for other assistance with thesis submission, please contact Research & Metadata Librarian Madeline Veitch. Note: if you are interested in purchasing a bound copy of your thesis, Acme Bookbinding in Hatfield, Pennsylvania provides this service for a fee.  

Your complete and approved thesis paper must be submitted by the time specified during the library. Failure to turn your thesis in on time will result in an H grade (hold) and delay your graduation. If you fail to complete the thesis exhibition or paper within one year the H grades turn into an F without recourse for change. If you did not complete your thesis exhibition or paper, you must enroll in a continued registration course until your thesis is approved. Please contact the graduate coordinator for information about how to enroll in this course.  

Program Learning Objectives