Curriculum and Requirements
Requirements for MFA Degree
You must earn 60 points total to graduate. 36 of these points must be Core Courses in the Visual Arts Program. You will also take 24 points of electives, 9 of which will also need to fulfill the Critical Thinking Requirement. Only 2 classes at the 3000 level may count towards the 60 points required for the MFA degree. Classes at the 1000 and 2000 level do not count towards the 60 point requirement. You are not allowed to repeat any classes for which you have received a passing grade. You must be enrolled for a minimum of 12 points to qualify as a full-time student at Columbia and can register for up to 18 points in the fall and spring at no extra cost.
First- and Second-year students are required to participate in the First Year and Thesis Exhibitions.
First Year
TYPICAL REGISTRATION
Fall Term
Core MFA Curriculum:
- Graduate Studio: Research and Practice I (3 points)
- Group Critique I (3 points)
- Artist Mentorship (2 points)
- Visiting Artist Lecture Series (VALS 1 points)
Electives:
- Critical Thinking elective (3 points)
- Additional elective (3 points)
TOTAL: 15 points
Spring Term
Core MFA Curriculum:
- Graduate Studio: Research and Practice I (3 points)
- Group Critique I (3 points)
- Artist Mentorship (2 points)
- Visiting Artist Lecture Series (VALS 1 points)
Electives:
- Critical Thinking elective (3 points)
- Additional elective (3 points)
TOTAL: 15 points
Second Year
Fall Term
Core MFA Curriculum:
- Graduate Studio: Research and Practice III (3 points)
- Group Critique III (3 points)
- Artist Mentorship (2 points)
- Visiting Artist Lecture Series (VALS 1 points)
Electives:
- Critical Thinking elective (3 points)
- Additional elective (3 points)
TOTAL: 15 points
Spring Term
Core MFA Curriculum:
- Graduate Studio: Research and Practice IV (3 points)
- Group Critique IV (3 points)
- Artist Mentorship (2 points)
- Visiting Artist Lecture Series (VALS 1 points)
Electives:
- Critical Thinking elective (3 points)
- Additional elective (3 points)
- Thesis Project (REQUIRED)
Total: 15 Points
Total: 60 Points 4 Semester
Graduate students may take a maximum of 18 points per semester; 72 points over two years. Enrolling for more than 18 points will incur additional tuition charges.
REGISTERING FOR THESE FOUR CLASSES IS REQUIRED
FIRST YEAR GRADS MUST REGISTER FOR THESE FOUR CLASSES
- Visiting Artist Lecture I, VIAR 5800 AV sec:001, call number 10760
- Graduate Studio I, VIAR 5840 AV sec:001, call number 10761
- Group Critique 1, VIAR 5850 AV sec:001, call number 10762
- Artist Mentorship I, VIAR 5860 AV sec:001, call number 10763
Completion of Thesis
Degree candidates must complete a thesis exhibition supplemented by a Thesis Proposal, Thesis Statement, and Committee Review.
Payment of Fees
PLEASE NOTE: A diploma hold will be placed if a student owes $50 or more upon graduation, which means they will not receive their diploma or have access to degree certifications. Diploma holds do not block access to transcripts holds will be placed on student accounts with a balance of $1000 or more, blocking current students from registering for the upcoming semester until the balance is below $1000. A Deans can also be placed on a student’s account for failure to meet School of the Arts school-wide and/or Visual Arts requirements. Direct any queries to the School of the Arts Student Affairs Office at [email protected].
Course Requirements for the MFA
The Columbia Visual Arts Program required Core Curriculum and graduate elective course schedule is as follows:
Important information on the Weekly Schedule:
Thursday night is the usual make-up time if a professor or visiting critic has to reschedule a class or visit for any reason. Please keep Thursday evenings free and do not register for classes that meet on Thursdays after 4pm.
Graduate Studio: Research and Practice - Mondays 4-10pm
This course has two components:
- Faculty Visits: In the fall semester, you will have one studio visit each week on Monday night with a full-time professor. At the start of the semester you will be assigned a fixed time slot for these visits. This will be your meeting time all semester. Faculty serving as Graduate Studio instructors this fall are: Gregory Amenoff, Matthew Buckingham, David Antonio Cruz, Delphine Fawundu, Dana Lok, Kambui Olujimi, and Pamela Sneed. In the spring, you will work primarily with two full-time faculty based on your preferences and, in turn, this means that each faculty member will work with 12 students. Faculty may organize some group work with their students at times other than Monday evenings. The list of faculty teaching in the spring will be made available in October 2023. In both fall and spring semesters the objective of the Graduate Studio course is for you to carry out individually-directed creative research, experimenting within or beyond your medium while developing your studio practice.
- Visiting Critics: The second component of this course includes scheduled studio critiques with some of New York’s most distinguished art practitioners and is meant to offer multiple perspectives relevant to the training of contemporary artists. At the beginning of the semester, students are asked to select their preferences for Visiting Critics they would like to meet from a list provided by the Visual Arts Program. Typically, each student sees 2-3 Visiting Critics/VALS visitors per semester. The Visual Arts office schedules the visits around your regular Graduate Studio appointment with full-time faculty and then distributes the schedule in mid-September. You are responsible for knowing when you have a Visiting Critic meeting. The critic’s time is extremely valuable and we don’t want anyone to miss out.
Group Critique
Wednesdays, 5:30 - 9:00pm
(3 weeks on, 3 weeks off, 3 weeks on, 3 weeks off)
Weekly group critique workshops led by distinguished artists, full time faculty, or critics with 6-8 students are a vital aspect of your education. During these critiques, students expose their work to their peers and, with the guidance of the professor, get the necessary feedback to a) determine how their work is communicating and b) learn to articulate the ideas that are in the work to their colleagues.
In Group Critique you will meet three consecutive Wednesdays; then have three weeks off; then meet with a new group and a new instructor for 3 weeks. There are four instructors; classes and groups rotate so you will have opportunities to meet with different students & different instructors. Schedules will be emailed in early September.
Artist Mentorship: 2 weeks per semester
The Artist-Mentor program allows a close and focused relationship to form between a core group of ten to fifteen students and their mentor. You will be assigned two mentors according to your preferences. You will meet with both of your Mentors each semester in separate one-week workshops. The content of the workshop will vary according to the Mentors’ area of interest, expertise, and the needs of the students. Mentor weeks may include individual critiques, group critiques, studio visits, visits to galleries, other artist's studios, museums, special site visits, readings, and writing workshops.
Please be aware that once you are assigned your mentors you will be working with them over your two years in the program for a total of eight weeks. Only in rare cases are students allowed to change groups. Mentor assignments are made by faculty. Not everyone can be assigned their first or second preferences, but we make every effort to match you with your preferences whenever possible.
* Important Note on Mentor weeks * Mentor groups meet for a full week each semester. You will have two mentor weeks each semester. Mentor groups take place outside of MFA Core Curriculum class times, but usually you will need to miss your electives during your two mentor weeks. It is your responsibility to plan ahead for any scheduling conflicts related to mentor weeks. It is essential that you tell the professor of any elective class about this requirement after you have registered for their course and remind them again as Mentor weeks draw near. Be aware that you are obliged to fulfill the standard requirements for your electives—communicate with your instructor in advance in case there are assignments, tests, or readings you need to catch up on or plan ahead of time to work around your mentor weeks. If there are any problems, please contact Matthew Buckingham (Visual Arts Chair), Delphine Fawundu (Director of Graduate Studies) or Laura Mosquera (Director of Academic Administration) and we can help explain this requirement. During Mentor weeks you are still required to participate in Graduate Studio on Monday nights, VALS on Tuesday nights, Group Critique on Wednesday nights, and any rescheduled classes or meetings on Thursday nights.
In addition, if applicable, you are also required to remind your work student service position supervisor and the faculty you are TAing for a week in advance that you will be out for Mentor.
Visiting Artist Lecture Series (VALS)
Tuesdays 6:30 - 8:00pm
VALS is organized by a committee of second-year Student Fellows. The 2023-2024 VALS Fellows are Candela Bado, Javier Griffey, Séan Harrison and Antonio Vidal de Lascurain, advised by Assistant Professor David Antonio Cruz.
Visiting artists and critics are invited over the course of the academic year to give a one-hour lecture followed by discussion, and conduct 3 40-minute studio visits. These lecturers will join the previously listed Visiting Critics and will be available as one of your allotted studio visits each semester. Please contact the Fellows with any suggestions for lecturers. In the spring semester, there will be a call to apply for the VALS committee for the next year.
VALS Fellows: [email protected]
Electives
You are required to complete a total of 24 elective points, 9 of these in Critical Thinking courses, and 15 in other subjects, including Visual Arts studio courses and University offerings.
Electives cannot conflict with the core MFA Visual Arts graduate course schedule. You may take courses anywhere in the University where you have faculty/department permission. Please be advised that only 6 points of level 3000 courses will count towards graduation; the other 15 points must be level 4000 or above. Courses below level 4000 cannot count towards Critical Thinking requirements without faculty approval (see below). Courses at the 1000-2000 level will not earn points towards the MFA degree. Available electives are listed in the Class Directory: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/
Critical Thinking Requirement
Developing the ability to think critically in relation to the production and reception of art is a core objective of the Columbia MFA program. Moving between intuition and inquiry, materials and ideas, critical thought is an essential catalyst for making art.
Over the four semesters of the program you are required to fulfill a total of 9 elective points in Critical Thinking courses, either within the Visual Arts program, by taking one or more of the elective Critical Issues courses or Discipline Seminars, or by enrolling in qualifying graduate-level seminars and lectures offered by the university-at-large (4000 level or higher), or a combination of these two options.
When choosing your Critical Thinking electives, base your decision on your studio practice and the subjects that will help you to advance your artwork. Look through the list below and the Columbia course catalog at-large. Look for Columbia courses that are not on our list that may be relevant to your work and practice. Then submit your course(s) for approval to the Visual Arts Chair, Director of Graduate Studies, or Director of Academic Administration for approval.
Critical Issues
Critical Issues courses offered by the Visual Arts Program examine political, social, and cultural questions as they relate to making and experiencing art. Each Critical Issues class is organized around a different set of theoretical questions and is taught by a full-time or adjunct faculty, eminent critic, historian, curator, theorist, writer, or artist. The aim is to acquaint you with a broad range of contemporary thought and for you to develop your skills in verbal and textual analysis. Each semester we offer two Critical Issues courses. This fall the courses are:
Critical Issues: Methodologies: Use
Professor: Tyler Coburn
Monday 10:00 am – 12:00 pm, Prentis 101
Enrollment: 14 Students
Course Description: In 1964, Fluxus artist Daniel Spoerri fulfilled an unrealized wish of Marcel Duchamp’s by stretching a replica of the Mona Lisa over an ironing board. For her 2017 survey at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Tania Bruguera included a photograph of a urinal she had installed in The Queens Museum, accompanied by the statement: “It’s time to return Duchamp’s urinal to the bathroom.” However, we interpret these gestures, separated by more than fifty years, it’s clear that Duchamp’s “reciprocal readymade” endures as a potent model for the transvaluation of artwork and artistic practices into different states and uses.
Critical Issues: Idioms - Collective Power
Professor: Shirly Bahar
Thursday 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, Prentis 101
Enrollment: 14 Students
Course Description: Critical Issues in Contemporary Art: Idioms focuses on ways artists may develop or adopt a visual ‘language’ that conveys meaning via personal or shared codes which are greater than the sum of their parts. Linguistically, an idiom can be a group of words forming a phrase having a meaning which is not deducible from those of the individual words. Artists often employ images, objects or patterns in a similar way between individual artworks or across a body of works, intended to be 'read' together. Developing a personal idiom to work within, or joining or borrowing one, often deepens the expressiveness of one's work, generating a sense of belonging and identification in the viewer who recognizes or learns to decipher the cues and intentions they discover in an artist's work.
Graduate Discipline Seminars
While the Columbia Visual Arts Program is dedicated to maintaining an interdisciplinary learning environment where students are free and encouraged to use and explore different mediums while acquiring the skill to look at and critically discuss artwork in any medium, the program is equally committed to providing you with the in-depth knowledge of the materials, tools, practices, histories and theories that underlie specific disciplines and upon which your success as an artist will be based. Each semester we offer one Graduate Seminar in a different discipline, or combination of disciplines, including moving image, new genres, painting, photography, printmaking, or sculpture. These Discipline Seminars are taught by full-time and adjunct faculty, eminent critics, historians, curators, theorists, writers, and artists. Each seminar focuses on the specific relations between tools, ideas and meanings that arise when artists engage with a particular medium. The seminars combine discussions of readings and artworks with presentations of your work and research.
Graduate Seminar in Performance and Related Media
Counts towards Critical Thinking
Professor: Tamar Ettun
Thursday 1:00pm - 4:00pm, Prentis 101
Enrollment: 12 Students
Course Description:
The course will be focused on prints and the motivation for making them.
Concentration will be on past and present processes, the artists who previously utilized them and artists that presently devote a major portion of their work to the making of prints. The objective is to explore what printmaking has to offer the student in regard to their own body of work.
The seminar will be organized in a flexible format utilizing presentations, guest speakers, field trips, readings and discussions to further the examination of printmaking. The course will develop an improved awareness to the advantages of making multiples by combining the practices of observation, conversation, encountering and investigation.
Professional Practice in Visual Arts
Does not count towards Critical Thinking
Professor: Matthew Deleget
Tuesday 11:00am - 2:00pm, Prentis 101
Enrollment: 12 Students
Course Description: This weekly, three-hour class covers the tools and information MFA graduates need to develop and sustain a career in the arts. The curriculum includes an overview of the art business and strategies for building and maintaining professional relationships, making decisions, and knowing when/where/how to access resources. Art professionals – gallerists, curators, financial planners, lawyers, non-profit administrators -- are invited into class to provide a variety of points of view and concrete information from the field for each topic. The class culminates in a session at the New York Foundation of the Arts (NYFA), where the students participate in a practice review of their fellowship grant application before a mock panel comprised of NYFA staff. This session ties together all the information of the semester as they come to understand how decisions are made based upon their work samples, statements, and budgets.
Visual Art Lab
(This is for 2nd year grad students)
Does not count towards Critical Thinking
Professor: Rirkrit Tiravanija
Initial meeting: Friday, September 6, 1:00 – 4:00 pm, Dodge 501 (first meeting only)
Enrollment: 12
Course Description: This elective class paves the transition for Graduate Students to see themselves as artists outside of academia and to contextualize the body of work they develop in graduate school in the arena of international art conversations. Visual Art Lab is a class outside of a traditional lecture or seminar structure where you will meet individually with the professor as well as engage in group activities such as museum and gallery visits, participatory lectures, and performances. You will be responsible for readings recommended in relation to their individual body of work and for sharing your response to the readings in group discussion. Given the open nature of the class, the schedule may vary week to week and full participation in all individual tutorials, group work and discussions is required.
Critical Issues in Sound Art
Counts towards Critical Thinking
Professor: James Hoff
Tuesday 4:10pm - 6:00pm, Prentis 320h
Enrollment: 12 Students
Course Description: This course is designed to be an exploration of issues and aesthetics related to the contemporary practicum of Sound Art, and aims to foster a critical understanding of the interactions between the making of and thinking about sound within an interdisciplinary context of studio art, performance, visual culture and other pursuits. Certain artistic tendencies in the evolving and hybridized field of Sound Art are identified, investigated upon and discussed in historical and cultural modalities. This course seeks to inquire into Sound Art’s shifting relationship to the seemingly more stable and established art practices such as sculpture, video and electronic music. Inclusive to these issues are the cultural, visual, spatial, and philosophical concerns that arise.
Studio Courses
In addition to these graduate electives our undergraduate Visual Arts studio elective courses are cross-listed at the graduate level for MFA enrollment. These basic and advanced classes in the making of drawings, moving image work, painting, performance, photography, printmaking and sculpture are an ideal way for MFA students to acquire new skills, gain in-depth feedback on projects, and work closely with particular professors.
For more information regarding which courses qualify as electives pursuant to your MFA, which courses qualify as general and/or critical thinking electives, and to find courses recommended by MFA faculty/alumna, please see the supplemental document provided in your orientation folder.
Please ask Laura if you need help understanding course codes and requirements. She is happy to advise!