OUR MFA CLASSES INSPIRE AND CHALLENGE our students to develop a rich artistic practice deeply engaged with their chosen discipline. Rooted in peer-to-peer discussion, the curriculum of the Art Practice MFA program revolves around a core set of required classes. Starting in the first semester, students participate in two weekly classes together: the Critique Seminar, and the Theory and Criticism Seminar.

During the Critique Seminar, students meet together in the artist studios located at Richmond Field Station, where they engage in critical discussions about one anothers work. Discussions are facilitated by faculty, with the goal of both providing feedback for the student whose work is being discussed, as well as constructing a broader framework for critical thinking which students can then apply to their own work. The Theory and Criticism Seminar, led by a different faculty member, challenges students to develop an improved awareness of their own practice in language, situating their understanding through a variety of reading and writing assignments. Weekly discussions aim to foster insight around the meaning of a contemporary Art Practice.

Throughout both years of the program, students participate in an Independent Study course, in which they make their own work while regularly meeting with a faculty advisor about their progress. Students also take electives throughout their first year of the program, which can be any upper-division or graduate level course campus-wide (given the consent of the instructor). With art practice becoming an increasingly multi-disciplinary field, these electives help enrich students artistic research and technical proficiencies.

During the second year of instruction, students are provided the opportunity to teach as Graduate Student Instructors (GSI's). More information can be found here. In both years of the program, students participate in MFA gallery shows, the second of which occurs in the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) during the Spring.