FROM THE DIRECTOR This year we have the largest graduating class in the history of our Master of Fine Arts in Visual Studies program. This special group’s creativity, courage, and passion has shown us an approach to making a life in art and design that is enlightening and inspired.
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This lively international mix of thirty-two students came together in the MFA program with the single purpose of developing as artists and designers. They galvanized their practice through the act of making, research, laughter, rigorous critique, comradery, and a collective challenge to be the best. Bound together by a common language of art and design, personal expression, and cultural engagement, this class has never avoided difficult questions and challenges in their work. As you look through this catalog, I am sure you will find extraordinary creative work that reflects the times in which we live today and the future that is ahead. This is also the inaugural graduating class of a new home for the MFA program—a building near the college’s main campus that includes fifty beautiful individual studios and an expanded gallery space. These graduates will now engage in professional practice beyond the academy, and they are prepared to become productive members of society and make meaningful, serious contributions to the creative culture. The mentors, faculty, and staff of the Master of Fine Arts in Visual Studies and broader Minneapolis College of Art and Design community are honored to have had the opportunity to contribute to the education of these graduates, and we wish them the best of good fortune as they pursue their chosen careers.
Tom DeBiaso Director and Professor Master of Fine Arts in Visual Studies