Stamps MFA Brochure 2013

MFA

Stamps faculty’s broad range of research interests include:

transdisciplinary design; performative technologies; art and commerce; audio narrative; critical race theory; art and early childhood development; art and physics; hybridized narratives and memory; physical computing; graphic novels as diaries; speculative morphologies; the mediated landscape; optics; displacement, migration and alienation; women’s criminalization and censorship; food systems design, figuration, cyberfeminism, tactical media, critique of consumerism, social justice; the body as screen; reproductive technology; sustainable communities; and exploratory digital fabrication techniques and more…

Expanding the Reach of Creative Work Designed for artists whose studio practice actively engages fields of knowledge beyond the cultures of art and design, the Stamps School’s two-year MFA offers one of the most resource-rich and transdisciplinary programs in the country. Students are expected to develop a robust engagement with another field of inquiry and to carry out creative work informed by and interacting with that field.

MFA candidates exhibit, curate, teach, perform, network, investigate, explore, present, produce, innovate, and collaborate with fields of inquiry as varied as nanotechnology and disability studies, climatology and creative writing.

Faculty Mentors and Collaborators As a small, intimate art school within the context of a large, worldrenowned research university, Stamps’ full-time faculty of internationally recognized artists and scholars work closely with students to shape an intellectually-rigorous program of study individually suited to each candidate’s areas of interests and talents. Stamps students also work with leading artists, scholars and researchers and have access to highly advanced facilities within U-M’s 95 top-ranked programs.

Individual Studios

Financial Support

Students conduct their creative work in

The Stamps School offers generous merit-

spacious, fully equipped studios in a 33,000

based financial support to all graduate

square foot space that also houses faculty

students, from stipends and discretionary

studios, a multi-purpose shop, digital media

funds that offset studio expenses, to

equipment and large shared working and

teaching/research assistantships and

meeting spaces.

full tuition waivers. Financial awards are held throughout both years of study and

At Stamps, graduate students also have

enable focused creative work as well as

24/7 access to large state-of-the-art metals,

opportunities to gain experience in teaching

fibers, ceramics, sculpture, wood, prints,

and arts management.

digital media, and digital fabrication studios, as well as to a range of resources only available at a top research university, such as audio engineering booths, robotic labs, virtual reality studios, specialized libraries, institutes and collections, botanical gardens, and much more.

Visiting Artists/Designers During the academic year, students have direct access to a wide array of creative innovators who are part of the Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series and the Witt Visitors Program. Visiting artists

International Study

and lecturers meet weekly with graduate students for individual studio visits.

Stamps recognizes that creative practice is now global in its scope and impact.

With funding support from the School, each student conducts a self-directed international study experience. Past graduates’ international research has ranged from studying the residual effects of colonialism in South Africa; to conducting sound recordings in Egypt’s museums, tombs and temples; to travel to Prague to attend a two-month residency at the MeetFactory International Center of Contemporary Art.

Past visitors have included:

Director and playwright Robert Wilson Brazillian installation artist Ernesto Neto Photographer Mary Ellen Mark Composer Philip Glass Interaction Designer Massimo Banzi Multimedia Artist Janine Antoni Fashion Designer Zandra Rhodes Perfumier Sissel Tolaas Graphic Designer Stefan Sagmeister Sculptor Antony Gormley Dancer and Choreographer Bill T. Jones Video and photographic artist Mariko Mori Painter and Collagist Wangechi Mutu Installation artist, Mary Sibande Painter Alexis Rockman Sculptor Nick Cave

Collaborate with…

Access to…

engineers

world-class printmaking, ceramics, metals and sculpture studios

filmmakers

5 Stamps School galleries

dancers

state of the art digital media labs

climatologists

multi-camera HD video studios

architects

robotics institute

astrophysicists

virtual reality lab

playwrights

rapid prototyping facilities

urban planners

3D printers

musicians

CNC routers

art historians

3D modeling computers large format printers electronic music studios 24-ft astro-tec dome planetarium 7 U-M museums artificial intelligence lab motion capture facility MRI scanners museum of zoology collections anatomy labs professional audio recording studios entrepreneurship clinic 121 music practice rooms dance studios

and more…

MFA

public policy makers journalists microbiologists nanotechnology researchers anthropologists curators sound engineers social workers chemists ecologists neuroscientists botanists computer programmers

and more…

Ann Arbor and Beyond Ann Arbor is consistently ranked one of America’s best college towns, offering a rich cultural and intellectual life, and a vibrant sense of community.

Students also benefit from the urban energy and collaborative opportunities of a creative corridor extending from Toronto, through Detroit, to Chicago.

#1

#4

“Top 10 College Towns”

“Most Creative Cities”

Forbes Magazine • 2010

The Daily Beast • 2012

Ann Arbor by the numbers

#5

#2

“Happiest Cities in America”

“Most Educated Cities in US”

The Daily Beast • 2012

American Community Survey • 2010

#4

“25 Smartest College Towns in US”

#3

Daily Beast • 2011

#6

“Best Places for Recent College Grads”

“Top Art Destinations” midsize cities

Forbes.com • 2010

American Style Magazine • 2011

The city has the flavor of Europe, the intellectual horsepower of an Ivy League community and an honest Midwestern spirit that is reflected in hyperactive volunteering and a boundless local food movement as intense as California’s.

Michelle Krell Kydd

MFA Degree Requirements MFA students complete 15 credits of

The curriculum is designed to

coursework per semester for a total of

accommodate a range of art practices,

60 credits at the completion of the two-

from studio-based inquiry to more

year program. In addition, all students

scholarly, research-focused work.

are required to have a three- to five-week international experience during the summer between their first and second year.

30 Credits – Directed Studio Courses

6 credits – History/Theory/Criticism

Directed studios are the core of the MFA program.

MFA students take six credits of History/Theory/

Each semester, students engage in at least six

Criticism, choosing courses to support their field

credit hours of intense exploration, research,

of inquiry. These classes may be offered by

production, and critique of their individual creative

Stamps School, History of Art, or other units

work, in close collaboration with their Stamps

across the University.

faculty advisors.

3 credits – International Experience

9 credits – Elective Courses

MFA students are required to participate

Students choose elective courses to meet their

in a Stamps School-approved international

individual MFA curriculum goals: they can pursue

experience. The School supports a three to

additional studio courses to emphasize “making”

five-week international experience for all

and studio practice, or select academic courses to

graduate students during the summer vbetween

achieve a hybrid “maker/scholar” focus (learn more

their first and second year.

about these tracks below).

12 credits – Seminars Every semester, students participate in graduate seminars, including seminars in “Research Methods” and “Professional Practice” and other topics related to contemporary art practice.

Directed Studio

Electives

Seminars

History / Theory / Criticism

International Experience

Non-Profit Org Us Postage PAI D Ann Arbor, MI Permit #144 Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design 2000 Bonisteel Blvd, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2069

The Stamps MFA integrates creative production with rigorous academic studies to shape a critically informed, research-intensive, socially engaged, and culturally impactful creative practice.

L E A R N M O R E AT :

www.art-design.umich.edu OR GO TO:

www.art-design.umich.edu/programs/graduate/mfa