Curriculum

The MFA in Studio Arts at Maine College of Art is a graduate program emphasizing independent studio or project production and personal research supported through rigorous teaching and one-on-one advising. Ours is a taught curriculum delivered in a trimester system with coursework for full-time students being completed all year round, whether students live on or off campus.

Summer Intensive Semester
At the core of the full-time MFA degree at MECA is the intensive eight-week Summer Semester in Maine that begins each academic year (NB: the MFA has a mid-June start date, not September). Led by core faculty and a series of distinguished visiting artists and visiting curators, these summer residency semesters form the backbone of the program. Students are taught by the visiting faculty who rotate into the program for a week at a time to present a public lecture, engage in a formal interview process, stage events or workshops, participate in group critiques, and make personal studio visits all week long.

Additionally, students complete courses with the MFA’s core faculty that focus on studio production, textual analysis, and curatorial strategies. Each student at MECA is assigned an advisor who is their main faculty contact all summer long. Over a two year period, High and Medium residency students complete two summer intensive semesters in addition to two winter and two spring semesters.

Winter and Spring Semesters
In addition to the vigorous studio production, lectures, intimate discussion groups, and critiques that make up the summer curriculum, a set of required courses and electives are offered during the winter and spring semesters of the MFA.

Outside the summer session, full-time students in the High residency stream continue to work in studios at the Maine College of Art while the portability of the program allows students in the Medium residency stream to return to studios in their own home communities.

Curriculum for all full-time students is primarily delivered on-line by MECA faculty through podcast lectures, discussion forums and personal conversation, as well as through independent reading and writing assignments. (Course titles and brief descriptions may be found below.) First year students complete a series of on-line, peer-led seminars in art history, critical theory, and  cross-disciplinary research. Second year students engage in more advanced, on-line, peer and self-directed research and composition seminars that help them focus on their individual thesis work.

At the end of the degree, each student prepares a final project and written thesis of 7,500 words which is adjudicated by a panel of core faculty and invited guest critics, as well as an internal and an external examiner who are selected by the College. The MFA thesis show is exhibited in the spacious galleries of the ICA at MECA and all thesis publications are included in the collections of the Joanne Waxman Library at MECA.

Electives in Independent Curating
The MFA is excited to introduce new electives in Independent Curating (IC) beginning in the summer of 2010. In addition to completing the Curatorial Seminar and assignments associated with the week-long MECA Cinematheque, students taking IC electives during the summer will also have the opportunity to work intimately with two visiting curators to prepare installations and events featuring the work of their colleagues in the MFA program. The IC courses are ideal for studio artists who wish to explore the field of non-institutional, freelance work in which the field of curatorial activity may be opened up to include the conception and coordination of exhibitions, installations, projects, performances, films, collective activities, ephemeral or on-going events.

Faculty Structure
One of MECA’s unique aspects is the tripartite structure of its faculty that includes Core, Visiting, and Advisory instructors. Throughout the entire degree all academic coursework is delivered by core faculty who also act as summer studio advisors, discussion leaders, critics, and writing coaches. Since the MFA began in 1998, visiting artists from all over the world working in all disciplines have come to the College to teach for a week at a time with the MFA. This tradition continues every summer with the addition in 2010 of two visiting curators who will join three visiting artists. Finally, the MFA at MECA is one of the few schools to offer every one of its students the opportunity to work intensely with a personal studio advisor. Beginning in the winter semester, every full-time student is carefully paired with an advisor who meets with them in their studios one-on-one throughout the year. Typically, these visits last two hours each and occur six times a semester. Studio advisors assist students to further develop their practice, to carry out studio assignments or coursework, and to become more informed, articulate, and passionate advocates for their own work.

Courses/Electives 2010-2011

Perspectives: An introduction to key written sources for studio artists, this course is also an experiment in non-traditional research methodologies and interpretive strategies (summer)

Praxis: Summer semester studio course

Curatorial Seminar: Introduction to the “nuts-and-bolts” of curating as well as an exploration of theoretical, experimental, and traditional curatorial practices (Summer)

Cinematheque: A week-long film festival of avant-garde and experimental film which is critiqued and analyzed through written responses and group discussion (Summer)

Studio I/II/III/IV: Winter and Spring semester studio courses

Research Methodologies I/II: These are hybrid studio-academic courses for all students focused on developing and enriching one’s abilities to locate, analyze, transform, and translate stimulating source material within a studio or project-based context (Winter)

Contemporary Art Since 1945: Animated through discussion forums and podcast lectures, this art history survey supports 1st year students as they read an entire anthology of art critical writing together (Winter)

Impetus to Analysis: An in-depth look at the role of research in the work of artists from the Renaissance to the present, this 1st year course relies on case studies and student-led discussions (Spring)

Interdisciplinary Studies: This 1st year course investigates how multi-disciplinary perspectives can illuminate core philosophical, aesthetic, and material questions such as: What is consciousness? What is a site? or What is matter? (Spring)

Guided Studies: Faculty work closely with 2nd year students to develop individual syllabi of key texts and artistic models relevant to each unique thesis project (Winter)

Studio Thesis: The final studio course for 2nd year students is directed toward the preparation of their thesis submission to be presented at MECA to a panel of assembled faculty and guests (Spring)

Studio Composition: This course focuses exclusively on assisting graduating students to compose a 7,500 word thesis text published as an essay through Lulu Books (Spring)