Program overview

The MFA is a professional degree for practicing artists, craftspeople, or designers who desire to leave a lasting impression on their fields by devotion to their work and high standards of discipline and artistic ideals. The MFA is generally a two-year, full-time program that involves the presentation of a thesis. The thesis includes written documentation and the formal exhibition of a body of work.

The ceramics studio embraces the contemporary spectra of aesthetic ideas and innovative techniques to educate and train professional artists/craftspeople. It strives to support students’ career goals with pragmatic information and suitable facilities and equipment.

Our structured courses address specific issues inherent to utilitarian pottery, vessel aesthetics, ceramics sculpture, and mixed media. The ceramics program also receives substantial reinforcement from the other craft studios because they, too, explore similar formats and concerns that face artists and craftspeople in the 21st century.

Curriculum

Admission requirements

To be considered for admission to the MFA program in ceramics and ceramic sculpture, candidates must fulfill the following requirements:

• Hold a baccalaureate degree in a field of arts, sciences, or education from a regionally accredited institution in the United States,
• Submit official transcripts (in English) of all previously completed undergraduate and graduate course work (the undergraduate degree should include 75 quarter credit hours [50 semester hours] in studio courses),
• Demonstrate, through the quality of the undergraduate record and creative production, a genuine, professional potential, and
• Complete a graduate application.
• International students whose native language is not English must submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language. Minimum scores of 550 (paper-based) or 80 (Internet-based) are required. Scores from the International English Language Testing System are accepted in place of the TOEFL. A minimum score of 6.5 is required. Applicants coming from countries where the baccalaureate degree is not awarded for programs in the practice of art may be admitted to graduate study if the diploma or certificate received approximates the standards of the BFA, BA, or BS degrees, and if their academic records and portfolios indicate an ability to meet graduate standards.

Additional information

Studio residence program

The School for American Crafts offers a craft residence program. Participants are accepted in the ceramics, glass, metals, and wood studios.

Residence positions are limited and are awarded after the review of all applicants’ portfolios, transcripts, and references. An interview is required. Accepted studio residents are required to register for at least two quarter credit hours of independent study during every quarter of residence. These two quarter credit hours can be taken as an audit, thus reducing the tuition cost to the resident.

Accepted residents are expected to be present in their assigned studio during class hours and to contribute up to 10 hours of work per week in the main studio. These work hours will be coordinated and overseen by the major faculty in the area. In exchange, the school will provide workspace, access to facilities, and supportive instruction. The resident is invited to participate in the full range of studio activities.

Participants may be those seeking additional studio experience prior to undergraduate or graduate study, early career professionals, or teachers on leave who wish to work again in an academic studio environment. The major faculty in the area will make decisions concerning appropriate candidates.

Inquiries should be made to the Residence Program, College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, School for American Crafts, Rochester Institute of Technology, 73 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623-5603.