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Hands-on artwork
» Art, MFA
Undergo intensive studio training to prepare for a career in academia or as a professional artist

Studio Art

M.F.A. Studio Art

» Department of Art & Design   » College of Art & Architecture


  • INTRODUCTION
  • WHAT IT TAKES
  • WHAT PEOPLE DO
  • GET INVOLVED
  • FACULTY
Sally Machlis and student discuss paintings

For nearly 100 years, the Department of Art and Design at the University of Idaho has prepared students for successful careers in design, studio art and art education. The Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art (M.F.A. Studio Art) builds on this tradition by offering an innovative approach to learning that combines personal faculty mentorship and thought-provoking lectures with intensive studio practice and engaging research opportunities. Whether you are pursuing a career in academia or aspire to be a professional artist, the M.F.A Studio Art will boost you to the next level.


The M.F.A. Studio Art program currently offers the following areas of concentration:

  • Graphic Design
  • Interface
  • Interactive and Information Design
  • Photography/Digital Imaging
  • Painting
  • Printmaking
  • Sculpture


In the Department of Art and Design, you are the driver of your education – and your future. With personal guidance from your faculty mentor, you will define a path that is in line with your interests, talents and values. We encourage you to find your own way: to create what you want to create, study what you want to learn and research what you want to explore. You will also have flexibility to experiment with and work across disciplines, further enhancing your artistic versatility.


The M.F.A Studio Art gives you a deeper, more meaningful understanding of your work through focused research and interactive seminars. Independent studio practice is at the core of the program. You will work alongside leading faculty to master your skills and further develop your unique artistic style. You will also have private studio space in our Graduate Art Studios (GAS House), a feature not often found at other universities.


Prepare for Success

Most students pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art want to more deeply explore current concepts and practices in the art and design professions. A related undergraduate degree, such as the University of Idaho's Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art, is excellent preparation for the graduate degree. Your success in the self-directed program relies on your ability to work independently and to self-initiate studio projects and research.


Your First Year

Potential students should apply for the 60-credit program through the University of Idaho College of Graduate Studies. You will also submit supporting application materials, including a portfolio of your personal work, to the Department of Art and Design for review. Once you are admitted to the program, you will meet with the graduate coordinator to develop your initial study plan, a list of the courses required to complete the degree. When you complete the 18-24 credit probationary period, you will select a major professor and a graduate committee and develop a master study plan. Degree requirements include:

  • Seminar, history, criticism and philosophy
  • Practicum and gallery
  • Studio
  • Research and thesis exhibition
  • Approved electives
All candidates for the terminal degree in studio art must present a thesis, including a one-person exhibition of professional quality work supported by a written statement and public defense on the nature of the work.

Art and Design Graduate Policies and Procedures


What You Can Do

The graduate degree in studio art prepares you for a career as a professional artist or art teacher at the college and university level. With a Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art (M.F.A. Studio Art), you may become a:

  • Professional artist or designer
  • Art teacher in higher education
  • Manager/Administrator of museums and/or galleries
  • Art buyer or curator for corporations/collectors
  • Director of nonprofit art organizations


Jason Ferguson

Opportunities

Thousands of University of Idaho alumni credit their experiences in the Department of Art and Design as pivotal to their success. The M.F.A Studio Art positions you to join them. You will be prepared for exciting and challenging teaching careers in colleges and universities, and have the high-level skill and perspectives to pursue a rewarding career as a professional artist. Many of our graduates have gone on as teachers in higher education or work in art organizations or in museum/galleries as curators and directors.


Current Research

Our faculty members are internationally and nationally recognized for their expertise, with work featured at group and solo exhibitions throughout the world. Faculty research interests and activities include:

  • International student and faculty exchange in information design (federally funded)
  • Michelangelo and Neoplatonism, design culture, visual culture, phenomenology and media aesthetics
  • Massive concrete laminated and mold-formed depictions of ruins from the “Villa Bitricci”
  • Procedures followed in professions ranging from autopsy, dissection, taxidermy and geological data collection, to the creation of domestic objects
  • Interface between new and traditional media
  • Mixed media painting and collage
  • Free culture, online design communities and new media narrative
  • Panoramic landscapes created by the Glacial Lake Missoula Floods and design of 3D presentation techniques
  • Application and nurturing of design thinking in an interdisciplinary project


Hands-On Experience

Graduate students have excellent opportunities for firsthand experience (and financial assistance) as a paid teaching, instructional, graduate or research assistant. You will also learn about gallery practices and management through the College of Art and Architecture’s Prichard Art Gallery, which hosts exhibitions of work from regional and national artisans. Your hands-on and research experiences may include:

  • Studios: Studio experiences are at the core of the Department of Art and Design. As a graduate student, you’ll work independently in your private studio space and also have opportunities to collaborate with leading faculty and peers from all art and design areas.
  • Assistantships: Gain firsthand experience teaching or researching at the university level as a teaching, instructional, graduate, or research assistant.
  • Research: Graduate students have opportunities to work alongside leading faculty on field research. Students are encouraged to pursue focused research in their personal interests. Below is a list of recent graduate research titles:
    • Between Concealing and Revealing
    • On The Spiral Path
    • Minutia: The Great Impact of Small Things
    • The Shim Defines Me
    • Apparatus: The Aesthetic of Mechanical Function
    • The Book Undone: Reterritorialization and the Process of the Restoration Narrative
    • A Skin’s Edge
  • International Study: Immerse yourself in another culture to learn about art on a global scale.
  • Prichard Art Gallery: A University of Idaho College of Art and Architecture outreach facility located in downtown Moscow. Gain gallery practice and management experience. You’ll critique and study work of regional artisans and art and design students.


Facilities

Graduate Art Studios (GAS House): Graduate students are assigned private studio space in the GAS House. The on-campus building houses 21 private studios, faculty space, and a small wood shop.

Technical Laboratories and Workshops: Tools and materials in our advanced technical labs and workshops will give you the resources (and expertise from the laboratory manager) you need to create. 



Bill Woolston
Professor
Bill Woolston teaches Photography and Digital Imaging. His current creative focus on panoramic landscapes created by the Glacial Lake Missoula Floods and design of 3D presentation techniques. He has been with the UI for more than 30 years. He has an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Bill serves as the Chair of the Department of Art & Design.
» woolston@uidaho.edu
David Giese
Professor
David Giese teaches painting and mixed media. His current work includes massive concrete laminated and mold-formed depictions of ruins from the “Villa Bitricci.” These “ruins” combine various period architectural detailing in humorous ways to represent the “rise and fall of taste” in design history. He has exhibited his work in over 180 group shows and over twenty one-person exhibitions. His work is in numerous private and public collections in the U.S., Canada, and Germany. In the last few years he has been working on private commissions in the Las Vegas area. He is represented by the OK Harris Gallery of Fine Art in New York City and the Gail Severn Gallery in Sun valley, Idaho
» dgiese@uidaho.edu
Delphine Keim
Delphine Keim-Campbell
Associate Professor
Delphine Keim-Campbell coordinates the graphic design area and is the current director of the foundation studio courses. Her scholarly activity includes designing for interdisciplinary grant projects and the creation of award-winning graphic design for her clients
» View Delphine Keim-Campbell's profile
Frank Cronk
Frank Cronk
Professor
Frank Cronk teaches Interface and information design. He focuses on interdisciplinary projects involving designers and professionals in the sciences. He coordinates an external advisory board of design professionals who work with our students on multi-disciplinary projects. He also teaches with Sally Machlis in our online MAT degree program.
» fcronk@uidaho.edu
Greg Turner-Rahman
Greg Turner-Rahman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Gregory Turner-Rahman teaches Visual Communications and Digital Imaging. Much to the dismay of friends and family, he spends vast amounts of time thinking, researching, and writing about free culture, online design communities, and new media narrative. Previously, Greg worked professionally as a graphic designer, art director, and interface designer – all jobs that pale in comparison to a summer job he once had counting aphids. He holds a BFA (industrial design) from the University of Washington, a MS in Architecture and a PhD in Visual Culture of New Media from Washington State University
» gtrahman@uidaho.edu
Jason Ferguson
Jason Ferguson
Assistant Professor
Jason Ferguson teaches all levels of sculpture. He is an experimental artist that utilizes research, collaboration, and scientific protocol to develop conceptual intent. His recent approach applies the procedures followed in autopsy, dissection, taxidermy, and geological data collection to domestic objects. His work has been featured in numerous one-person and group exhibitions on a national level. He is in the process of developing work for upcoming one-person exhibitions at the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago, IL and at West Chester University in West Chester, PA.
» View Jason Ferguson's profile
Jay Pengilly
Director, Technical Shop
Jay Pengilly is the master craftsman that directs our technical shop. Together with his crew of highly trained helpers, Jay assists hundreds of students each year to plan and complete class projects. He provides training sessions for students in all disciples in the College of Art and Architecture and oversees the Department of Art & Design’s technical facilties in sculpture and the Graduate Art Studios (G.A.S. House).
» pengilly@uidaho.edu
Lynne Haagensen
Lynne Haagensen
Professor
Lynne Haagensen teaches printmaking and drawing. An active artist, she is particularly interested in the interface between new and traditional media. Her quilt size photocopy collages have been exhibited in national and international solo exhibitions. Her enthusiasm for foreign languages makes her a good advisor for the B.A, Degree in Art which emphasizes breadth in the humanities and includes a foreign language requirement.
» lynneh@uidaho.edu
Roger Rowley
Roger Rowley
Director, University Galleries
Roger Rowley has 18 years experience in museums and not-for-profit galleries. Most recently he was curator of exhibitions/collections manager for the Museum of Art/WSU. Previously he worked at Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester NY, where he rose to the position of Exhibition Program Coordinator. He has an MFA in photography and artist books from VSW and a BFA from the University of Colorado.
» View Roger Rowley's profile
Sally Machlis
Sally Machlis
Associate Professor
Sally Machlis coordinates the art education program including the on-line MAT. She provides an important link between the department and the community and public schools through a variety of projects including a statewide high school art exhibition and serving on the Idaho Commission on the Arts. She also teaches Art 100, the art appreciation course for the college and university core. Her current creative research is in the area of mixed media painting and collage.
» sallymac@uidaho.edu
Susan Treu
Administrative Assistant
Susan is Master and Commander of the Department of Art & Design office providing friendly assistance to students, faculty, and visitors. She is responsible for office administration and performs a multitude of administrative support tasks such as proofreading and editing materials, compiling information for special reports, coordinating the class schedule and maintaining department files, supplies and equipment. Whether you are trying to find a class, make an appointment, looking for a part-time job in the department or trying to change your schedule Susan is often the end of the line. If she doesn’t have the answer, she’ll help you find out how to get it.
» streu@uidaho.edu