Painting

An image depicting work at the School of Art + Design.
The School of Art + Design embraces the manifold forms of contemporary painting by offering the aspiring artist rigorous training in both traditional and innovative practices of painting, image production, and object-making. We strongly encourage you to explore other artistic mediums as a means of challenging, enhancing, and diversifying your own unique position as a painter.

Our MFA program is fundamentally committed to engaging new forms and concepts in painting. While many of our students work with paint, recent graduates have also incorporated photography, video, sculpture, and site-specific installation into their art. To ensure that you'll have ample opportunity to explore alternative mediums, our curriculum incorporates a number of electives that may be selected from across the School of Art + Design. In addition, you'll complete a range of studio painting courses that offer you the opportunity to participate in individual exhibitions, critiques, and focused development of a professional-grade portfolio. In all of our courses, you will work closely with a faculty composed of dedicated teachers and accomplished artists.

Whether your ambitions include teaching or exhibiting, we've designed our program to provide you the theoretical training and creative space necessary to mature into a self-sustaining artist. We eagerly invite applications from candidates serious about pursuing a career in painting. And we welcome candidates interested in exploring innovative techniques and multimedia projects.

Resources in Painting

Your MFA experience includes access to an array of high-quality facilities, including group studios, individual studios, and large common spaces for collaborative projects, installations, and critiques. We also offer woodshops, technology labs, the archives of the Krannert Art Museum, and the collection of the Ricker Library of Architecture and Art. The aesthetic and conceptual interests of our professors include:

  • Representational painting

  • Experimental painting

  • Abstract painting

  • Multimedia painting

  • Installations

  • Sculpture

  • Digital media

  • Photography

  • Internet-based art

  • Public art