Program Overview

Studio Art Master’s with a Concentration in Drawing & Painting

Program Overview

The Studio Art Master’s with a Concentration in Drawing & Painting is a terminal degree experience that focuses on intellectual and creative growth through drawing and painting, fostering the students' practice and preparing them for a lifetime of accomplishment and meaningful contribution as culture creators.

Program Details

• Program Type: Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)
• Format: On Campus
• Estimated Time to Complete: 3 years
• Credit Hours: 60

Program Description

This broad and intensive terminal degree experience focuses on intellectual and creative growth through drawing and painting, fostering the students' practice and preparing them for a lifetime of accomplishment and meaningful contribution as culture creators. The program emphasizes critical and artistic growth through the evolution of rigorous studio practice and frames the individual needs of each student through the development of conceptual, aesthetic, and advanced technical skills.

Marketable Skills

• Critical thinking
• Advanced craftsmanship
• Teamwork
• Advanced oral and written communication
• Advanced multiple approach assessment

Program Highlights

• Courses are taught in the new $70-million UNT Art Building in four dedicated open-space studio classrooms with natural light and props to facilitate different working practices and different media.
• Critique rooms are located throughout the building and provide professional spaces for critiques to take place outside of the classroom environment.
• Graduate courses include Praxis discipline-based courses, professional practices, and variable topics.
• Graduate students work in dedicated studios in the new $10 million Art Annex in close proximity to other studio art graduate students and the nearby 264,000-square-foot Art Building that features world-class facilities, equipment, and resources.

Career Opportunities

This degree will prepare graduates for diverse career pathways in education, design, museums and galleries, and the arts. Employment opportunities include being hired as a professor, lecturer, or technician at a college or university; a general art teacher in elementary/high schools; or a workshop leader.

Graduates also may pursue commercial arts opportunities in:

• illustration
• creative direction
• production art for advertising
• cartoons
• tattoos
• portraits
• murals

Fine artists may be self-employed and produce commissioned work for galleries, interior designers, architects, offices, hotels, or on a freelance basis.

Additionally, graduates may seek employment in museum or gallery settings in positions such as art buyer, art handler, art consultant, gallery director, critic, curator, conservator, or preparator.

Course Examples

• Seminar in University Art Teaching (3 hrs)
• Praxis: Rotating Topics (3 hrs)
• Professional Practices for the Studio Artist (3 hrs)
• MFA Project In Lieu of Thesis Research (3 hrs)
• MFA Project in Lieu of Thesis (3 hrs)
• Topics in Studio Art (3 hr)