As a graduate student at CSUN, you will expand your creative practice and develop a professional body of work under the guidance of working artists.
Why Earn an M.F.A. in Art?
As the art world diversifies and encompasses a multiplicity of forms, it is more important than ever to offer a unique point-of-view. The intense focus that an M.F.A. provides helps you to refine your voice as an artist and jumpstart your professional career.
Take advantage of the mentorship that seasoned artists offer as faculty members. Start growing your network of peers. Enrich your experience by exploring complex techniques and interdisciplinary methods of creating. Understand how your work fits into today's contemporary art world. An M.F.A. is the standard degree required to teach art at the university level.
Why Study Art at CSUN?
Our Focus is Interdisciplinary
We encourage our students to explore and learn new ways of thinking, making and engaging with Contemporary Art. As a professional artist, we know you will need a broad range of skills and techniques to achieve your vision. To accomplish this, our interdisciplinary program allows you to choose from one to three areas of concentration:
- Ceramics
- Drawing
- Illustration
- Painting
- Photography/Video
- Printmaking
- Sculpture
Learn from Other Artists
Our faculty is comprised of working artists, designers and historians, including visiting artists, writers and critics from the internationally recognized Los Angeles art community. Together, they form a diverse, experienced and supportive group of mentors.
State-of-the-art Facilities
In addition to a sculpture shop, a printmaking lab and other professional-level labs, you will be granted individual studio space to help you complete your artistic goals. The CSUN Art Galleries also offer a number of rotating exhibits and the opportunity for students to display their own work.
Dynamic Center of Art
Studying in Los Angeles means having the art industry right at your fingertips. Check out a new exhibit at the Broad Museum, collaborate with other artists across the CSU and start making meaningful connections with art world insiders.
What You'll Learn
As a student, you will deepen your relationship to your art through technical practice, experimentation and analysis.
You'll take courses in the history and philosophy of art, analysis and criticism, and you will learn real world professional development skills. In the studio, you'll conceptualize and develop projects that speak to your artistic vision and build a creative community that will last a lifetime.
After successfully finishing your coursework and advancing to candidacy, you will participate in a culminating experience. This consists of a group exhibition with your peers and a public open studio event. Your graduate paper will detail the aesthetic, philosophical and technical aspects of your work in addition to professional images of the work you created during your time at CSUN. Finally, the Graduate Exhibition is documented in a print catalog that will include your work and your artist statement, along with those of your peers.
By the time you graduate, you will have a robust portfolio showcasing who you are as an artist.
Careers & Outcomes
The Master of Fine Arts signals to the world that you are embarking on a career as a professional artist. Our alumni have exhibited their work locally, nationally, and internationally, have participated in competitive residency programs, and are well-respected as educators.
Recent alumni include:
- Erika Lizeé
- Ashley Hagen
- Logan Bell
- April Bey
- Elizabeth Tingloff
- Michael Roman
- Molly Schulps
Our graduate students have found success as:
- Professors
- Gallery directors
- Gallery preparators
- Fabricators
- Curators
- Exhibiting artists
- Consultants
- Art advisors
- Art critics
Teaching Mentorship Program
Qualifying students can gain real world experience in our mentorship program. Students who wish to teach will work in the classroom with a professor so that they can learn not only how to teach our curriculum, but how to think like an educator.
Admission Information
To be considered for admission to CSUN as a master's student, you will need to:
- Meet university requirements.
- Meet department requirements for the Master of Fine Arts in Art, with an option in Visual Arts.
- Apply to both the university and the specific graduate program of interest.
Learn more about applying for a master's program at CSUN