The academic life and schedule of a graduate student in the Department of Visual Arts is shaped by a set of required courses and commitments completed over two years. In their first year, students take a set of seminars with their cohort, an evening critique class with the full MFA cohort, and independently chosen electives across the University. In their second year, students continue enrolling in electives and the weekly critique class while working toward a thesis abstract and exhibition — collaborating closely with a small faculty-student committee and the Logan Center Exhibitions team, respectively, for a spring presentation. Throughout both years, students meet regularly one-on-one with faculty and visiting guests in their individual studios, attend evening visiting artist lectures, and come together with the full department for day-long critiques at the end of each quarter.
Seminar Sequence
In the first year of the MFA program, students participate in a sequence of three seminar courses — one each in the fall, winter, and spring quarters. These quarter-long courses develop a shared critical language within the department, used to discuss and interrogate the presuppositions and forms of each student's artistic practice. The seminars take many forms depending on the faculty member teaching, but are always focused on the theoretical and historical underpinnings of the field.
Tuesday Night Critiques
In the fall and winter quarters, all MFA students participate in the Tuesday Night Critique Class. Throughout the quarter, all 16 students present their work in an informal setting that allows the critical language developed in the seminars to be applied to individual artistic practice. These sessions are often joined by visiting artists, curators, and practitioners from other fields.
Electives
MFA students are required to take six elective courses, at least three of which must be outside the Department of Visual Arts. For those taken outside the department, students are encouraged to explore courses whose content intersects with or is adjacent to the concerns of their studio practice. Among the broad offerings at the University of Chicago, these may include courses from the Departments of Anthropology, Art History, Cinema and Media Studies, Sociology, Philosophy, and more.
Quarter-End Critiques
Building on the seminars and individual studio visits, each quarter culminates in a department-wide critique. DoVA typically uses two formats: one in which the entire department comes together as a community to view and discuss work, and another in which the department breaks into smaller groups for more intimate discussion. Second-year students present at the start of the fall quarter in October and again in March, in the lead-up to their final thesis exhibitions. First-year MFA students present at the end of the fall quarter in December and again in June, at the close of their first year.
Teaching Assistantships
The University of Chicago has a long tradition of teaching excellence. In this spirit, all MFA students have the opportunity to serve as teaching assistants for faculty throughout their two-year program. This exposes students to the wide variety of pedagogical approaches within the department, from the practical to the technical and philosophical. To learn more, please view the 2024–25 TA Policy.
Faculty Engagement
A benefit of the small cohort in the Department of Visual Arts is the degree to which faculty engage with graduate students. Over the course of two years, faculty come to know the concerns and strengths of each artist in the program, working to develop their practice in line with individual artistic aspirations. One of the primary means of developing this shared knowledge is a series of studio visits MFA students have with faculty throughout their two years. This aspect of the program exposes students to a variety of perspectives and approaches, helping them build a coherent understanding of and set of ideas about their own studio practice.
Open Practice Committee
The Open Practice Committee (OPC) is the visiting artist program of the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago, responsible for organizing talks each quarter and inviting guests to participate in studio visits and critiques. Working closely with DoVA faculty and other arts organizations on campus, the OPC Program Administrator curates and invites a range of artists, critics, curators, and historians whose work complements the diversity of curriculum and interests in the department. Students can expect an average of twelve OPC events and four studio visits with outside guests each year. OPC talks are generally held on Monday evenings at the Logan Center for the Arts and are open to the public. All MFA students are expected to attend.
BA/MFA Mentorship
Over the course of the program, MFA students have the opportunity to mentor one of the department's selected Studio Track BA students. The Studio Track is a competitive undergraduate program in which students are given dedicated resources — including private studios and access to faculty mentorship — alongside an MFA mentor. The Studio Track culminates in a final BA thesis exhibition in the Logan Center Gallery. The MFA mentor component offers MFA students invaluable teaching experience while providing both MFA and BA students a shared space for dialogue independent of faculty.
Thesis Exhibition
The culmination of the two-year MFA program is the thesis exhibition, self-organized by the second-year cohort and presented at the Logan Center Gallery. The exhibition represents the full scope of what each artist has developed in the program and provides an opportunity for graduating students to work with the Logan Center Exhibitions team in mounting a professionally produced show. The thesis exhibition is often accompanied by commissioned written materials and serves as the setting for each artist's final faculty review at the close of their graduate experience.
Thesis Abstract
In conjunction with their thesis exhibition, MFA students are expected to produce a written thesis abstract. These texts are developed in collaboration with a thesis committee comprising two MFA students and two faculty advisers. Over the course of the second year, these groups meet regularly to refine and articulate the writing with the guidance of the faculty advisers. The goal of this writing is to help each artist articulate the concerns and methods of their practice as they relate to the thesis exhibition and the larger arc of their work. These texts have proven valuable not only within the MFA program but as a foundation for post-graduation applications to grants and residencies, as well as for texts associated with exhibitions and related projects.