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Art - MFA in Studio Art

Master's
Overview
Application Requirements
Career Outcomes
Spotlights
Faculty
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Application Deadlines
Fall: Jan 15 Priority Deadline. Reviewed on a rolling basis through April 15 (international) and August 1 (domestic) on a space available basis.
Spring: n/a
Summer: n/a
School/Department
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
Program Director
Laurel Nakadate
Contact
SMFAgradadmissions@tufts.edu
Location
Boston SMFA Campus
Format
On-campus
Commitment Options
Full-time
Average Duration
2 years
Credits
68
Tuition per Credit
$1542
Eligible for Aid/Scholarship
Yes

Overview

The MFA in Studio Art program, offered through the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, emphasizes intensive studio practice, creative collaboration, formal and informal mentorships, and rigorous academic discourse through an interdisciplinary studio art curriculum. During this two-year program, you'll join a vibrant and supportive community committed to making art that shapes our global society and collective future. Graduate studio courses are taught on the SMFA Fenway Campus in the Mission Hill Studio Building and Tufts' Medford Campus.

Program Outcomes

As an MFA student, you'll develop your studio practice with the support of faculty and fellow students with deep engagements and expertise across disciplines and mediums. You'll work closely with faculty and staff to develop a personalized studio curriculum, and will have access to resources across Tufts. MFA students take part in seminars that explore a variety of subjects within contemporary art, and critiques and Review Boards serve as a crucial driving force in the growth and transformation of your practice.

Our faculty are successful working artists and seasoned educators with broad professional networks and a commitment to supporting emerging artists. Through their teaching and mentorship, you will be guided in the development of your own unique artistic practices. Through the MFA program, you'll advance your presentation, research, and art-making skills, and position yourself for a long and productive independent art practice.

Optional Concentration in Museum Studies

You may choose to apply to the Master of Fine Arts program with an optional concentration in Museum Studies. With this option, the Museum Studies certificate program's five courses (two required, three electives) will count toward a student's non-studio course requirements for the MFA program.

Application Requirements

In addition to the general application requirements, the program requires the following supplemental information:

  • Portfolio: All applicants are required to submit a visual art portfolio consisting 10-20 images of recent work and/or up to 10 minutes of time-based work. We encourage you to submit work that you believe to be the strongest representation of your skills and experiences to date, regardless of medium. The ideal portfolio will demonstrate your conceptual development while highlighting your technical abilities. Find more information about the visual art portfolio here.
  • Resume/CV: This should include exhibitions and awards, as well as professional experiences and related activities, such as research.
  • Personal Essay: The essay should not exceed three pages and should address the following questions:
    • Tell us about your most recent/current art work.
    • What would you identify as important artistic and intellectual influences on your art work? In addition to artists, this might also include writers, scientists, theorists, and other cultural producers.
    • In what ways do you hope to expand and further your art practice at SMFA at Tufts?
  • Three letters of recommendation
  • Official TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo English Test scores, if applicable. A minimum TOEFL score of 90 (iBT), IELTS score of 6.5, or Duolingo score of 100 is required for admission.

Applications received after the priority deadline will be reviewed on a space-available basis.

Application Requirements for Optional Concentration in Museum Studies

Admitted MFA applicants will have the option of applying into the Museum Studies Concentration after receiving their MFA admission decision.

Applicants to the Museum Studies Concentration must submit a 400-word supplemental essay explaining your experience with and/or interest in museum work, as well as what you hope to gain from the concentration. This document can be submitted directly to SMFA Graduate Admissions via email.

Tuition and Financial Aid

See Tuition and Financial Aid information for GSAS Programs. Note: This program is eligible for federal loans and Tufts tuition scholarships.

Amanda Pickler

I didn't want to be boxed into working in just one medium. SMFA is supportive of artists with interdisciplinary practices.

Amanda Pickler, MFA 23

Nallieli Santamaria

At Tufts, the interdisciplinary program opened up a world of possibilities. I found so many opportunities to explore different art forms, and I gained a kind of confidence I couldn't have imagined before-the confidence, for example, to put together a sculptural installation or create music.

Nallieli Santamaria, MFA 23

Career Outcomes

Male graduate student painting, in studio

Average Salary: $80K+

Average Age: 28

*Sources: GSAS-SOE Graduate Exit Survey 2020 - 2021 and Academic Analytics (Alumni Insights)

Spotlights

Faculty

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Laurel Nakadate

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Qais Assali

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Claudia Valladao de Mattos Avolese

Senior Lecturer
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Michael Barsanti

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Silvia Bottinelli

Senior Lecturer
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Bill Burke

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Cristobal Cea

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
digital media, history, representation, videogames, 3d, painting
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Kate Conlon

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Bonnie Donohue

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Joel Frenzer

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
Ecology, Artistic Upcycling, Recycling,
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Emily Gephart

Senior Lecturer
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
Her research spans many forms of visual culture: she has published and presented on how new scientific approaches to the unconscious mind informed the work of American artists and critics in the early 20th century; on poetic satire and pictorial criticism of modernism in the 1916 Spectra hoax; on transatlantic encounters with the oceanic commons in art; on coordinated human and animal aesthetics in millinery fashion; and on the fabrication and perception of fly fishing lures, among other examples of 19th century 'ecologies of mind.'
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Riccardo Giacconi

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Charles Goss

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Angelina Gualdoni

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Eulogio Guzman

Distinguished Senior Lecturer
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
He specializes on the sculpture and architecture of the Mexica (Aztec) and socio-political history and visual culture of colonial Mexico. His interests include visual manifestations of indigenous governance, Pre-Columbian architecture and urbanism, global interactions of the sixteenth and seventeenth century, colonial and post-colonial visual strategies, Open Churches of Sixteenth Century Mexico, the Habsburg empire, kunstkammer, museum studies, and modern architectural history.
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Mags Harries

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Nate Harrison

Professor of the Practice and Dean of Academic Affairs
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Patricia Loper

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Megan Mcmillan

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Rick Moody

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Neda Moridpour

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
Art and Civic Engagement, Socially Engaged Art, Social Practice Art, Intersectional Feminism, Art and Collaboration, cycles of violence, migration and displacement, discrimination, LGBTQIA+ rights, Animal rights, Sexual Assault, violence against women
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Rachelle Mozman

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Ng'endo Mukii

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
Animation and Filmmaking, New Media, Decolonisation
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Ethan Murrow

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Lauren O'connor Korb

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Jieun Lee

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Zora Murff

SMFA Endowed Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Pamela Pecchio

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Kurt Ralske

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Kendall Reiss

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Leslie Rogers

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Jennifer Schmidt

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
Print Media, Multiples, Performance, Sculpture, Installation, Site-Responsive Projects, Writing, Sound, Graphics, Publications, Ephemera
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Jean Simms

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Michael Smoot

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Mary Ellen Strom

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
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Tina Wasserman

Senior Lecturer
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
Cinema and Moving Image Studies, Cinema History and Aesthetics, Visual Culture Studies
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Chantal Zakari

Professor of the Practice
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts

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