Visual Arts, Low-Residency MFA

The Master of Fine Arts program at the Institute of Design at New England College provides students with a critical framework on which to base a sustainable art practice.

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Contact the Visual Arts Department

Program Director

Lars Jerlach
603.428.2625
ljerlach@nec.edu
Graduate Admissions

Bliss Clemmer
603.428.2252
bclemmer@nec.edu

Info Session

Please Join Us for our Upcoming MFA Visual Arts Virtual Information Session on 2/2 at 8PM EST!

Please join Lead Faculty in Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Eileen Murphy, and Senior Admission Counselor, Bliss Clemmer, for our upcoming virtual information session, where we will be discussing the philosophical and practical aspects of the low-residency MFA Visual Arts program at the Institute of Art and Design at New England College.

The event is conveniently scheduled for Thursday, February 2nd at 8:00PM Eastern Time, and if you are thinking about furthering your education in the arts, we hope you will join us!

Please register in advance for this meeting here

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Please reach out to Bliss Clemmer: BClemmer@NEC.edu if you have any questions.

Student Work

New England College — John Humphries | Sculpture/Installation Practices/Ceramics

Hear from Our Students

Mckenzi Dye MFA student “My name is McKenzi and I am a photographer. When I applied to the Institute of Art and Design at New England College for the MFA in Visual Art in Photography/Time-based Art, I knew that it would help further my career in higher education, but I could not imagine the incredible impact it would have on me as an artist. My experience at the residency in Manchester was invaluable, and I left filled with new ideas, inspiration, and motivation. One reason I chose IAD@NEC is because of the individualized instruction and attention that I felt the program could offer me. During the residency, I greatly enjoyed the individual critiques and conversations with an incredible selection of artists and educators. The Program Director and faculty members made an effort to always check in with me and connect me with resources, instructors, and great references for my art. As a student, I felt valued and cared for with each interaction and feedback! I am looking forward to the next two years in the program and to seeing my growth as both an artist and educator.”

MFA Student John Humphries “My name is John, and I’m in my second year in the low-residency MFA Visual Art program at the Institute of Art and Design at New England College. I have found the structure able to both accommodate my busy work schedule and significantly advance and focus my practice as an artist. I work mostly with ceramics, watercolor, wood, and plastic to build large scale installations. At the most recent summer residency I constructed a landscape based on the possible residue of human culture consisting of a ceramic ground as an analogue of the cultivated landscape with plastic soft-forms “floating” above the surface on spindly wooden supports. I could not have advanced this work without the influences and critical commentary and seminars from the core faculty and the many exceptional visiting artists.”

Meet Our Students

Hannah Cole
McKenzi Felt Dye
John Humphries
Bryce Parker
Anna Schölch

Core Faculty

MFA Faculty Eileen Murphy

Eileen Murphy
Lead Faculty in Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking; MFA in Visual Art

While she uses some techniques of the Old Masters, Eileen’s paintings respond to the modern environment and current moment in contemporary art. Her work is intensely detailed and requires a lot of time and technical knowledge. She works from dark to light, and builds images using classical methods as well as photographs.

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Visiting Artists and Critics

MFA Visiting Artist Esteban Campo Esteban Ocampo-Giraldo
Visiting Artist

Colombian-born painter Esteban Ocampo-Giraldo creates work that deals in subjects often familial and autobiographical in nature.

Allana Fields
Visiting Artist

Alanna Fields is a lens-based mixed media artist and archivist whose work investigates and challenges representations of Black queer identity and history through the lens of photography.

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Program Overview

Our program emphasizes creativity, criticality, and interdisciplinary pedagogy that spans a multitude of traditional and innovative contemporary practices. Through communal dialogue and critique, students will develop their own artistic voice and create works of art that privilege both form and ideas.

The studio course structure combined with interdisciplinary freedom is a fundamental part of the departmental philosophy, providing opportunities for a spectrum of creative explorations.

Students may choose from three concentrations:

Drawing, Painting, Printmaking
Photography, Time-based Art
Sculptural Practices, Installation, Ceramics

The program is presently limited to 24 participants and hosted on our Manchester campus, offering studios, workshops, technical support staff, and media-specific work areas.

View Complete Curriculum

Low-Residency Structure

The low-residency MFA course structure consists of three main components:

Summer On-Campus Residency
The on-campus summer residency is a key feature of the program, consisting of a two-week residence in July on our Manchester campus. The summer residency is entirely focused on the development of the student’s studio practice and includes workshops, studio visits, visiting artist lectures, and exhibition opportunities.
Fall and Spring Semester
During the regular fall and spring terms, students will meet with faculty advisors to develop their practice and written thesis, building toward the thesis semester and final exhibition in the second year.
The Virtual Winter Intensive
The virtual winter intensive taking place in January includes many of the same components of the summer residency in a condensed format that eliminates the need for winter travel to Manchester, NH. This six day long virtual residency includes group discussion and critique, seminars, workshops, plus artist talks. Check out the recap of this year’s Virtual Winter Intensive:

Faculty
The Core Faculty of the MFA Visual Art program represent a diverse group of creative practitioners and critical thinkers spanning a variety of artistic disciplines including, sculpture, installation, ceramics, drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, and time-based practice.

Visiting Artists
In addition to the MFA faculty, students will have the opportunity to work with internationally recognized artists, curators, and scholars during their studies. Recent visiting artists and scholars include: Elizabeth Buhe, Hasan Elahi, Rodrigo Valenzuela, William Coleman, Lauren Hermele, Tiffany Smith, and Sofie Hodara, to name a few.

Want to learn more? Check out our videos here.

Program and Application Requirements

Program Requirements
The 60-hour program requires a minimum of 32 semester hours in studio art courses, 11 semester hours of electives, a minimum of three courses in art history at the graduate level, and a minimum of eight semester hours toward preparation of the graduate exhibition and thesis. Upon completion of the program, students are required to mount a comprehensive thesis exhibition of their work.

Application Requirements

BFA or BA in art or related field
Art portfolio
1–2-page personal statement and proposal for study
One letter of recommendation
Official college transcripts

Students are chosen on the basis of a portfolio review, interview, creative potential, and evidence of persistent work habits.

Degree Requirements

Courses

Course Map

Visual Art, M.F.A. Course Map