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Academics • College of Art • MFA in Visual Art

MFA-VA Faculty Research

Our faculty are nationally and internationally recognized for their diverse practices, which engage complex territories on the environment, race, politics, material culture, science, and the human condition. Thwarting conventional silos, many work across disciplines and collaborate with practitioners in other fields. Several Sam Fox School faculty have joint appointments in other departments–including Film & Media Studies; American Culture Studies; Performing Arts; Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and African and African-American Studies–so they are poised to connect you with other research areas at the University.
Installation view of a gallery space: in the foreground, a chair next to a video on a screen in a white platform/box, with stacks of newspapers surrounding this all. In the background, wires from exposed machinery and other artworks mounted to the wall. The walls are white with some text running along it in a typewriter font. The floors are wooden.

The Cabinet of Ordinary Affairs (installation view), 2018

Cheryl Wassenaar and Stephanie Ellis Schlaifer (BFA/BA99). Multimedia installation.
6 paper mâché sculptures of varying sizes in muted grey colors on a wooden table against a white wall. Some sculptures have geometric lines running across the surface; in others the lines are not as orderly.

The Doubt of Being

Lisa Bulawsky. The Doubt of Being; detail of mini-monuments from The Soft Spot Collection. Papier mache and handprinted paper, dimensions vary.
A cityscape bathed in bright light: a swirl of (what appears to be) wooden strips (/some light-hued building material) circles the sky, floating above the scaffolds in the foreground. An intersection stretches across the land below, leading to more skyscrapers in the distance

prequalified, 2020

Tim Portlock. “prequalified”, archival pigment print, 43.25 x 57.25.
A dimly lit space, fluorescent lights illuminating the edge of a raised level of see-through architectural forms: two people sit in chairs below, as if sunken into the ground, so that they can see above the partitions into the vast space. Another person stands in the background

Period Room, 1998

Amy Hauft. “Period Room,“ installation view, Spruance Gallery, Arcadia University. (Photo: Aaron Eigler)
A white signboard with the text 'A long tedious smoothie, followed by a short, piquant explanation'. There is a black arrow above the sign lined with lightbulbs pointing towards a black poodle dog on the right sitting on a pedestal

A Long Tedious Smoothie, 2006

Jack Risley.
A 3D rendering of an architectural form in a space; the monument is in a light gray, marble/concrete-like texture.

Nirbhaya, 2021

Monika Weiss. Rendering for “Nirbhaya.” Permanent outdoor project/monument. Cast concrete, fiberglass, water, 4K digital film projection, sound station. Dimensions: 71 x 221 x 35".
Text set in a large typewriter font superimposed on a landscape, in which a bridge is shown in the center, with greenery to the side.

From Never Been a Time, 2017

Denise Ward-Brown. Black Bridge with Newsprint Text, film still from Never Been a Time film still.
A collage: an illustration of some scene from antiquity on a comic strip (black linework on a white background), both of which are above a yellow composition with red geometric line patterns; a manipulated white texture; photographs of mechanical bits/coins; an out of focus image of some text; a sculpture against a dark background, cropped to show its legs and the long shadow that follows it; and a landscape of a cliffside by the sea. The background of these latter four images is some pink paper with small black text, rotated to be upside down.

Lamp & Coins, 2020

Michael Byron, 48 x 36", collage image on aluminum.
A van partially obscured by the tall weeds/grass in the foreground; beyond it, bare trees against an overcast sky.

Van Camp, 2018

Meghan Kirkwood. Archival Inkjet Print, 20x24, 2018.
A textured abstract image with the shadow of a figure in black on a red background

Dark Skies projection with shadow of self

Patricia Olynyk.
A pastel multicolour painting of 7 visible child-like figures

Petunia Parade, 2016

Jamie Adams. Oil on linen, 72 x 78 inches, 2016.

News Updates

Select Exhibitions

The New Museum / MoMA / American Academy in Rome / PS1 / Crystal Bridges Museum / MASS MoCA / Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago / San Francisco Black Film Festival / Marianne Boesky Gallery / Postmasters Gallery / Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Select Fellowships and Awards:

  • New York Foundation for the Arts Grant

  • Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant

  • National Endowment for the Arts Grant

  • Louis Comfort Tiffany Award

  • Yaddo Residency

  • UCLA Design Media Arts Center Residency

  • Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship (Italy)

  • Pew Fellowship

  • Howard Foundation Fellowship