Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

SFAI’s two-year Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program provides a dynamic interdisciplinary context for students to advance their work while being exposed to the current theoretical and sociopolitical context for contemporary art. Questions, dialogue, and invention drive students through the curriculum, which instructs in the skills and practices needed to sustain a lifelong practice in the arts. The concept is emphasized alongside technical proficiency and skill, and artists are encouraged to experiment widely across media. Students may choose an area of emphasis, or maintain breadth in their studies.

Throughout the program, students work independently in the studio or in the field; meet with faculty one-on-one in graduate tutorials; participate in small, rigorous, faculty-led critique seminars and electives, and study critical theory and art history. An additional core component to the curriculum is the Graduate Lecture Series and the numerous collaborative projects students create on their own through the relationships they forge during their course of study — off-site exhibitions, publications, international collaborations, and place-making events have all emerged from the graduate cohort.

The culmination of the MFA degree is the MFA Exhibition—a prestigious show that is well-attended by artists, curators, collectors, museum professionals, and the public at large. The MFA Exhibition is regularly lauded as the premiere showcase for emerging talent in the Bay Area.

Program Learning Outcomes

Conceptual Qualities: Demonstrates a developed conceptual framework of the work and its relationship to historical antecedents and contemporary critical discourse (i.e., clarity of ideas).

Formal Qualities: Engages appropriately the materials and tools of the media used to produce the work (i.e., mastery of materials and technique, as well as how effectively the form follows the concept).

Presentation: Clearly articulates and presents the ideas behind the work. Produces a cohesive and accomplished visual presentation.

Research: Invests an appropriate level of research to develop the work, from both a conceptual and formal perspective (i.e. effectiveness of experimentation and methodology).

San Francisco Art Institute is dedicated to the intrinsic value of art and its vital role in shaping and enriching society and the individual. As a diverse community of working artists and scholars, SFAI provides its students with a rigorous education in the fine arts and preparation for a life in the arts through an immersive studio environment, an integrated liberal arts curriculum, and critical engagement with the world.

Adopted by San Francisco Art Institute Board of Trustees, March 2013.