Master of Arts in Studio Art

The Florence Academy’s Master of Arts in Studio Art, with its focus on classical methods, provides training in drawing and painting to art educators seeking to use these skill-based techniques in their classrooms, and to anyone interested in learning how to make realistic artwork. MA candidates are not expected to come into the program with high levels of technical skill. Instead, the program is designed to provide the knowledge and develop the skill set of candidates from a variety of backgrounds and levels of experience.

The MA program is a reduced-residency MA accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), and consists of 30 credits of full-time study, entirely studio-based, and completed over 3 summer sessions. Each summer session is 6 weeks in duration. MA candidates may choose to attend all three sessions in person – two summers at our host campus, St. Peter’s University in Jersey City, NJ, just outside of NYC, and one summer in Florence, Italy, at The Florence Academy of Art home campus. Students may also opt to attend one or two sessions remotely (at least one session must be in person at the location of choice).

The Florence Academy of Art is a small and dynamic center dedicated to the training of young artists through the combination of intense observation with advanced craft skills. The curriculum derives from the classical-realist tradition rooted in the 19th century (most particularly exemplified by the French Academies in the teaching of master painters like Gérôme, Bonnat, and Carlos Duran) but also addresses the creative and professional position of the artist in a contemporary environment.

It is the view of this Academy that throughout the 20th century prominent movements of art have steadily drawn attention (and teaching) away from close observation of the material world and the acquisition of strong technical skills, to a position where cohesive artistic thought is inexorably fragmented by the urge towards greater individual expression.

The Academy, therefore, provides students with the opportunity to explore distinctive aspects of their chosen subject through the development of considerable powers of draftsmanship, direct study of works of the Old Masters, and a deep, practical understanding of the materials and methods of the artist. By this means, and through the resulting identification of clear artistic objectives, students acquire creative self-confidence, visual understanding, and subtle and precise powers of description.

Study at the Academy centers upon the importance of drawing (particularly drawing from the human figure) as a means to gaining skill in painting or sculpture. Through intense observation, students acquire a visual literacy that enables them to interpret humanist values in their work, and, ultimately, seek to create a work of universal relevance.