The first low-residency program in visual art in the country, the MFA in Visual Art at Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) is accepting applications for its February 2014 residency. The deadline is November 15, 2013.

The MFA in Visual Art at VCFA is a vibrant, local, national, and international community of artists and critical thinkers. The program’s precedent-setting pedagogy is based on the understanding that art does not exist in a void, but within a social context. Students emerge from the program with a dynamic new vision of themselves, their art, and the world around them.

The program’s bi-annual residencies, artistic community, and innovative structure encourages a focus on the relationship between art and societal values, which in turn helps students recognize the inevitable conflicts and contradictions of being an artist/cultural producer in today’s world.

Since 1991, the MFA in Visual Art program has based its educational success on the principle of individualized learning. In the program, students complete a series of interdisciplinary writing projects with a faculty member and pursue their studio work with a local artist chosen in collaboration with the program. This system encourages artists to develop their own mentor system and determine educational values and expectations according to self-initiated ideas of progress and professionalism.

One of the two main components of a student’s course of study in the Visual Art program at Vermont College of the Fine Arts is a semester-long studio project in which the student develops and/or challenges specific aspects of their art practice under the guidance of an Artist-Teacher who lives and works in the student’s community. While there is no set prescription for what constitutes this relationship, each Artist-Teacher is asked to engage the student in a rigorous and critical dialogue concerning the conceptual and material issues they confront in their work. Current Artist-Teachers include Sally Apflebaum, Judy Pfaff, Judy Chicago, B. Wurz, Lynda Benglis, and Harmony Hammond among others.

Applicants must have completed a B.F.A., B.A., or B.S. degree from an accredited college or university, or hold a diploma from a recognized professional art school, and must have substantial experience in making art. Applicants must also have a working knowledge of art history and/or visual culture, which may include such courses as theory or history of film, television, video, theater, design history, communications, aesthetics, popular culture, etc. The Program occasionally considers accepting a student without a Bachelor’s degree.  Such candidates must show evidence to the MFA Admissions Committee of exceptional artistic work and strong writing and research abilities.

Visit the Admissions page here or contact an admissions counselor directly here.