Situated within our interdisciplinary MFA structure, students employing printmaking/papermaking/bookmaking are recognized for connecting history and craft with new technologies and expressive possibilities.

Grads are assigned private studios with natural light at the MCAD MFA building, free access to weekly figure drawing sessions, the ability to audit undergraduate courses, and the opportunity to work with nationally recognized faculty as teaching assistants through the program’s optional college teaching preparation program. 

Facilities

Students in the program have access to the MCAD Printmaking Studio and Paper-making Studio. The studio is situated on the fourth floor of the main MCAD campus and offers a spacious work area where skylights provide natural lighting in several areas. The studio uses oil- and water-based inks, ferric chloride for safer copper-plate etching, a rag service, water-based screenprinting inks, and non-toxic clean-up methods. You can check out the facilities on our virtual building tour. 

Supported practices include:

• Intaglio
• Letterpress, relief, and bookmaking
• Lithography
• Screenprinting
• Alternative-process darkroom
• Darkroom for lithography and nontoxic printmaking processes
• Digital lab
• Papermaking (2D and 3D construction)
• fabric table for repeat pattern work and fabric printing

 

Hsin-Yin [Emma] Shen ’20

Mentors / Faculty

Students can select mentors from the MCAD faculty and/or the professional community of the Twin Cities. Mentorship is regarded as the core of the MCAD graduate curriculum. Students can expect to spend approximately one hour per week with their mentor (or equivalent). Each semester the student and mentor determine its content based on the student’s goals.

See the Recent Mentors to get a sense of who our students are working with.

Visiting Artists

Visiting artists, designers, and critics are a central element of Graduate Critique Seminar. Each week a visitor is invited to present their work and critique two students’ work during class. By the time a student has completed the MFA Program, they will have seen approximately 30 different in-class visitors. Additionally, the MFA Program regularly invites artists for clusters of studio visits.

Recent visiting artists in print/ paper/ book include:

• Edie Fake
• Karen Wirth
• Jenny Schmid
• Coreen Teed
• Carolyn Swicz 
• Andrea Deszo
• Amos Paul Kennedy
• Matt Shlian

Professional Practices and Career Development

Each semester, we host a series of talks/workshops focused on professional practices (alumni are invited to attend, and we feature alumni as speakers when possible). Topics range widely and are selected based on current student interests and suggestions.

The Twin Cities is one of the most vibrant and diverse arts communities in the US. Current students can take an MCAD van to visit studies/agencies, and are encouraged to explore exhibition spaces and current exhibitions.  Alumni are also invited to join in on these trips as well as annual MFA trips to New York and Los Angeles. The Highpoint Center for Printmaking and the MN Center for the Book Arts are also excellent local resources for print/paper/book students and alumni.

Travel

Each year, the MFA program takes a trip to either New York City or Los Angeles where we visit MCAD alumni studios and offices, in addition to all the rich art and design resources these cities offer.

MCAD MFA students are also invited to apply for summer abroad experiences via the WorkArt Fellowship Program (Germany), Burren College of Art’s Summer School (Ireland), DIS Study Abroad in Scandinavia (Copenhagen or Stockholm),or USF’s Paris/Venice/London program (alternating locations depending on year). International travel is an optional added cost for MFA students (not required).

Regional Funding

Additionally, MCAD’s MFA program can help you apply to several regional sources of funding. For some awards, you can apply during the summer between your first and second year to receive funding in the months after graduating.

• Jerome Foundation Grants
• Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program
• Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Grants
• Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grants (can apply as a student, but project cannot be associated with your degree program)
• McKnight Foundation Grants
• Midway Contemporary Art Visual Arts Fund
• Red Eye’s Works-In-Progress Program
• and more (the funding environment in MN is ever-evolving and growing)

Recent Alumni Achievements

You can view an on-going list of MFA alumni highlights here. A few call outs include:

• Shun Jie Yong ’18 – MN Center for Book Arts – Jerome Foundation Book Arts Fellowship 2019-20
• Julie Reneé Benda ’16 – MN Artist Initiative Grant 2019
• Erika Ritzel ’06 – MN Artist Initiative Grant 2018
• Peng Wu ’13 and Jammo Xu ’13 – MN Center for Book Arts – Jerome Foundation Book Arts Fellowship 2017-18
• Monica Haller ’05 – MN Artist Initiative Grant 2017
• Amanda Lovelee ’10 – MN Artist Initiative Grant 2017
• Emmett Ramstad ’07 – Jerome Book Arts Mentorship, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, 2016
• Hend Al-Mansour ’02 – MN Artist Initiative Grant 2021, 2019, McKnight Fellowship in 2018, Jerome Fellowship of Printmaking in 2013/14; MN Originals Feature Video

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