Pratt Institute Awards Fine Arts M.F.A.
Pratt Institute, located in Brooklyn, New York, is one of the nation's top art, architecture, and design schools, and also one of the most selective. Founded in 1887 by American industrialist Charles Pratt, Pratt Institute offers a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate programs that include architecture, graphic design, industrial design, fashion design, interior design, digital arts, illustration, creative writing, and library and information science.
Pratt Institute is known for its superior studio and technical facilities, diverse student population, and world-class faculty. The school is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD), a consortium of 36 private art schools in the United States.
Student population currently totals about 4,150. Pratt students come from 44 states and 72 countries. "U.S. News and World Report" ranked the graduate fine arts program at Pratt Institute among the top graduate schools in the nation.
Fine Arts M.F.A. is Broad-Based Interdisciplinary Study for Artists
Pratt Institute's Master's Degree in Fine Arts -- Fine Arts M.F.A. -- is offered through the School of Art and Design's Graduate Department of Fine Arts.
The Fine Arts M.F.A. program provides a broad range of interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary graduate studies within the category of fine arts, with areas of emphasis offered in painting/drawing, printmaking, sculpture, photography, and integrated practices (non-traditional investigations).
The program allows artists to master all aspects of studio practice through a combination of rigorous critical discourse in the liberal arts and humanities, a variety of studio and technical electives, collaborations, and concentrated studies in their selected area of emphasis.
The Fine Arts M.F.A. is distinct from other Master of Fine Arts degrees awarded by Pratt that focus expressly on the study and applications of specific disciplines such as communications design, digital arts, and architecture.
Academic Requirements for the Fine Arts M.F.A.
Students in the Fine Arts M.F.A. degree program must complete 2 semesters of coursework in their area of emphasis and 1 year of work on a thesis in their area of emphasis, including a written thesis statement and a solo graduate exhibition in the Pratt Institute graduate galleries.
Degree requirements include 9 credits in art criticism/history and 6 credits in liberal arts. Twenty-seven elective credits may be used for a variety of interdisciplinary, studio, or technical courses in any graduate level studio class at Pratt. All full-time Fine Arts M.F.A. degree students who are taking 12 credits are guaranteed a studio for 4 consecutive semesters
M.S./Fine Arts M.F.A. Dual Degree
The Graduate Department of Fine Arts also offers a dual degree option in which students can earn a Master of Science in Theory, Criticism, and History of Art, Design, and Architecture in combination with a Fine Arts M.F.A. degree.
Another option allows students to earn an M.S. in Library Science and Information/Digital Arts degree in tandem with a Fine Arts M.F.A. degree.
Distinguished Faculty and Alumni
Pratt Institute faculty members are practicing professional artists, designers, critics, and historians who bring real world experience and conceptual ideation into the classroom and studio. They are known for their generous interaction with students, respect for achievement of craft, and dedication to fostering the cultivation of the individual as an artist.
Pratt faculty members have been recognized with more than 18 Tiffany, Fulbright, and Guggenheim Awards. Among the distinguished faculty are fine arts department chairperson Jane South. South's work has been reviewed in The New York Times, the LA Times, ArtForum, Art in America, Sculpture Magazine, New York Magazine, Frieze, ArtNews, NY Arts Magazine, and The New Yorker. She is a contributor to the recently published book "The Artist as Cultural Producer: Living and Sustaining a Creative Life" (editor: Sharon Louden). .
Well-known Pratt Institute alumni include animator Joseph Barbera; cartoonists Jules Pfeiffer and Dave Berg; pop artist Peter Max; fashion designers Vera Maxwell, Betsey Johnson, and Jeremy Scott; photographer Robert Mapplethorpe; and sculptor Boaz Vaadia.
Facilities, Resources, and Career Links
State-of-the-art computer facilities support the Fine Arts M.F.A. curriculum and all of the programs at Pratt Institute. Facilities also include a number of galleries that exhibit the work of students, alumni, faculty, and other well-known artists and designers throughout the academic year.
Pratt's Brooklyn Campus Library, an historical landmark built in 1896, was the first fully automated academic library in the New York City area. Its art and architecture collection contains approximately 208,000 volumes, 500 periodical and newspaper subscriptions, 66,000 slides, 190,000 pictures, 50,000 microforms, 3,000 film and video titles and 45,000 governmental documents. The Visual Resources Center has a collection of more than 120,000 circulating architecture, art and design digital images.
The Manhattan Campus Library houses more than 200,000 volumes of print materials, including more than 600 periodicals, rare books, and the college archives. Pratt students may also access collections in nearby public and college libraries.
Also available exclusively to students and alumni is PrattPro, an online database that lists jobs, internships, and mentors.
Financial Aid at Pratt
Pratt Institute offers financial support to help students fulfill their education goals. Financial assistance can include grants, loans, work-study opportunities, or scholarships. In addition, tuition management programs are available to help students pay in installments over time.
Financial awards are based on need and academic ability. To apply for need-based aid including student loans, students should complete and submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
Campuses in Brooklyn and Manhattan
Pratt Institute is situated on 25 beautiful acres in the historic Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, New York. Its Manhattan campus, located in on 14th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues, houses the Graduate School for Information and Library Science, and also the graduate programs in Communications and Package Design, Design Management, and Arts and Cultural Management.
Both campuses are accessible to public transit lines and regional trains and Pratt offers access to housing options for graduate students who want to live on or close to campus. An additional satellite campus is located in Utica, New York.