GRAPHIC DESIGN (MFA)

The graphic design program focuses on the development of a thesis, a cumulative process through which each student builds a coherent, investigative, and experimental body of work. While every thesis project is unique, there are several common features: a focus on methodology, the application of that method to studio work, and the organization of relevant work in a thoughtfully argued document.

The thesis project is supported on several levels simultaneously: studio projects led by the faculty, independent advising, small thesis critique groups, external critics, writing tutors, lectures and presentations, and technical workshops.

Each student has a designated work space in the design studio and is granted access to computer labs, bookbinding studio, and silkscreen facility. In addition, students draw on the combined resources of the School of Art and the University, especially the extensive research and rare book collections of the Sterling and Beinecke libraries. Although the School provides digital lab facilities, it is expected that all graphic design students will require a personal computer for their work space.

The program admits up to ten students into the two-year and six students into the three-year program each year. Students are expected to have diverse and distinguished experience in visual studies and significant related professional experience. Students applying to the three-year program typically have relevant experience in a field of study outside design. After successful completion of the preliminary year, these students automatically continue on in the two-year M.F.A. program.

Credit Requirements

42 credits in area of concentration and 18 additional credits, including a minimum of 6 academic credits in courses outside the School of Art.

Typical Plan of Study

Preliminary year minimum credits

Graphic Design 710a and 711b: ... Fall: 6; Spring: 6

Graphic Design 742b: ... Fall: 0; Spring: 3

Art 264a and 265b: ... Fall: 3; Spring: 3

Art 468a and 469b: ... Fall: 3; Spring: 3

Academic or Studio Electives: ... Fall: 3 … Spring: 0

Total minimum credits for Fall Term: 15

Total minimum credits for Spring Term: 15

First year minimum credits

Graphic Design 720: ... Fall: 6; Spring: 6

Graphic Design Sequence: ... Fall: 3; Spring: 3

Academic or Studio Electives: ... Fall: 6 … Spring: 6

Total minimum credits for Fall Term: 15

Total minimum credits for Spring Term: 15

Second year minimum credits

Graphic Design 730: ... Fall: 6; Spring: 6

Graphic Design 739: ... Fall: 3; Spring: 3

Graphic Design Sequence: ... Fall: 3; Spring: 3

Academic or Studio Electives: ... Fall: 3; Spring: 3

Total minimum credits for Fall Term: 15

Total minimum credits for Spring Term: 15

PAINTING AND PRINTMAKING (MFA)

Instruction in the program is rooted in the investigation of painting as a unique genre with its own complex syntax and history. Within this setting, the program encourages diversity of practice and interpretation, innovation, and experimentation on the part of students.

Approximately twenty-one students are admitted each year. At the core of instruction are individual and group critiques with faculty, visiting critics, and visiting artists. In addition, students participate in a variety of seminars taught by both faculty and critics. The study of printmaking is integrated into the painting program, and a student may concentrate in painting, printmaking, or a combination of the two.

Students work in individual 300-square-foot studios at 353 Crown Street adjacent to Green Hall. Students have access to a printmaking workshop in the Crown Street building, equipped with two lithographic and two etching presses and silkscreen facilities, as well as to the computer resources of the School and the Digital Media Center for the Arts.

Credit Requirements

42 credits in area of concentration and 18 additional credits, including a minimum of 6 academic credits in courses outside the School of Art.

Typical Plan of Study

First year minimum credits

Painting 545: ... Fall: 9; Spring: 9

Printmaking Elective: ... Fall: 3; Spring: 0

Academic or Studio Electives: ... Fall: 3 … Spring: 6

Total minimum credits for Fall Term: 15

Total minimum credits for Spring Term: 15

Second year minimum credits

Painting 545: ... Fall: 9; Spring: 9

Painting 559: ... Fall: 0; Spring: 3

Academic or Studio Electives: ... Fall: 6; Spring: 3

Total minimum credits for Fall Term: 15

Total minimum credits for Spring Term: 15

PHOTOGRAPHY (MFA)

Photography is a two-year program of study admitting nine students a year. Darkroom, studio, and computer facilities are provided. Students receive technical instruction in black-and-white and color photography as well as nonsilver processes and digital image production.

The program is committed to a broad definition of photography as a lens-based medium open to a variety of expressive means. Students work both individually and in groups with faculty and visiting artists. In addition, a critique panel composed of faculty and other artists or critics meets weekly, as well as for a final review each term, to discuss student work.

All students are required to successfully complete two academic courses in the University before they receive their degree. In addition, first-year students are required to take two terms of Photography 828.

Credit Requirements

42 credits in area of concentration and 18 additional credits, including a minimum of 6 academic credits in courses outside the School of Art.

Typical Plan of Study

First year minimum credits

Photography 845: ... Fall: 9; Spring: 9

Photography 828: ... Fall: 3; Spring: 3

Academic or Studio Electives: ... Fall: 3 … Spring: 3

Total minimum credits for Fall Term: 15

Total minimum credits for Spring Term: 15

Second year minimum credits

Photography 845: ... Fall: 9; Spring: 9

Academic or Studio Electives: ... Fall: 6; Spring: 3

Total minimum credits for Fall Term: 15

Total minimum credits for Spring Term: 15

SCULPTURE (MFA)

The sculpture program offers students the opportunity to develop their work and to choose their own path, in concert with a broad array of different voices. The field of sculpture, at the moment, includes a collection of quite diverse methods; one set of tools is not privileged over another. Students work independently in individual studio spaces and have access to a woodworking shop, a metal shop, plaster facilities, a small computer lab, and some video equipment in the sculpture building in addition to further resources offered by the School of Art and the University at large. No metal-casting facilities are available.

The main focus of this program is to facilitate the development of conversation among students and faculty. Our aim is to articulate student work vis à vis its own trajectory and in relation to art history and the current moment. This conversation is formally structured to take place one-on-one between students and faculty, in small groups, and within a more public larger group involving the whole sculpture department.

The sculpture program offers a critical issues seminar in the spring term. Students are encouraged to take courses in other departments within the School, and students are required to successfully complete two academic courses outside of the School of Art prior to graduation.

Approximately ten students are admitted each year.

Credit Requirements

42 credits in area of concentration and 18 additional credits, including a minimum of 6 academic credits in courses outside the School of Art.

Typical Plan of Study

First year minimum credits

Sculpture 645: ... Fall: 9; Spring: 9

Sculpture 630: ... Fall: 0; Spring: 3

Academic or Studio Electives: ... Fall: 6 … Spring: 3

Total minimum credits for Fall Term: 15

Total minimum credits for Spring Term: 15

Second year minimum credits

Sculpture 645: ... Fall: 9; Spring: 9

Sculpture 630: ... Fall: 0; Spring: 3

Academic or Studio Electives: ... Fall: 6; Spring: 3

Total minimum credits for Fall Term: 15

Total minimum credits for Spring Term: 15

UNDERGRADUATE

Yale College Art Major

Director of Undergraduate Studies: Henk van Assen

Yale College, the undergraduate division of Yale University, offers a Bachelor of Arts degree program with a major in art. Undergraduate applicants wishing to major in art at Yale must apply to Yale College directly. Please contact the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, PO Box 208234, 38 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven CT 06520-8234, 203.432.9300 (www.yale.edu/admit/).

The program in art offers courses that, through work in a variety of media, provide an experience in the visual arts as part of a liberal education as well as preparation for graduate study and professional work. Courses at the 100 level stress the fundamental aspects of visual formulation and articulation. Courses numbered 200 through 499 offer increasingly intensive study leading to greater specialization in one or more of the visual disciplines such as graphic design, painting/printmaking, photography, and sculpture.

The prerequisites for acceptance into the major are a Sophomore Review, which is an evaluation of work from studio courses taken at Yale School of Art, and five terms of introductory (100-level) courses. Three must be completed at the time of the Sophomore Review. Visual Thinking (Art 111a or b) and Basic Drawing (Art 114a or b) are mandatory. At the time of the review, the student should be enrolled in the fourth and, ideally, the fifth 100-level courses. In exceptional cases, arrangements for a special review during the junior year may be made with the director of undergraduate studies in art.

For graduation as an art major, a total of fourteen [14] course credits in the major field is required. These fourteen course credits must include the following: (1) five prerequisite courses at the 100 level (including Visual Thinking and Basic Drawing); (2) five 200-level and above courses; (3) a Junior Major Seminar (Art 395a); (4) the Senior Project (Art 495a or b); and (5) two courses in the History of Art. Suggested program guidelines and specific requirements for the various areas of concentration are available from the director of undergraduate studies.

Official Yale College program and course information is found in Yale College Programs of Study, available on line at www.yale.edu/yalecollege/publications/ycps/