This M.F.A. program responds to these developments by encouraging interaction among graduate students and faculty across disciplines within the School, the College of Arts and Architecture and the University. The Penn State School of Visual Arts Ceramic Area encompasses 3,500 square feet. The members of the faculty are interested in both functional and sculptural ceramics. Their primary educational goal is to help students realize their full potential as ceramic artists and human beings. The shop is open 24 hours a day.
Diversity is encouraged.
Students form crews to fire kilns, mix glazes and help with the running of the studio. The Penn State School of Visual Arts Drawing and Painting Area has three large studios for undergraduate instruction, private studios for B.F.A. seniors, and individual studios for graduate students in painting and drawing. The drawing and painting area curriculum reflects a holistic, philosophical perspective on what the faculty believes to be the major issues facing the teaching of painting in the 1990s. The faculty are committed to cultural, ethnic, racial, and gender diversity, an interdsiciplinary sensibility, and an intensely critical, intellectual and historical approach to art making. 20th Century Art course, help to provide students with opportunities to explore the various complexities of contemporary art practice.