The program offers foci in painting, ceramics, sculpture and photography, although students are encouraged to work across media boundaries. The two-year graduate program is selective, limited to ten new students each year, and is designed to meet the demanding standards of the profession. The graduate program in studio art provides a combination of structure and freedom.
Students receive individual attention that encourages personal and professional development.
Every graduate student has a Graduate Committee consisting of three faculty members who are responsible for critiquing the student's independent work and progress. Each student's work is evaluated through a series of critiques by the Graduate Committee. At the end of the first year of study, the work of each student is reviewed by all faculty members of the Art Department and, if passed successfully, the student is advanced to candidacy status in the second year. At the end of the second year the program culminates in a public exhibition held in the Mills College Art Gallery and is supplemented with a written paper. The department facilities are excellent.