MFA students have 24-hour, 7-day-a-week access to studio facilities while they are in the graduate program. Studios are in service to the three emphasis areas of the MFA: photography, book art, and moving images.

  • Darkroom

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    • Four enlargers and developing station for analog photography
    • Large exposure unit for making screens
    • Drying racks, filters, lenses, and other tools
  • Printing and Scanning

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    • Toshiba 19″ toner-based printer with duplex/folding capabilities for print-on-demand books
    • Canon 4000 44″ inkjet printer
    • Canon Pro1 17″ inkjet printer
    • Epson 7900 24″ inkjet printer
    • Epson 4800 17″ inkjet printer
    • HP 14″ color laser printer
    • Xerox 17″ photocopier
    • Large screens for screen printing
    • Nikon film scanner
    • Epson and Microtek XL flatbed scanners
    • Calibrated monitors for digital printing stations
    • Profiles and various papers available
    • Weekly maintenance by Digital Printing Lab Technician
  • Shooting Studio

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    • 600 square ft of open space
    • Complete Elinchrom lighting kit and additional lights
    • Seamless in several colors
    • 48″ plexiglass object seamless
    • Additional studio lighting supplies
  • Equipment Cage

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    • Provides production, post production, and exhibition equipment to all students and faculty during the semester
    • As unique as VSW, the cage includes a wide variety of rare (and old) film and video cameras, sound recording equipment, lights, analog editing supplies, and projection equipment for still and moving image production.
    • Canon EOS 5-D Mark II cameras and lenses
    • 16mm Bolex film cameras
    • HD video cameras
    • Portable lighting and microphone kits
    • Digitization capabilities for all film and video formats
  • Bookbinding

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    • Guillotine for trimming books and paper
    • Board shearer
    • Nipping presses
    • Double-fan binders
    • Wire-o binder
    • Pamphlet staplers
    • Basic supplies like needles/thread, PVA glue, awls, bone folders, etc.
    • Book cloths and papers
  • Performance Space

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    • 6,000 square foot auditorium space with stage
    • PA, mics, and speakers available
    • Full range of new and rare (old) film and video projectors for media performance and display

    MFA student Mary Lewandowski performance, 2017, pictured above

  • Moving Image Studio

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    • Analog film editing tools
    • Copy lighting stand for hand animation work
    • Digital editing stations with a range of software and tools

    MFA student Rashaad Parker editing, 2018, pictured above

  • MFA Studio

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    • Each student gets personal space including a desk and storage area in a group studio
    • No class activities take place in the MFA studio aside from occasional open studio events and critiques.
  • Image Collections

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    • Entirely unique to this MFA program is the ease of access to hundreds of thousands of images freely available for artist appropriation
    • VSW has separated out all the images it owns the copyright to and/or are known to be copyright free in its Still Image Archive
    • Thousands of lantern slides, negatives, and prints are available to be digitized and used without concern for permissions and without a fee
    • Also available are thousands of paper images for collage and montage works