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MFA PROGRAM
Visual Studies Workshop (VSW) is a community of interest in the media arts expanding the potential of photography and artists’ books since 1969. VSW supports the development of images in all their myriad forms including series, sequence, installation, film and video, and digital media. The Visual Studies MFA program is also well known for expanding the potential for books as an art form. VSW shows how experimentation with visual books is an innovative means to make emergent ideas public and grow visual literacy.
VSW is located in the Neighborhood of the Arts in Rochester, New York. Our neighbors include Rochester’s literary center Writers and Books, George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, and The University of Rochester’s Memorial Art Gallery.
VSW is a highly respected contributor to the regional, national, and international arts community by publishing Afterimage: the Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism; hosting several noted artist residents each year; holding pioneering conferences like the bi-annual Photo-Bookworks Symposium; publishing artists’ books and critical titles; exhibiting and screening groundbreaking projects by international media artists and images from everyday life; conducting community education workshops; and providing an extensive media arts Research Center with archives and collections of thousands of books and films as well as over a million images.
Those who join the Visual Studies MFA program become part of the VSW community of artist-producers, not a class of students at an academic art school. The Visual Studies MFA program accepts people from a wide range of experience. In addition to the visual arts, individuals enter with degrees in history, geography, urban studies, psychology, anthropology, and other areas.
The Visual Studies MFA program is designed for two-and-a-half-years that include three fall and two spring semesters and one summer session. The MFA program culminates in a final thesis project presented to the public. |
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Apply to join the VSW community
The application for the Visual Studies MFA program is online through The College at Brockport, SUNY. To apply go to The College at Brockport How to Apply page where you will find the online application and instructions. A portfolio of images, book samples, writing excerpts, or short videos that represent a body of work is an important aspect of the application. Technically applications are due on February 15 for fall admission but they are encouraged at any time. There is a fall-only admissions policy.
Schedule a tour and for more information
If you are interested in learning more about the Visual Studies MFA program at Visual Studies Workshop you should make a point of visiting to meet the program director, staff members, and other members of the VSW community prior to applying. Contact Director Tate Shaw for more information and to schedule a time to talk or meet in person.
Tate Shaw, Director
Visual Studies Workshop
31 Prince Street
Rochester, NY 14607
(585) 442-8676
tateshaw@vsw.org |
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| Current MFA Students |
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Visual Studies MFA Program Breakdown
The Visual Studies MFA program is designed for a two-and-a-half-year period that includes three fall and two spring semesters and one summer session. Coursework in the program falls into one of the below categories. MFA members complete the Visual Studies program by taking a Research Seminar and producing a final thesis project that is presented to the public. All members of the VSW community vote on final thesis projects.
Core Curriculum
In the first semester, new MFA members of the VSW community take a series of workshops as part of the Core Curriculum. VSW staff and visiting artists give workshops in photography, artists’ books, bookbinding, 16 mm film, video, digital media, and writing.
Studio Practice
Three main tracks are available for studio art practice in the Visual Studies MFA program: photography, books, and digital media. MFA members take a minimum of four courses emphasizing at least two of these tracks over the two-and-a-half-year program. MFA members develop their practice through making new work every week. They receive feedback from VSW staff, visiting artists, guest critics, and other MFA members.
Seminars in Visual Studies
Once a week in the fall and spring, MFA members attend a seminar taught by VSW curatorial and editorial staff, a guest historian, or visiting researcher. Seminars are rigorous and intellectual without being theoretical. They include the history of photography and books, contemporary image surveys, media culture, and topical issues pertaining to the media arts, independent publishing, and working with image archives.
Professional Practice
The Visual Studies MFA program delivers a working knowledge of cultural productions with responsibilities in one of VSW’s public programming areas. MFA members have the opportunity to work in VSW’s Afterimage, the Research Center, Exhibitions and Events, and VSW Press. Working in VSW’s cultural productions inspires people to think and work beyond arts practice alone. Many MFA members become artist-publishers, administrator-activists, and educator-archivists, to name a few possible hybrid outcomes. An external service Internship is also a key part of the MFA program and a way for members to be exposed to the field.
Artist Resident Projects
In the historic tradition of the workshop or guild, the VSW community supports visiting artist residents in their development of a body of work to be exhibited or published by VSW and elsewhere. MFA members apprentice with master artists assisting with their cultural productions. This contact with visiting artists and researchers is an integral part of the Visual Studies MFA program.
Summer Institute
The Summer Institute is a series of intensive one-week workshops conducted by current VSW staff and visiting artists and critics. These weeklong workshops enable members to focus on one skill or a concept that will expand their potential for visual thinking and production. Every other summer, VSW hosts the international Photo-Bookworks Symposium for artists, publishers, designers, and critics who are innovating through photobooks to share their work and ideas.
Electives
Visual Studies MFA program members can take any graduate courses for which they are eligible from The College at Brockport, SUNY in the sciences, humanities (including visual culture), social sciences, and public administration as Electives to their research at VSW.
Certificate in Arts Administration
MFA members may also elect to complete a Certificate in Arts Administration. The unique program provides opportunities to study such vital areas as grantwriting, nonprofit management, marketing for nonprofits, financial management, and fundraising and development. Two courses from one of these and other Public Administration courses in addition to two professional practice or seminar courses at VSW complete the certificate program. |
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Financial Aid and Graduate Assistantships
Several Graduate Assistantship positions are available to those in the Visual Studies MFA program who exhibit leadership potential within the VSW community. Graduate Assistants manage VSW’s website, teach undergraduate photography and video courses, work as the Photo Editor and Designer for Afterimage, and are assistant coordinators in VSW’s Research Center, Exhibitions and Events, and Community Education programs. Assistantships are available in the second and third year of the Visual Studies MFA program. The Visual Studies program currently has partial scholarships it gives to some MFA program members each year. Financial Aid information is available for the graduate program through The College at Brockport, SUNY. To research costs for the graduate program go to The College at Brockport Cost of Attendance page.
Graduates of the Visual Studies MFA Program at Visual Studies Workshop
Over ninety percent of VSW’s graduates work in media arts related fields. Many have gone on to very prominent careers as artists, writers, curators, executives, and educators with world–renowned institutions. View our Alumni page for a full list of VSW alumni.
Visiting Artist Projects, Lectures and Workshops
2012 Janet Borgerson, Millie Chen, Krzysztof Candrowicz, Gatumba Refugees Survivors Foundation, Gregory Halpern, Abigail Hendrickson, Douglas Holleley, Brenda Ann Keneally, Phillip Kennicott, Jessica Lieberman, Jason Middleton, Joe Milutis, Lucy Mulroney, Ahndraya Parlato, Tracy Rudzitis, Jonathan Schroeder, Keith Smith, Elisabeth Tonnard, Larry Towell, Carla Williams
The Magnum House of Pictures with Bruce Gilden, Jim Goldberg, Susan Meiselas, Martin Parr, Paulo Pellegrin, Allesandra Sanguinetti, Alec Soth, Larry Towell, Alex Webb, Rebecca Norris Webb, and Donovan Wiley
The Photo-Bookworks Symposium with Adam Bell, Verna Posever Curtis, John DeMerritt, Myra Greene, Scott McCarney, Nicholas Muellner, Christian Patterson, Cyril Reade, Irina Rozovsky, Valerio Spada, Mark Steinmetz, and Carla Williams
SPE NE with Patti Ambrogi, Chris Boot, Owen Butler, Francois Deschamps, David Freund, Jonathan Gitelson, Pam Huling of MediaStorm, Kenneth Josephson, Nathan Lyons, Melinda McDaniel, Jessica S. McDonald, Alison Nordström, Lorie Novak, Penelope Umbrico, Bas Vroege
2011 Jen Bervin, Maureen Cummins, Jason Fulford, Deborah Jack, Emily Larned, Nathan Lyons, Scott McCarney, Elizabeth McDade, Brian Oglesbee, Potter Belmar Labs, Steve Reinke, Liz Richards, Tracy Rudzitis, SAW Video, Matthew Walker, Heather Wetzel
Transitions-Rochester: Theo Baart, Jason Bernagozzi, FOTODOK, FUA Krew, Gregory Halpern, Cary Markerink, Alison Nordström, Oscar Palacio, Andrea Stultiens
2010 Theo Baart, Pat Doyen, Susan Kae Grant, Douglas Holleley, Cary Markerink, Scott McCarney, Julie Perini, Tracy Rudzitis, David Schulz, Christine Shank, Marni Shindelman, Andrea Stultiens
The Photo-Bookworks Symposium with Theo Baart, Francois Deschamps, Jason Fulford, Gregory Halpern, Ron Jude, Susan Kae Grant, Jeffrey Ladd, Nathan Lyons, Stephen Marc, Mike Mandel, Cary Markerink, Danielle Mericle, Alec Soth, Alex Sweetman, Anne Wilkes Tucker, Carla Williams, Chantal Zakari
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