Education MFA Program
Studio Facilities
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
Read More- Four enlargers and developing station for analog photography
- Large exposure unit for making screens
- Drying racks, filters, lenses, and other tools
Printing and Scanning
Read More- 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
Read More- 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
Read More- 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
Read More- 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
Read More- 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
Read More- 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
Read More- 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
Read More- 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