Master of Fine Arts A Distinctive and Unique Integrative Interdisciplinary Program that offers concentrations in Fine Arts, Media Arts and Design Arts. Four semesters of weekly topical Interdisciplinary Forums in: - Tracking the Artists Way - The Nature of Creativity and Imagination - Visual Literacy and the Interpretation of Meaning - The Cultural Context of Art

Two semesters of weekly interdisciplinary critique seminars.

With studio courses in printmaking, photography, drawing, painting, sculpture, computer art and animation, fibers, ceramics, foundry, graphic design, and furniture design.

Designed as the professional degree for the fine artist, craftsperson, designer or media artist, or for those wishing to teach at the college or university level.

Mission of the MFA program at William Paterson University:

• Provide an atmosphere where creativity and imagination are stimulated, nourished and celebrated through participation in an inclusive culture of diverse aesthetic values.
  
• Assemble a community of peers and mentors all pursuing the enhancement of imagination through the creation of meaningful imagery.
  
• Develop an understanding of the cultural importance of art in the world at large.
  
• Encourage the articulation of aesthetic ideas and engage in meaningful discourse
  
• Teach the fundamentals of the visual language through the exploration of visual media
  
• Mentor the development of a personal aesthetic.
  
• Foster in the student, the flexibility, adaptability and resourcefulness necessary to face a rapidly changing professional and technological world.
  
• Explore the balance between theoretical knowledge and experiential understanding
  
• Create an atmosphere that supports exploration and risk-taking
  
• Integrate the immense diversity of information about contemporary style and culture available through media technology with the wisdom and depth of past artistic traditions
  
• Build an educational base that stimulates the desire for lifelong creative learning and provides the tools for meeting ethical, humanitarian and aesthetic challenges.

Features of the Program:

• Available with concentration in Fine Arts, Design Arts or Media Arts.
  
• Offered as a 2 year full time degree program or a 5 year part time degree program for the working professional.
  
• Art history-based foundation with courses in contemporary art, writing about art, and art criticism.
  
• Thesis to promote theoretical discourse, independent study, research skills, development of an
• individual creative methodology, and the evolution of a personal aesthetic.
  
• Integrative Interdisciplinary Forums with MFA candidates of all disciplines encourage dialogue and foster synthesis.
  
• Interdisciplinary Critique Seminars with candidates of each of the related discipline clusters of Fine Arts, Media Arts, or Design Arts.
  
• Provision for one semester of foreign study.
  
• Distinguished Artist Program: the concentration of distinguished artists and scholars in the greater metropolitan area allows for fluent interaction between students and influential working professionals.
• The program makes full use of this rich resource for student internships, visiting lectures, and Visiting Artist's Workshops.

Studios and Facilities:

• A newly expanded studio art facility provides specialized studios, state of the art imaging equipment, advanced computer labs, and individual graduate studios totaling 90,000 square feet.
  
• Access to the programs and resources of an entire University of approximately 10,000 students
  
• On campus professional galleries.
  
• Highly qualified experienced professional faculty
  
• The University's proximity to New York City, generally accepted as the art capital of the world, gives ready access to the multiplicity of resources the city provides through the concentration of working professionals, the availability of world class museum exhibitions, private galleries and access to major museum libraries and collections.