The Master of Arts in art program is designed to provide candidates with advanced artistic development and professional growth as well as prepare candidates for further graduate study.
Coursework in the studio disciplines is structured to meet your needs while centering on an individual investigation of your artistic practice. Students are able to cross boundaries and investigate our studio disciplines: ceramics, drawing, design, metalsmithing, painting, printmaking and sculpture. You will work closely with both your instructional faculty and Master's Committee to develop a focused body of artwork designed to assist you in your pursuit of a terminal degree program in art or other professional aspirations.
The Department of Art faculty consists of 14 time teaching artists and historians dedicated to excellence in scholarship and creative activity. Our faculty members have received national and international recognition for their scholarship and artwork. They have extensive teaching experience to provide you the kind of mentorship that helps ensure a successful academic experience at Eastern.
As a graduate student, you will have 24/7 access to the Department of Art studio facilities. The art department facilities include the Burl Ives Studio Hall with private studios for graduate students and faculty as well as a large critique gallery, and the Doudna Fine Arts Center, a state-of-the-art performance and teaching complex for the departments of Art, Music and Theatre Arts. The Department of Art & Design has well-equipped studio labs for printmaking, painting, drawing, design, metalsmithing, ceramics, sculpture and art education.
The art department is further complemented by the Tarble Arts Center, a major regional art center. Every academic year, the Tarble Arts Center and Department of Art bring a series of visiting artists to campus. Besides attending public lectures and presentations, or participating in a workshop, you will have the opportunity to interact with many of the visiting artists through individual or group graduate critiques.
Past visiting artists have included: Mac Premo, Kim Krause, Nathalie Miebach, Linda Weintraub, Frankie Flood, Louis Marinaro, Wangechi Mutu, Beverly Fishman, Paul Henry Ramirez, Vera Klement, Jim Lutes, Jill Downen, Dan Anderson, Joan Livingstone, Amy Honchell, Laurie Hogin, Alex Brown, Gladys Nilsson, Bernard Williams, Guerrilla Girls, Pat Oleszko and Ed Paschke.
Graduates of the program have gone on to leading MFA programs, including Cranbrook Academy of Art, Boston University, University of Chicago, Claremont University, University of Notre Dame, Herron School of Art and Design, Indiana University, University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Royal College of Art in London.
Doudna Fine Arts Center
600 Lincoln Ave.
Charleston, IL 61920
217-581-3410
artdept@eiu.edu