Program FORMAT

Lesley University College of Art and Design

Full-time residency requirement: 4-semesters / 2-years from September - May

  • Standard number of credit hours per term for a full-time student: 15 credits

  • Total number of credit hours required for graduation: 60

  • Total credits in Graduate Seminar I – IV: 24

  • Total in Critical Studies and Art History: 9 (Includes Issues in Visual Culture in first semester)

  • Total in Studio Electives: 9

  • Total in Photography as Cultural Practice: 3

  • Total in Professional Studies: 9 (Includes internships, teaching assistantships, independent studies, adjunct faculty Teaching Fellowships)

Of the 60 credits, 33 credits (or 55%) are graduate-level courses, 15% are Professional Studies opportunities for internships, mentoring, and teaching assistantships and adjunct faculty Teaching Fellowships. The remaining 30% are electives chosen from existing College of Art and Design studio, critical studies, and art history offerings. Content will be delivered in a variety of formats: in class, electronic, and online when appropriate.

A key attribute of the MFA Photography program is the Visiting Artist / Scholar component into every graduate seminar and jury experience. MFA candidates will work with outstanding Visiting Artists throughout the semester in each of their 4 semesters and the program fully integrates outstanding Visiting Artists / Scholars as a key component of the learning experience. Past, current and program committed Visiting Artist / Scholars include Dan Estabrook, Vicki Goldberg, Keith Carter, Luis Gonzalez Palma, Lyle Rexer, Susan Bright, Roy Flukinger, Holly Roberts, Matt Saunders, David Hilliard, John Stilgoe, Holly Roberts, Deborah Luster, Andy Grundberg, Merry Foresta, Alison Nördstrom, Elinor Carucci, Sebastião Salgado, Lucy Soutter, Deb Todd Wheeler, Joe Wolin, Binh Danh, Diana Stoll, Susan Meiselas, Pamela Pecchio, Joe Wolin and Corrine Botz.

What impresses me most about the MFA program in photography at Lesley is its resemblance to the real-world culture of art making and consumption. By including museum curators and gallerists on the faculty and by classes that encourage participation in a critical community, Lesley offers its students the opportunity to grow technically and intellectually as well as in practical knowledge.

– Alison Nordström, PhD, Former Senior Curator of Photography - Eastman House

Maryam Zahiremehr – 2016

Maryam Zahiremehr – 2016

Degree Requirements

  1. Successful completion of four semesters in residence in the program, earning a total of 60 graduate credits. This will include full participation and satisfactory evaluations from all components of the program. These will include writing, physical work, presentation at juries, and engagement in all seminars.

  2. Ability to demonstrate a professional level of accomplishment in their self-selected arena of artistic work. This will be realized through aesthetic and technical achievement, conceptual ideas working with integrated photographic / light marking practice in compatible media that reflects the development of personal imagery. Graduate Thesis seminar is dedicated to personal and analytical writing and exposition of ideas.

  3. Ability to demonstrate an understanding of the various criteria used for making critical judgments about the visual arts, especially photography, including the relationship of visual culture to a societal context. Evaluation will be done through a jury process that will include 2 mid-year in-process juries December and 2 end-of-year final juries in May. Evaluation will be Pass, Fail, or Still In Progress.

  4. Active participation, involvement and dialogue in the seminar critiques of other candidate's work during the course of study. Generosity of expression is highly valued.

  5. Participation in a final group thesis exhibition and catalogue of their work and writing. Both must be satisfactorily reviewed by the MFA program faculty, Visiting Artists and jurors.

Alicia Turbitt (top left), January Internship for Project Nica in Nicaragua, 2016 - 2018

Goals and Expectations

Artistic Growth

Artistic Growth - The foremost goal of the program is to acknowledge, nurture, and refine the existing talent and passion of each candidate and to develop an individualized and flexible artistic vision that will continue throughout a life in the arts. Students will be asked to demonstrate a mastery of artistic accomplishment, both aesthetic and technical, in the context of a personal imagery and style. This will be paired with dedicated written reflection in each seminar.

Reflection and Analysis

Reflection and Analysis – Through rigorous study of art history, critical studies, and analysis of imagery in a cultural context, MFA candidates will refine their understandings of the traditions of the photographic arts, how photography is integrated in all media in contemporary arts, making and how their own work relates to such traditions… essentially, where they fit in the tradition both new and old. Students will be asked to demonstrate the ability to reflect, analyze, and articulate their own artistic and cultural beliefs as well as actively define what is becoming the new photography.

Professional Practice

Professional Studies degree requirements address the reality of supporting one’s life with their talent. This will be accomplished through internships, independent study, teaching assistantships and teaching fellowships which will be augmented by the first-hand experiences and influence of Visiting Artist / Scholars and faculty. The program will endeavor to enhance each candidate’s knowledge of, and preparedness for, the professional practice of photography, including relations with educational environments, the art of teaching, the role of galleries and museums, grant writing, public and private commissions, and more.

Critique

In a pluralistic context, students will be asked to develop a clear understanding of the vast criteria for making critical judgments about the art of photography, and marks made with light. This is realized through weekly seminar critiques, regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings with Visiting Artist / Scholars and core faculty, and dedicated critical analysis, of their own, and fellow candidate’s, artistic production.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Produce and defend a MFA level thesis project, composed of artistic work and a supporting written thesis, within a individually designed photographic or photographically integrated self-specialization, demonstrating mastery and synthesis of the skills nurtured in the program.

  2. Learn to select, propose and conceptualize long-term projects throughout the program that will be suitable for refinement, and possible thesis development, in the final semester of the second year. Emphasis will focus upon critical thinking, research, and professional strategies and concerns of a professional artist.

  3. Defend and define, in seminars, jury defenses, and written exposition, how the language and studio components of the thesis are related and how research, readings, references, critical analysis and quality of presentation can support project and thesis outcomes.

  4. Learn to clearly articulate in writing, and to speak with clarity and honesty, about one’s personal work and concepts, and the work and ideas of others, and at a graduate level.

  5. Learn to conduct one’s artistic and professional life as a “master” and to develop confidence in solving abstract problems, both independently and collaboratively, throughout one’s lifetime. Understand where you and your work fit in the context of art history, one’s culture, and a life in the arts.

  6. Support and nurture professional aspirations through competitive Teaching Fellowships, internships, assistantships, independent studies, and personal faculty and Visiting Artist / Scholar mentoring.

Kristen Matuszak, Kitchen Table 2017