Advanced studio study in Florence
A two-semester program for artists ready to move beyond introductory study and concentrate on developing a substantial body of work.
Two Semesters · Florence, Italy · Tuition €16,500 · Maximum 10 Students
Portfolio-based tuition grants of up to 30% are available to selected applicants.
The Master in Visual Arts at the Florence School of Fine Arts is an intensive two-semester program built around advanced studio practice, individual mentorship, critique, and the development of a substantial body of work.
Rather than moving through a fixed sequence of introductory classes, students develop an individualized course of study around their existing practice, interests, and evolving work.
The direction of the work determines the path through the program.
Students may concentrate in painting and drawing, photography, printmaking, book arts, or interdisciplinary practice, drawing on other FSFA studios and processes when the work calls for them.
Individual Practice. Mentorship. Studio. Florence.
Designed for artists who already have a foundation in visual practice and are ready to concentrate on developing their work.
The program combines sustained studio practice, individual faculty mentorship, critique, experimentation, and independent research in Florence.
Tuition: €16,500
Maximum Cohort: 10 Students
Portfolio-based tuition grants of up to 30% are available to selected applicants.
Develop a body of work. Find its direction. Take it further.
The Master in Visual Arts is built around the development of each student's individual practice.
Students do not move through a prescribed survey of beginning-level courses. Instead, faculty work closely with each artist to identify the processes, materials, questions, and forms most relevant to the work being developed.
Painting and drawing, photography, printmaking, letterpress, Risograph, and book arts become resources within an individualized course of advanced studio study.
A photographer may remain deeply focused on photography or move into the artist's book and printed image. A printmaker may concentrate extensively on lithography or etching. A painter may incorporate photography, print, or publication as the work develops.
The direction of the work determines the path through the program.
Intensive studio practice, individual mentorship, critique, material and process exploration, and research in Florence.
Students establish the direction of their work while experimenting with the processes and ideas necessary to move it forward.
Students concentrate on an independent studio project or body of work through continued mentorship and critique.
The semester moves toward editing, documentation, exhibition preparation, a final public exhibition at FSFA, and the production of a catalogue through Arno River Press.
The Master in Visual Arts is an advanced studio-study program. It does not award an MFA or MA degree.
Go deeper rather than wider.
The program is designed for artists who already possess a foundation in visual practice.
Instead of requiring a sequence of introductory courses, students concentrate on the areas and processes most relevant to their developing work.
Photography, painting and drawing, printmaking, letterpress, Risograph, and book arts are not a checklist of required courses.
They are working studios, processes, and resources available to students as their projects develop.
Students are not expected to work in every discipline. An artist may work deeply within one primary area throughout the program or move between processes when the work requires it.
This allows advanced study to remain focused while still giving students access to the breadth of FSFA's studios.
The direction of the work determines the path through the program.
Individual attention is part of the program.
Enrollment in the Master in Visual Arts is limited to a maximum of 10 students.
The small cohort allows sustained individual mentorship, regular critique, and meaningful access to FSFA's studios and facilities.
Advanced studio practice requires time: time to make work, question it, change direction, experiment, fail, return, and continue.
With a maximum of 10 students, faculty can work closely with each artist as the work develops rather than imposing the same path on everyone.
Individual meetings and critiques are combined with group dialogue, allowing students to develop their own practice while participating in a serious community of artists.
The scale of the program is intentional.
Observation, material, image, and individual practice.
Students working primarily in painting and drawing concentrate on developing a sustained body of work through studio practice, experimentation, critique, and individual mentorship.
Study may involve painting, drawing, mixed media, works on paper, and interdisciplinary approaches according to the direction of the student's work.
The emphasis is not on completing a sequence of beginning techniques. Students arrive with an existing foundation and work toward greater material, visual, and conceptual resolution.
Photography, printmaking, book arts, and other processes may enter the work when appropriate.
The objective is sustained development of an individual studio practice.
Image, sequence, process, and visual language.
Students working in photography develop an individual photographic practice through sustained image-making, editing, sequencing, critique, and mentorship.
Students may work with digital or analog photography and develop projects through image-making, editing, sequencing, printing, and presentation.
Photography can remain the primary medium or move into other forms including the printed image, artist's book, publication, and interdisciplinary work.
The emphasis is on developing a coherent visual language and a substantial body of work rather than completing a predetermined sequence of courses.
Historic processes. Contemporary practice.
FSFA offers an unusually rich environment for artists working with the printed image.
Students may concentrate in etching, lithography, silkscreen, or related graphic processes while developing an individual body of work.
Students have access to FSFA's working print studios and collection of historic and contemporary printing equipment.
Depending on the direction of the work, study may include:
The objective is not to sample every process. Students work deeply with the processes most relevant to their practice.
FSFA's philosophy of Preservation Through Education means historic presses and equipment remain active tools for contemporary artists rather than static artifacts.
Image. Text. Sequence. Object.
Students interested in the relationship between image, text, sequence, printing, and publication can develop projects through book arts, letterpress, Risograph, and related processes.
The book can function as artwork, sequence, archive, edition, publication, or final form.
Students may combine photography, drawing, printmaking, typography, letterpress, Risograph, and other processes according to the needs of their projects.
This area of study connects directly to FSFA's emphasis on making, printing, sequencing, and publication—and to the final catalogue produced through Arno River Press.
Develop · Experiment · Question
Semester One establishes the direction of the student's practice.
Students work intensively in the studio while meeting individually with faculty and participating in critique.
The semester emphasizes:
Concentrate · Resolve · Present
Semester Two is increasingly concentrated around an independent project or body of work.
Students continue working through individual mentorship and critique while moving toward resolution, editing, documentation, exhibition, and publication.
The semester emphasizes:
The program culminates in a public exhibition at the Florence School of Fine Arts.
Students work with faculty to edit and select work, consider installation and presentation, document the completed project, and prepare the exhibition.
The exhibition is not separate from the studio process. It is the final stage of developing, editing, resolving, and presenting the work produced during the program.
Each graduating cohort participates in the production of a professionally designed catalogue through Arno River Press, FSFA's publishing initiative.
The publication brings together selected work, documentation, and information from the final projects.
Students leave Florence with both a completed body of work and a printed record of the work developed during the program.
Florence is not simply the location of the program.
Museums, churches, streets, architecture, archives, workshops, contemporary exhibitions, printing traditions, and the daily life of the city become part of the environment in which students work.
Research in Florence is integrated into studio practice according to the interests and direction of each artist.
Students are encouraged to use the city as a source of observation, research, material, history, and contemporary experience.
The Master in Visual Arts is intended for artists who already have a foundation in visual practice and are ready for a period of concentrated advanced study.
It may be appropriate for:
Applicants should be prepared to work independently and participate actively in individual and group critique.
€16,500 — Two Semesters
Portfolio-based tuition grants of up to 30% are available to selected applicants.
Grants are awarded through the admissions process and are not automatic.
The Master in Visual Arts is an advanced studio-study program and does not award an MFA or MA degree.
Two semesters.
A maximum of ten artists.
Time to work.
Faculty who know your work.
Studios that allow you to move between historic processes and contemporary practice.
A final exhibition.
A printed catalogue.
And Florence as the place where it happens.