Graduate Fine Arts Studios

Artists come to this program to grow and sustain their practices through an interdisciplinary and socially-engaged lens. You’ll have your own studio to try out ideas and mediums with valuable input from faculty, your cohort, and visiting artists.

📍2565 3rd St.

Media Gallery

Three students look at an artwork in one of the MFA Dogpatch studio spaces.
This corner of the graduate complex includes a room for screenprinting and sewing
A corner of a grad student’s studio space that has art work pinned to the walls, a chair, L-shaped desk lined with paintbrushes and ceramics.
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▪️ About MFA Fine Arts

A culture of critique, studio making, and critical engagement make our MFA Fine Arts program different from the others. The degree is intentionally in Fine Art rather than in a specific medium, so exploration and experimentation are encouraged.

Bay Area connections

CCA is part of an extraordinary ecosystem of art and cultural institutions, including the internationally regarded Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, the brand-new ICA San Francisco, the storied Headlands Center for the Arts, and artist-run spaces like Root Division and Incline Gallery. Our program enmeshes you within this creative community through lectures, studio visits, offsite tours, and exhibition opportunities.

Deepen your practice with a dual degree

Integrate research, writing, and studio practices with an MA in Visual and Critical Studies. The thesis process of collaborative exchange through group critiques, a symposium presentation, and professional publication prepares you for competitive postgraduate arenas.

▪️ An immersive, artistic community

MFA Fine Arts students work from semi-private studios in close proximity to their cohort. Margot Becker (MFA Fine Arts 2020) used her space to weave intricate tapestries on a loom, while Bryce LeFort crafted large-scale wood sculptures. You also have access to designated installation and critique spaces, communal meeting areas, and shops with manual and digital tools.

Dogpatch MFA Studio facilities

The Dogpatch Woodshop, Tool Center, and Bench Room compose the fabrication spaces within the MFA Studios. There’s also a small Soft Lab for textile-based work and a Flat Lab for print-based explorations. Plus, your next door neighbors are the Museum of Craft and Design, ICA San Francisco, and the Minnesota Street Project, which houses galleries, event spaces, and artist studios.

CCA-wide shops

All campus shops are available for use, from the model-making shop and photography darkrooms to woodshops. You can laser cut pieces in the Rapid Prototyping Studio or make your work interactive with sensors and motors in the Hybrid Lab.

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