With a nationally recognized Visiting Artist Program, prominent Department and Affiliated Faculty, comparatively low annual tuition, and a wealth of graduate grant, travel, and teaching opportunities, we are one of the most dynamic, unique graduate MFA programs in the country. And we are GROWING! The Department is currently searching for a new Assistant Professor in Photography to start in fall 2018.
Recent faculty and affiliated faculty accomplishments include:
- Mark Boulos’ mixed-reality interactive documentary Elastic Timepremiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and was featured in the Beyond Cinema showcase Cannes. Mark was the recipient of the American Academy in Rome’s Rome Prize in Visual Art in 2015-16.
- Graduate Director Paul Thulinwill release his first monograph Pine Tree Balladsaccompanied by a solo exhibition at publisher Gordon Stettinius‘s Candela Books and Gallery in early 2019. In addition, his artwork will be highlighted by the gallery at The Photography Show AIPAD in NYC April 4 – 7, 2019.
- Sonali Gulati’s wonderful personal documentary, I Am continues to wow on national PBS and screened for a month at the Schwules Museum, in Berlin, Germany earlier this year.
- Multimedia and social practice artist John Freyerspent nearly three weeks at the Tate Modern in London as the first Tate Exchange Associate Artist from the U.S.
- Photographer Justin James Reed’s current publishing project, ultraterrestrial.xyz, focuses on small edition handmade photography books by feminist voices whose work explores ecological and spiritual landscape energies. Two new titles were debuted at Printed Matter’s NY Art Book Fairin September at MoMA PS1.
- Chair Sasha Waters Freyer’s feature documentary on photographer Garry Winogrand won a Special Jury Prize at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival and was released in theaters in September 2019.
- Photographer Jon-Phillip Sheridansolar-powered media installation Fixed Air bowed at Declaration, the inaugural show at VCU’s Institute for Contemporary Art in spring 2018.
- Shane Rocheleau’s beautiful first book of photographs, YOU ARE MASTERS OF THE FISH AND BIRDS AND ALL THE ANIMALS aka (YAMOTFABAATA) was recently released by Gnomic Books
- Margot Norton, curator at the New Museum who joins us each spring for MFA Candidacy exhibitions and reviews, co-curated the recent Sarah Lucas survey that opened to great acclaim
Our MFA students very often receive VCUarts travel and research awards, averaging $500 for Graduate Travel Grants and $3000 per student in research support for MFA Thesis Exhibition. Current MFA David Riley holds the Graduate Curatorial Assistantship at VCU’s Institute for Contemporary Art, which covers full tuition (plus stipend) for the thesis year.
The depth and breadth of our program are most clearly visible in the work of our incredible alumni! Recent successes include SUNY Purchase faculty Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa’s first book, One Wall a Web, recently published by Roma Publications and shortlisted for Aperture Foundation’s First PhotoBook Prize. Stephanie DeMer recently accepted a position as a Faculty Associate in Photography at Arizona State University and had a two-person show at Grizzly Grizzly in Philadelphia. Johannes Barfield used his summer residency at MASS MoCA to explore how race and identity interact with the local environment, while Patrick Harkin entered his second year of his Hamiltonian Artist Fellowship in support of the creation of new work. D.C.-based Naoko Wowsugi’s multidisciplinary work including performance and activism has been exhibited in 2018 at the Ackland Art Museum, the Queens Museum and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art among other venues.
Our robust Visiting Artist program complements the studio-practice focus of our MFA, with artist talks, individual studio visits, shared meals and small parties to celebrate our visitors! Upcoming and recent Visiting Artists include photographers David Hartt, Jess Dugan, and Paul Sepuya; 2018 Guggenheim Fellow Nicholas Muellner, multi-disciplinary artist Tameka Jenean Norris and British composer Pete Wyer.
VCUarts faculty outside of the department with whom our MFAs study include Guggenheim Fellow and sound artist Stephen Vitiello; visual artist and 2014 Rome Prize winner Corin Hewitt; visual artist and animator Orla McHardy, artist Paul Rucker, curator Noah Simblist and arts writer Gregory Volk.
The Department of Photography + Film and VCUarts exist in a growing hotbed of artistic activity and community, as evidenced by the new Institute for Contemporary Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the artists’ space Studio Two Three and a wealth of galleries that sell and showcase faculty and MFA work including Candela Gallery, 1708 Gallery, Page Bond Gallery, Reynolds Gallery and ADA Gallery.
You are welcome to come visit, sit in on a class or an artist’s lecture, or call us with questions any time. For more information, please see our most recent Thesis Exhibition catalogue, as well as our department website.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at swfreyer@vcu.edu or our Graduate Director Paul Thulin at pbthulin@vcu.edu.