All programs Apply

Fine Arts 2D/3D

Master of Fine Arts, 3D

In our MFA 3D program, you’ll explore sculptural mediums using our exceptional facilities in glass, clay, wood, and metal, and more.

MassArt’s full-time, two-year (60 credit) Fine Arts 3D MFA program is committed to an expanded understanding of the sculptural medium.

With the support of faculty working across a range of media and disciplines, students engage in rigorous experimentation and collaboration, and the resulting work–from clay vessels to collaborative performance–reflects a highly personal investigation. Students with an expanded sense of practice are also encouraged to explore technology, performance, and the moving image as possible vehicles for their ideas.

Fine Arts 3D Featured Work

Nate Heilman, MFA 3D her favorite pony is rainbow dash: the maximum effective range of an m16 is 550 meters, Mixed Media, 2020

Nate Heilman, MFA 3D more than nothing, Sculpture, 2019

Wendy Jacob, Visiting Lecturer, MFA 3D Waves and Signs (Balloon), 3D Artwork, 2015

Nathalie Miebach, MFA 3D Antarctic Explorer – Darkness to Lightness, Sculpture, 2007

Nina Hart Morris, MFA 3D Slumped, 3D Artwork, 2017

Felicia Deneane, MFA 3D Unkempt, 3D Artwork, 2016

Loretta Park, Fibers, MFA 3D Part of a pair 1(Detail), Fibers, 2014

Cory John Ploessl, MFA 3D Unfasten, Installation, 2015

Cris Schayer, MFA 3D Between Memory and Forgetting, Installation, 2015

Joanna Sokolowska, MFA 3D, Sculpture Humanscape, 22″ x 12″ x 15″, Sculpture, 2015

Rebecca Scott Newhouse, Fine Arts 2D/3D MFA, MFA 3D, Sculpture To Halve and to Whole, Sculpture, 2015

Nicholas Hullibarger, Glass, MFA 3D Identity and Relations are Ceaselessly Rewritten, Design, 2014

Ben Radville, MFA 3D Landfish Song, Divider, Unravelling the Scrolls, 3D Artwork, 2014

Lele Zhang, MFA 3D Unprotection, 3D Artwork, 2014

Nicholas Sullivan, Fine Arts 3D, MFA 3D, Sculpture Chronic, 3D Artwork, 2013

Clive Moloney, MFA 3D chin drawing, 2D Artwork, 2012

Ji In Lee, MFA 3D Vessels, Clay, 2013

Nicole Farland, MFA 3D, Sculpture Collector, Sculpture, 2012

Zachary F. Herrmann, MFA 3D, Sculpture Portrait1, Sculpture, 2013

Bashezo, MFA 3D Blackened Corridor, Installation & Performance, Performance, 2017

Christy Chow, MFA 3D Laborland, 3D Artwork, 2015

Loretta Park, MFA 3D First imprint of Untitled 4, Print, 2014

Timothy Horn, MFA 3D Mother-Load, 3D Artwork, 2008

Jill Slosburg-Ackerman, Professor, MFA 3D, Sculpture A Divided Highboy, Sculpture, 2011

Judy Haberl, Professor, MFA 3D, Sculpture Antidote: A Photoluminescent Photographic Installation, Photograph, 2013

Judith Leemann, Associate Professor, Fibers, MFA 3D reading aloud: stories about a coyote, Fibers, 2013

Dialogue and critique are key components of an education in the studio arts, and at MassArt critique is viewed as a creative act. The rich dialogue among students, faculty, visiting artists, and critics takes place within the framework of core classes, electives, presentations, and excursions off campus. Our approach illuminates new pathways for each artist’s work, helping students to build a sustainable practice, and to develop perspective and empathy as artist citizens of the world.

Learning Outcomes

Students who complete the MFA Fine Arts 3D program are expected to be able to demonstrate the following learning outcomes.

Create one’s own 21st century studio practice based upon one’s own personal vision and imagination. Understand being and artist using life and studio experience, as well as research, to support ideas
Explore, research and experiment with new media and processes
Understand a wide range of approaches and methodologies to 3D problem solving
Develop craftsmanship. Learn to safely use tools, equipment, materials and processes
Develop a sophisticated understanding of conceptual, symbolic and metaphorical issues
Understand one’s work in relation to contemporary art and art history
Develop the ability to critique peers’ work across disciplines and participate in critical dialogue with peers in their fields
Develop awareness and understanding of the diverse cultural, historical, and experiential issues expressed and inherent in one’s own artwork and in that of one’s peers
Prepare and present a professional level artists talk in conjunction with the Thesis Exhibition
Exhibit one’s work in a professional manner in the thesis exhibition. Students may also participate in other exhibitions and curatorial opportunities at the college or other venues
Assume the responsibility for development of a professional career in the arts, developing professional and vocation resources
Develop knowledge of major historical and cultural characteristics of specific times /places. Infer relationships between society and art
Recognize various types of texts used in art historical analysis, and evaluate their content and effectiveness. Use various ideas, approaches and facts in the analysis of art. Formulate, research and argue a hypothesis. Articulate verbally and in writing, theoretical and critical perspectives on art
Recognize the impact of historical works of art on contemporary art
Draw connections between various artworks, artists and concepts
Collaborate with artists in other disciplines