The Florence Academy’s Master of Arts in Studio Art, with its focus on traditional methods, provides training in drawing and painting to art educators seeking to use these skill-based techniques in their classrooms. The program is designed to provide the knowledge and develop the skill set of MA participants from a variety of backgrounds and levels of experience.

Participants in the program begin with an introduction to methods used in traditional atelier training; checking proportions, values, shapes, edges, value scales etc., as well as incorporating  contemporary approaches to paint handling and materials. 

Initial projects help to build skill and confidence and progress to make use of more sophisticated  techniques and methods. The program ultimately provides participants with invaluable and transferable skills that can be taught and demonstrated to their own students in class, as well applied to their own artistic work.

The MA program is a reduced-residency MA accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), and consists of 30 credits of full-time study, entirely studio-based and structured in three 5-week sessions, conducted over three summers, and equal to a 30 unit degree program (10 units per summer). Each session is composed of two courses, 4 credits each, that meet Monday through Friday (five days) including two Saturdays, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm, plus 2 credits of Independent study equal to 40 hours per session. If applicable, participants should check with their school districts to make sure the FAA MA is recognized for pay scale advancement. For our listing on the NASAD website, please click here.

MA participants may choose to attend year one and/or year two in person or remotely. The 3rd year session is held in person in Italy. Students studying in person will spend two summers studying at facilities at St. Peter’s University, Jersey City, NJ, and their third and final summer in Florence, Italy, at The Florence Academy of Art campus. The city of Florence’s connection with the Renaissance, through the many monuments and museums located in its historic center, will enhance participants’ artistic vision, as well as enrich their ability to inspire their own students.

FAA’s Master of Arts in Studio Art will be of interest to:

  • visual arts educators of elementary, middle, and high school classrooms
  • university students preparing to become art educators

Maximum enrollment: 30 students per cohort.

Click here to view the MA Graduation Ceremony

Additional Information

By learning a traditional methodology, we provide participants with a blueprint for incorporating skill-based methods into the classroom. They will learn to demystify the training of an artist, and break down the vastly complex task of learning to draw and paint from life into gradual steps. Participants will learn the techniques to teach their students to see and put down exactly what is in front of them. Ultimately, they can choose to incorporate these skill-based methods into their personal artwork.

The course teaches basic skills and techniques in order to gain visual literacy and hand-eye coordination. Select exercises come directly from the Florence Academy’s accredited curriculum for Drawing and Painting, and provide the basis for constructing a thorough foundation in skill-based techniques to increase participants’ confidence for teaching these techniques in their home classroom and support their own creative development.

MA Faculty will prepare students for teaching by providing an in-depth and hands-on experience of The Florence Academy of Art’s pedagogy. This emphasis on techniques, method, and language of instruction begins at the start of the course and continues throughout the three sessions. Faculty will use the portfolio submitted with the application to determine – as a class – what skills to focus on for each new cohort.

Locations

In-person instruction takes place at our host campus, St. Peter’s University in Jersey City, NJ, just outside of NYC, and The Florence Academy of Art campus in Florence, Italy, for students enrolled in Year 3 of the MA Program.

Saint Peter’s University
2641 John Kennedy Blvd.
Jersey City, NJ 07306

The Florence Academy of Art
Via Aretina 293
50136 Florence, Italy

Residency Requirement for Year 3 Students:
The third and final summer of instruction takes place in Florence, Italy, at The Florence Academy of Art home campus. MA participants will be considered in-person at the Florence, Italy, campus location during their third and final term of study. Limited exceptions will be made for extenuating circumstances that prevent the participant from attending classes abroad. Requests to alter the learning location for Year 3 must be submitted in writing to the Academic Director no later than November 1 following completion of Year 2 studies. Exemptions will be made on a case-by-case basis to allow participants to complete their Year 3 either remotely, or partially or fully in-person on the Jersey City campus.

MA Curriculum

The MA in Studio Art curriculum will be focused on overall development of the artist’s skill. Coursework in the studio is tailored to concentrate on formal issues (such as convincing proportions, composition, color theory, and paint handling), technical issues (such as preparation of materials including hand-grinding pigments, and historical time-tested techniques), and conceptual issues (such as history of the method and process, and their application to artistic outcomes). Students will apply these issues to a variety of genres: figure, still life and portrait.

During the course, MA Faculty allocate class time for participants to practice teaching by requiring them to give drawing and painting demonstrations to their peers, to give fellow students individual critiques of their work, and to organize and prepare lesson plans.

All required assignments will be accomplished during daytime class hours (9am to 4pm), and attendance is mandatory during the full period. Students may miss the equivalent of two days of attendance with no grade penalty. After the third absence, the grade will be lowered one half grade per absence.

Remote Instruction

Remote instruction is synchronous, and all students attend class live from 9am to 4pm EST each day of the program by logging on to zoom. Critiques and demonstrations are given throughout the day. Students are expected to upload their works-in-progress every morning and afternoon to a dedicated online portal. Works are critiqued both privately by the instructors meeting with individual students, and in group sessions with the online cohort. Students will have access to dedicated staff for technical issues.

Students who study remotely must possess a computer with a webcam. They will be given instruction on how to set up suitable studio spaces at home for traditional training.