MFA in Art

Stamps MFA Program: Studio Art + Research 

MFA students at Stamps join a supportive and critically engaged community of artists, designers, and scholars. Drawing on the resources and expertise of both Stamps and the broader University of Michigan research community, students create interdisciplinary work that manifests in a wide variety of contexts, making an impact in both artistic venues and unconventional spaces. Students develop work that is both materially sophisticated and conceptually rigorous, and the research-based art curriculum challenges them to consider not only the work they are making but also the field(s) in which their practice is embedded and with which it is in dialogue. Through funded travel opportunities, students think critically about what it means to be an artist working across diverse sites, communities, and institutions. Graduates of the program thrive in a range of professional arts contexts and emerge as cultural leaders in a rapidly changing international artistic landscape. Many go on to exhibit nationally and internationally in major museums and galleries, secure tenure-track positions at leading arts and research institutions, create large scale public-art commissions, and work as cultural producers within prominent arts organizations.

Program Highlights

• Tuition-free two-year program 

• Paid teaching opportunities

• Mentorship from award winning, widely exhibited and published, community of engaged Stamps faculty members 

• 33,000 square-foot graduate student and faculty studio facility

• Studio visits with internationally renowned curators, writers, artists, and arts professionals

• Funded travel-based summer research project

• Rotating art history/​theory/​criticism courses designed to support the discourse(s) most relevant to our students

• Curriculum tailored for each student to support the unique needs of incoming artists and scholars with interdisciplinary electives from departments across the entire university 

• Professional Practices and Research Methods courses that work to demystify the professional arts landscape and support student career trajectories

• #11 ranked graduate school in the nation for fine arts according to the 2026 U.S. News and World Report Education Rankings.