Among the first Low Residency MFA Programs in the country, MECA&D’s MFA is distinguished by two eight-week summer intensives in Maine, a rigorous curriculum, and exceptional commitment to one-on-one student mentoring by distinguished core faculty, carefully selected studio advisors, and nationally and internationally known visiting artists, critics, and curators.
Designed for experienced artists who want to maintain their ongoing careers while earning an MFA, our Low Residency option enables students to have a studio anywhere in the world. With periods of on-and off-campus study, our two-year trimester curriculum emphasizes the intersection of studio production, individual research, critical analysis, and travel to inspiring and important cultural sites. From the first moment of your first eight-week summer intensive in Maine, you experience a truly individualized education and focus on becoming inventive, skilled makers in the world and in your own communities.
- Structure promotes flexibility and independence
- Online & in-person course work from your home studio
- Carefully selected Non-Resident Studio Advisor for each student
- Participation in Summer, Winter & May Intensives
- National and International travel
- Highly Competitive
- Full Tuition Scholarship available
On-Campus Residences and Intensives
The academic year begins in June with an on-campus Summer Intensive. While most low residency programs offer one to two week on-campus intensives, MECA&D is unique in offering an eight-week experience followed by full fall and spring trimesters. The MFA summer in Maine gives students a full semester of on-campus access and interaction with core faculty and nationally and internationally known artists, critics, curators and scholars. Students return to Maine for a one-week Winter Intensive and a final May Residency for the culminating thesis defense, exhibition and graduation events. The summer and winter residencies in Maine complement the fall and spring trimesters and provide the valuable experience of group interaction, shared studio experience, and feedback from faculty, peers, and visiting artists, critics, curators and scholars.
Off-Campus Study
In the Fall and Spring trimesters students return to their home location and work one-on-one with a carefully selected, local studio advisor who is specifically chosen to support and critique the development of their work. Non-resident Studio Advisors visit with students twelve times over the course of both semesters.
MECA&D’s low residency structure also features year round contact with core faculty who use an easy-to-use teaching website to deliver relevant and topical academic courses that are supplemented by podcast lectures, discussion forums, self-directed research and personal conversation. Online coursework supplements and illuminates studio work and Core faculty foster rigor and consistency.
The MECA&D MFA low residency option is a full-time 60 credit program of study.
Studio Advisors
With two decades of experience, MECA&D’s MFA program has established an extensive network of studio advisors across North America and abroad who support students living in any location. Advisors meet one-on-one with students in their personal studios to offer mentorship, critique, and feedback. View the list of past Studio Advisors here.
Page Header
Audra Christie, MFA '15, Frozen Warmth. A project that explores intersubjective experiences when materials are subverted, combined with familiar sites and offered to the viewer.