About

Can you imagine yourself working side by side with award-winning artists and designers from around the world? Can you picture yourself being challenged to exceed your greatest expectations and aspirations by mastering your creative skills to such a degree that you have the opportunity to succeed as a professional artist or designer or teach at the university level?

The MFA at ECU is a three-year degree program that allows you to fully immerse yourself in the personal research and creative activity that got you accepted in the first place. You will have your own studio space with 24/7 access as well as access to the expansive Jenkins Fine Arts building facilities, state-of-the-art computer labs, wood shop, Shape Lab, and each concentration area’s extensive equipment and resources. You also have opportunities to supplement your education through the visiting artist series, workshops, symposiums and through funded guild activities in which you decide how funds are used.

As a MFA candidate, you will work directly with graduate faculty toward your thesis exhibition, which is the culminating demonstration of the highest level of professional competency in the visual arts and design. To assure quality and potential for success, every MFA candidate must pass an annual review of all creative work produced during the academic year as well as submit a research paper which explains the context and intent of that work. We understand that it can be an arduous journey, and that it is our obligation to let you know that you are on the right path.

ECU Advantage

East Carolina’s School of Art and Design provides you with the same creative skills and intellectual opportunities as some of the most expensive art and design programs in the nation at a fraction of the cost. In addition to our huge, well equipped facilities, award winning faculty, and guaranteed studio space, we can almost promise that you will be given the opportunity to serve as teacher of record. In fact, the majority of our students choose to teach more than once while enrolled.

ECU is the most comprehensive NASAD-accredited art school in North Carolina. Our alumni have gone on to enjoy successful careers as award winning professional artists and designers, gallery owners, art directors, community arts management staff, K–12 instructors, museum directors, curators and preparatory staff, as well as serving across the nation and abroad at all levels of academia, from community college instructors to university deans.

What You Will Study

Program Coordinator: Seo Eo (2000 Jenkins Fine Arts Center; 252-328-6281; eos@ecu.edu)

The Art, MFA is the terminal professional degree in studio art. This is a three-year or equivalent degree (60 s.h.). Assessments of progress are provided on a regular and periodic basis. Students must possess an undergraduate degree in art from an accredited institution. The Art and Design Graduate Committee will consider an applicant that does not possess an undergraduate degree in art, if that applicant is nominated by an East Carolina University area coordinator, has an exceptional portfolio of work and has completed an undergraduate degree from an accredited institution. The MFA degree does not require standardized test scores to apply. Students interested in applying for the MFA degree must present a digital portfolio of their work prior to acceptance in the intended studio area. Concentrations are offered in ceramics, graphic design, metal design, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and textile design. The ceramics concentration is offered both on-campus and in an online-hybrid format.

The minimum degree requirement is 60 s.h. as follows: 

Art studio concentration - 24 s.h.

(Select one of the following.)

    Ceramics

    The ceramics concentration is offered both on-campus and online  hybrid distance education model. Please see the program coordinator for more information. 

    • ART 6100 - Problems in Ceramics
    • ART 6101 - Problems in Ceramics
    • ART 6102 - Problems in Ceramics
    • ART 6103 - Problems in Ceramics
    • ART 6104 - Problems in Ceramics
    • ART 6105 - Problems in Ceramics
    • ART 6106 - Problems in Ceramics
    • ART 6107 - Problems in Ceramics
    Graphic Design
    • ART 6200 - Problems in Communication Arts
    • ART 6210 - Problems in Communication Arts
    • ART 6220 - Problems in Communication Arts
    • ART 6230 - Problems in Communication Arts
    • ART 6240 - Problems in Communication Arts
    • ART 6250 - Problems in Communication Arts
    • ART 6260 - Problems in Communication Arts
    • ART 6270 - Problems in Communication Arts
    Metal Design
    • ART 6301 - Problems in Metal Design
    • ART 6311 - Problems in Metal Design
    • ART 6321 - Problems in Metal Design
    • ART 6331 - Problems in Metal Design
    • ART 6341 - Problems in Metal Design
    • ART 6351 - Problems in Metal Design
    • ART 6361 - Problems in Metal Design
    • ART 6371 - Problems in Metal Design
    Painting and Drawing

    (Select 8 courses from the below list.)

    • ART 6550 - Problems in Drawing
    • ART 6551 - Problems in Drawing
    • ART 6552 - Problems in Drawing
    • ART 6560 - Problems in Painting
    • ART 6561 - Problems in Painting
    • ART 6562 - Problems in Painting
    • ART 6563 - Problems in Painting
    • ART 6564 - Problems in Painting
    • ART 6565 - Problems in Painting
    • ART 6566 - Problems in Painting
    • ART 6567 - Problems in Painting
    Photography
    • ART 6221 - Problems in Photography
    • ART 6222 - Problems in Photography
    • ART 6223 - Problems in Photography
    • ART 6224 - Problems in Photography
    • ART 6225 - Problems in Photography
    • ART 6226 - Problems in Photography
    • ART 6227 - Problems in Photography
    • ART 6228 - Problems in Photography
    Printmaking
    • ART 6600 - Problems in Printmaking
    • ART 6601 - Problems in Printmaking
    • ART 6602 - Problems in Printmaking
    • ART 6603 - Problems in Printmaking
    • ART 6604 - Problems in Printmaking
    • ART 6605 - Problems in Printmaking
    • ART 6606 - Problems in Printmaking
    • ART 6607 - Problems in Printmaking
    Sculpture
    • ART 6700 - Problems in Sculpture
    • ART 6701 - Problems in Sculpture
    • ART 6702 - Problems in Sculpture
    • ART 6703 - Problems in Sculpture
    • ART 6704 - Problems in Sculpture
    • ART 6705 - Problems in Sculpture
    • ART 6706 - Problems in Sculpture
    • ART 6707 - Problems in Sculpture
    Textiles
    • ART 6310 - Problems in Design
    • ART 6320 - Problems in Design
    • ART 6330 - Problems in Design
    • ART 6340 - Problems in Design
    • ART 6350 - Problems in Design
    • ART 6360 - Problems in Design
    • ART 6370 - Problems in Design
    • ART 6306 - Problems in Fabric and Textile Design
    • ART 6316 - Problems in Fabric and Textile Design
    • ART 6326 - Problems in Fabric and Textile Design
    • ART 6336 - Problems in Fabric and Textile Design
    • ART 6346 - Problems in Fabric and Textile Design
    • ART 6356 - Problems in Fabric and Textile Design
    • ART 6366 - Problems in Fabric and Textile Design
    • ART 6376 - Problems in Fabric and Textile Design
    • ART 6305 - Problems in Weaving and Fiber Design
    • ART 6315 - Problems in Weaving and Fiber Design
    • ART 6325 - Problems in Weaving and Fiber Design
    • ART 6335 - Problems in Weaving and Fiber Design
    • ART 6345 - Problems in Weaving and Fiber Design
    • ART 6355 - Problems in Weaving and Fiber Design
    • ART 6365 - Problems in Weaving and Fiber Design
    • ART 6375 - Problems in Weaving and Fiber Design
Studio art electives - 12 s.h.

(Elective courses must be outside of student's studio concentration. Select electives from either of the below categories.)

    Art and Design
    • ART 6000 - Readings in Art
    • ART 6501 - Glass I
    • ART 6502 - Glass II
    • ART 6503 - Glass III
    • ART 6504 - Glass IV
    • ART 6990 - Art and Design Pedagogy
    Interdisciplinary
    • ART 6001 - Art and Design Seminar
    • ART 6070 - Visual Problems in Computer-aided Design
    • ART 6500 - Independent Study
    • ART 6510 - Directed Graduate Field Study in Art
    • ART 6511 - Directed Graduate Field Study in Art
    • ART 6512 - Directed Graduate Field Study in
    • ART 6515 - Directed Graduate Field Study in Art
    • ART 6990 - Art and Design Pedagogy
    • ART 6991 - Problems in Interdisciplinary Studies in Art
    • ART 6992 - Problems in Interdisciplinary Studies in Art
    • ART 6993 - Problems in Interdisciplinary Studies in Art
    • ART 6994 - Problems in Interdisciplinary Studies in Art
Art history electives - 12 s.h.

(Select art history electives from below list.)

  • ARTH 6908 - Research Methods in Art History
  • ARTH 6909 - Seminar in Art History
  • ARTH 6912 - African Art
  • ARTH 6913 - Asian Art
  • ARTH 6916 - Art of India
  • ARTH 6920 - Nineteenth Century Painting
  • ARTH 6925 - African American Art
  • ARTH 6930 - Italian Renaissance Art: 1300-1500
  • ARTH 6935 - Italian Baroque Art: 1600-1700
  • ARTH 6940 - Twentieth-Century Modern Art: 1900-1950
  • ARTH 6942 - Twentieth-Century Modern Art: 1950-2000
  • ARTH 6944 - Studies in Contemporary Art: Post 1960s
  • ARTH 6946 - Studies in Contemporary Art: Post 1980s
  • ARTH 6948 - Art in the United States
  • ARTH 6951 - History of Architecture
  • ARTH 6952 - Byzantine Art and Architecture
  • ARTH 6960 - Art and Power in Mesoamerica
  • ARTH 6961 - Native North American Art and Ritual
  • ARTH 6970 - History of Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Design
  • ARTH 6980 - Ceramic History of North Carolina and the Southeastern United States
General elective - 3 s.h.
    e. ART 6000 or art course approved by area coordinator - 3 s.h.
    • ART 6000 - Readings in Art
    Thesis - 6 s.h.

    A creative thesis and a written report of the thesis are required.

    • ART 7000 - Thesis
    Comprehensive assessment requirement

    All ECU graduate programs require a comprehensive assessment. The assessment requirement for this degree is the creative thesis and written report. 

      For more information about this degree visit the university's academic catalogs.