The MVS Studio experience evolves within a rich environment structured around new approaches to visual art production, art theory, critical writing and professional practice. The MVS Studio faculty is comprised entirely of visual artists, with significant on-going exhibition careers. MVS Studio students pursue a highly focused investigation within studio practice along with research into contemporary theories exploring the visual and spatial relationships within art and cultural production.
The MVS Studio is concerned with the increasingly complex modes of visual expression through combinations of text, image, movement, sound and dynamic new electronic media. Accordingly, the participants will examine contemporary art practice and theory through core courses that will give them ample opportunity to develop skills in a variety of projects and media.
More information on admissions is available on our Graduate Admissions webpage.
The MVS Studio encourages both a multi-disciplinary and an interdisciplinary studio practice for our students. A multi-disciplinary art practice is one that incorporates a variety of media in its conception and production, crossing, combining or hybridizing art disciplines in its expression. This includes a variety of new and traditional media - video, installation, print technologies, photography, performance, painting and digital technologies – and produces a professional practice unique to contemporary art. As well, we expect MVS participants to benefit from the extensive resources available to them in other graduate programs at the University, including those in History of Art, Museum Studies, History, English, Drama, Comparative Literature, and Computer Science, thus offering a rich environment for interdisciplinary research and collaboration.
While all studio/practicum panels are chaired by MVS faculty, MVS Studio students are encouraged to invite University of Toronto graduate faculty from other departments to join their panels, expanding the possibilities for interdisciplinary exchange, research and production.
Throughout the final year of the MVS program, participants in the Studio field develop and produce a body of work that forms the basis for the graduating exhibition, scheduled for early April of the graduating year. Studio participants will benefit from working with a professional curator throughout the last term of their studies; the curator advises on installation and produces curatorial essays on each participant's work which are then printed in the catalogue for the exhibition.
Final critiques and oral defense of the qualifying paper are conducted on-site in the exhibition with the participants' full panel of advisors. The qualifying paper (12-15 pages) will demonstrate the theoretical basis for the artworks produced during the MVS, detailing the research undertaken and discussing the relevance of the participant's chosen media. The qualifying paper will include a full bibliography.
Click here to view the diagram of degree requirements for the Studio Art Practice field of study.
