Why Study Studio Art?

    You want to make things and make a difference. As a Studio Art major, you’ll learn to think critically, act creatively, and produce works of art that address the most pressing issues in contemporary culture. Studio Art unleashes your expressive self while connecting to the world and others.

    Why Study Studio Art at MMC?

    You have arrived at the epicenter of the global art community. MMC engages you in an individualized and cross-disciplinary study that combines a strong technical foundation, critical inquiry, and one or more specializations in painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, installation, and mixed media. Build an artistic practice that integrates disciplines from across the College. Take in everything New York City has to offer. Meet leading curators, artists, gallery owners, art critics, and art entrepreneurs. Learn from faculty members who are professional artists. Take classes and intern in some of NYC’s most prominent cultural institutions and public spaces—Sotheby’s, the Met, MoMA PS1, El Museo del Barrio, the High Line, and art galleries across the city. Produce a portfolio of work and exhibit in our Hewitt Gallery of Art.

    What You Will Learn

    • Foundation. Exhibit conceptual and technical skills in a variety of art media, both analog and digital. Explore a wide range of artists’ materials and tools—from charcoal and paint to the most current digital technologies. Apply your medium and technique to solve visual problems and communicate meaning.
    • Explore and Connect. Demonstrate scope and depth of knowledge in art historical and aesthetic practices. Through a rich cross-disciplinary quest you connect your art practices with subjects across the College. Work with your academic advisor to develop a plan of study that evolves over your four years.
    • Define and Concentrate. Deepen your disciplinary practice and aesthetic and historical perspective through research and collaboration. Participate in the Junior/Minor art exhibition, seek professional internships, take advantage of opportunities to study abroad.
    • Synthesize and Immerse. Develop an individual artistic vision necessary to advance studies and/or enter a career in the visual arts. In the senior year, students draw from this multi-dimensional experience to develop independently conceived Capstone projects that integrate their visual art practices and research. At each step in the process—from writing the initial proposal through production, critique, written reflection, and exhibition or presentation, an emphasis is placed on preparing students for professional careers and post-graduate studies.

    Contact

    Department of Art and Art History
    (212) 517-0694
    art@mmm.edu

    Art
    Carson Hall, 700A

    Art History
    Carson Hall, 704

    Program Highlights

    Learn what it’s really like to work in New York City’s museums, galleries, artists’ studios, auction houses, and not-for-profit cultural organizations. Our students have been studio assistants to professional artists, developed their art business savvy at a Chelsea art gallery, mentored young people in organizations such as Free Arts NYC, and worked in art conservation and restoration in one of New York City’s oldest and longest-running art conservation studios. 
    Study art and art history in another culture and context. This scholarship, named in honor of a longtime former faculty member, provides financial assistance to an Art or Art History major to study abroad. At the Scuola Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence, for example, students take courses such as fresco painting and mosaics. They study archeology, art history, and language for full cultural immersion and a life-changing experience.
    The Hewitt Gallery of Art, located in the main esplanade and adjacent Black and White galleries, is a laboratory for and an extension of the pedagogy of the Art and Art History Department. In addition, it is an alternative exhibition space for contemporary art. The Gallery provides opportunities for art majors to gain first-hand experience in exhibiting their capstone and junior work, for students to curate and organize shows in conjunction with the Gallery Director, and for faculty and alumni to present current work to the community. 
    • Attending MMC was one of the best decisions I have ever made for myself. MMC has opened doors for me such as being offered a summer job at Mouse Ceramic Studio in Brooklyn, NY, teaching ceramics to children. In addition, the guidance I received from my professors also helped me get into Bank Street Graduate School of Education, my top choice graduate school. Marymount Manhattan is an amazing school with so many opportunities for their students and I’m so happy that I now get to call myself a MMC Alum!

      Adriana Kunstenaar ’19

      Class of 2019,  Art major, Studio Art concentration, minor in Communication and Media Arts

      Meet Adriana
    • HG Davis-Russell '21

      As a Studio Art major at MMC I was not only quickly immersed in an avast array of studio practices, city-wide resources and hands-on academic study related to the arts, but challenged and supported by highly knowledgeable and encouraging faculty members and mentors.

      HG Davis-Russell ’21

      Class of 2021, Major in Art with a Studio Art concentration with a minor in Art History

    • Rebecca Palko '17

      I came to Marymount Manhattan College in pursuit of becoming a dancer. I was interested in how I could use the body to express my thoughts and emotions and communicate ideas. I ended up with Studio Art as my major—falling in love with the body in relation to art history, visual arts, and painting. My studies abroad in Italy and at MMC helped to solidify my choice to be an artist in New York City.

      Rebecca Palko ’17

      Class of 2017, Major in Art with a Studio Art concentration

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    Careers and Outcomes

    Art majors at MMC have gone on to succeed in graduate school and a wide array of careers in the art world and in visual art‐related fields. They are exhibiting artists, some in prestigious museums. Many exhibit in galleries and art spaces. They are teachers and educators, art directors and gallery managers, designers, art therapists, art curators, and art activists. They are prepared to think critically and act creatively and succeed in the ever-changing landscape of our cultural and creative communities. Below are just a few of the roles and places alumni of this program have landed. 

    job titles

    • Artist
    • Art Educator
    • Art Therapist
    • Creative Director
    • Gallery Manager
    • Designer
    • Illustrator

    employers

    • MoMA PS1
    • Creative Time
    • Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts
    • Christie’s Auction House
    • Black Diamond Gallery
    • Claire Oliver Gallery
    • Matt MullicanStudio
    • Center Art Studio

    Judith Mara Carson Center for Visual Arts

    The Judith Mara Carson Center for Visual Arts promises to be both stunningly beautiful and highly versatile, featuring a soaring multipurpose space, a digital lab, an immersive wrap-around gallery, light-filled studio spaces for 2D and 3D works, and more. A dedicated art history classroom and an expansive seminar room, plus flexible spaces for teaching, learning, exhibitions, and events, will promote the melding of creative and critical practice—a hallmark of an MMC education.

    Learn more about the upcoming visual arts center

    Start your journey today.

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