Sponsored | Apply for an MFA in Ceramics at Cranbrook Academy of Art

World-renowned program accepting applications for 2018-19 academic year

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Michigan—The landscape of ceramics is a vast open-ended question, with links to design, the crafts, the art world, industry and engineering. The Ceramics Department at Cranbrook sees these links as a language to explore and as a way into a student’s work. The open structure of the program allows for students to find their own interests within the material world of ceramics and its contextual opposition. It was recently ranked as one of the top Ceramics programs in the country by U.S. News & World Report.

Each year, less than 10 students are invited to join the select Master of Fine Arts program. Cranbrook is a graduate only institution, focused solely on studio-based learning. Central to the Ceramics Department philosophy is dedicated time in the studio, and each student receives their own individual studio in which to work.

At Cranbrook, students work. This cannot be emphasized enough. They choose to work through ideas, to explore the range of ceramic possibilities from the humble pot to a tape cast pre-fabricated translucent chip in order discuss the issues that may stretch beyond the material itself. All of these processes hold a language that afford students a way to express the opportunities of singular material examination without being hemmed in by material specificity.

Cranbrook’s Raphael Moneo-designed building houses three large energy efficient Dutch Blaauw gas kilns fully computerized with additional kiln floor carts. They also have several medium and small electric kilns as well as salt and soda kilns. The studio is also equipped with all of the essentials and more – and we are always looking to improve the facilities and find new ways to approach the clay and ceramic process.

As a group, the department has formal mandatory critiques every week. Critiques are also open to other departments and students, making for a lively interdisciplinary discussion through the lens of ceramics.

Each year, multiple visiting artists, critics, curators and thinkers come in from all over the world. Due to the size of the department, students have a unique opportunity to spend time with visiting artists and critics and to gain valuable insight into their work and process.

Cranbrook Ceramics also engages in the real world of ceramics, collaborating on larger projects with artists, designers and art directors, giving students first-hand experience into the world of ceramic production. Our mentorship-based program means students also have ample time to work with the dedicated Artist-in-Residence in their department, renowned ceramicist Ian McDonald. McDonald’s work has been exhibited around the world, and has ranged from traditional vessels to freeform sculpture and mixed media installations.

McDonald continues a Ceramics legacy that was formed by former Artists-in-Residence Ruth Erickson Allen (1931) and Waylande Gregory (1932-33), continued by others such as Marshall Fredericks (1934-35, 1937-42), Maija Grotell (1938-1966), Jun Kaneko (1979-86), Tony Hepburn (1992-2008) and most recently Anders Ruhwald (2008-2017).

Cranbrook Ceramics alumni include Ebitenyefa Baralaye (2016), Shannon Goff (2003), Annabeth Rosen (1981), John Glick (1952), Toshiko Takaezu (1954), and many, many more.

Cranbrook is currently accepting applications for the 2018-2019 academic year. The application deadline is February 1, 2018. For more information, visit their website.

Application deadline: February 1, 2018

Cranbrook Academy of Art
39221 Woodward Ave.
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
United States
T +1 248 645 3300
caaadmissions@cranbrook.edu