Art & Design

Drawing on the resources of a large public university, the Department of Art & Design at Mason Gross School of the Arts seeks to cultivate a diverse community that values visual literacy, critical dialogue, experimentation, and the skills necessary for sustaining a creative life that can extend well beyond the studio.

The department is renowned for faculty and alumni artists whose innovative creative work has influenced the evolving nature of contemporary art. Past faculty members such as Roy Lichtenstein, Allan Kaprow, Geoffrey Hendricks, Carolee Schneemann, Emma Amos, Raphael Montañez Ortiz, Martha Rosler, and Stephen Westfall shaped the department from the 1960s on, making it a site for critical experimentation and socially relevant art.

Among the department’s countless remarkable alumni artists are Lucas Samaras, Charles Ray, Pope.L, Jennie C. Jones, Mathew Day Jackson, Raque Ford, Hiroka Yamashita, and Malcolm Peacock. Alumni holding prestigious academic posts include Tiffany Calvert, Associate Professor and Chair, Sam Fox School at Washington University; Aaron Turner, Assistant Professor at Stamps School, University of Michigan; Enrique Figueredo, Assistant Professor of Printmaking at the University of Connecticut; Peggy Chiang, Joan Mitchell Fellow and Assistant Professor at City College of New York; Rachel Herring, Assistant Professor at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Our accomplished BFA graduates include Justin Marshall, User Experience Manager at Google; Katie Belloff, Art Director, The New York Times; Chris Johanesen, Product Director at BuzzFeed; Layqa Nuna Yawar, renowned muralist; Lia Petronio, Data Visualization Developer at Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; and Matt Rainey, Pulitzer Prize winning photographer.

In addition to their own creative practices, many of our alumni and faculty have founded or lead groundbreaking arts organizations, such as:

Amant – Executive Director MFA alum Nicholas Pilato

Black Lunch Table – co-founded by faculty member Heather Hart

Converge45 – Artistic Director MFA alum Derek Franklin

Sideways Studio – founded by MFA alum Ruby Jackson

Art Students League of New York – Executive Director BFA alum Michael Hall