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 celebrated alumni artists are Lucas Samaras, Charles Ray, Pope.L, Jennie C. Jones, Mathew Day Jackson and more recently, Raque Ford, Hiroka Yamashita, and Malcolm Peacock. Alumni hold significant academic posts around the globe, including at Sam Fox School at Washington University, Stamps School at University of Michigan, Yale School of Art, Texas A & M International University, University of Connecticut, Rochester Institute of Technology, OCAD University, Concordia University, and the Berlin Art Institute.

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, acclaimed muralist; Lia Petronio, Data Visualization Developer at Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Matt Rainey, Pulitzer Prize winning photographer; and emerging artist Bryan Castro, represented by D.D.D.D. Gallery, NYC.

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
Converge 45 – 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