Major Studio meets at least two days each week and provides the main forum for the discussion and review of studio work in the MFAWC program. Students are required to attend these class meetings or be in their studios during class time. Each week two-days of interactions also are scheduled with visiting artists.

Graduate Seminar examines the relationship between theory and practice through interactions that promote in-depth discussions of contemporary artistic practice. A rotating group of faculty assigns related readings prior to the residency session and then facilitates a series of interactions that foster group input.

NON-RESIDENCY STUDIO COURSE

Independent Study with Mentor is the studio component of the non-residency sessions in the first year. The focus of this Independent Study with an artist/mentor is to develop studio work that is critically informed and self-diected. Students are expected to work in their studios 12 to 20 hours a week and to respond to the criticism provided by their mentors. Students and mentors meet 6 times in the Fall/Winter term and 4 times in the Spring/Summer term. A series of Mentor Meeting Reports record the mentor's critism and the student's response.

Thesis Preparation I and II with Mentor is the second year studio course. Students work in an intensive fashion with a mentor for the two second-year non-residency periods creating a body of focused work in preperation for their Thesis Exhibition. A series of completed Mentor Meeting reports record the mentor's criticism and the student's response.

Thesis Defense constitutes the final review of the work produced in the MFAWC program. Students completing this program install their work during a third fall residency and participate in a review process. Informal discussions and formal reviews, in combination with the Thesis Exhibition, constitute the culmination of the MFAWC program. Resident and visiting faculty participate in this review process; the written Thesis Statement is submitted prior to this review.

NON-RESIDENCY CRITICAL STUDIES COURSES
The following classes are conducted online.

Artists' Writings entails students submitting written work and receiving feedback from the instructor and classmates online. Submissions include artists' statements, grant proposals, application letters to potential employers, letters of inquiry to galleries, essays, short stories, poems, and artist's journals and notebooks kept while developing new projects.

Art After Modernism is a survey of the major artists, movements, criticism and theory in the visual arts from Minimalism to the 1990's.

Benchmark Online builds upon the Graduate Seminar interactions and focuses increasingly upon critical writings and their relationship to contemporary art practice. Benchmark on-line serves two important functions. First, it seeks to build a critical awareness of one's own studio practice and that of one's peers. Second, it increases students' understanding of varied responses to important contemporary events and exhibitions. Through the extensive sharing of these written materials online, students are exposed to multiple perspectives.

Thesis Document I & II focuses on the preparation of a written thesis document to be presented at the Thesis Defense at the program's conclusion. Students work with the instructor and with their cohort to draft versions of this document. Examinations of related writings, including written statements by other graduate students and established artists, are a significant feature of this class.