3D & Extended Media
What is your personal vision as an artist? How do you define your artistic practice? The School of Art’s programs in 3D & Extended Media will challenge you to reach new heights as a promising artist whose work speaks volumes and touches the souls of those who see it.
You will learn how to communicate creatively through mediums such as ceramics, sculpture, performance art, installation art and new generation digital art practices. The School of Art offers multiple, fully equipped facilities to nurture your artistic growth and refine your artistic self-identity. Experienced and supportive faculty members will guide you as you work with traditional and experimental processes.
Here, you will benefit from a curriculum that empowers you to refine your technical skills while critically analyzing your creative intentions.
- Resources and Facilities
- Faculty
- Degrees
- First Year Experience
- Student Work
- Admissions
Resources and Facilities
The 3D & Extended Media division is well-equipped to accommodate both traditional processes in sculpture and ceramics and new media practices, including eco-art, performance, installation, video, site-specific and public art. Resources and facilities include:
- separate undergraduate and graduate metal and wood fabrication shops
- a metal casting foundry
- a ceramics atelier
- project development rooms
- individual graduate studios
- open spaces for large scale work and installations
- computer labs and maker spaces for digital fabrication and production
Within each facility a complete array of specialized machinery, tools, and software are provided to develop both traditional and new media projects. Please see below for detailed descriptions of facilities and equipment for Undergraduate and Graduate Ceramics, Sculpture and Extended Media.
View Our FacilitiesFaculty
Our faculty members give students an inside look into arts careers, having had direct experience and success in the professional art world. In addition to being leaders in their fields, instructors work closely with students to provide the kind of guidance and mentorship that turns raw talent into developed professionalism.
Degrees
The mission of the 3D & Extended Media Division is to foster in students an authentic spirit of inquiry and to cultivate an understanding of the concepts and strategies of contemporary art making, from interdisciplinary activity to the integrated use of technology.
Undergraduates gain expertise in traditional 3D processes, interdisciplinary practices, and new media technologies to achieve command over a range of technical processes to effectively express their ideas.
All studio work is grounded in a comprehensive understanding of traditional 3D media–sculpture and ceramics, as well as extended media–installation, video, and performance. Our interdisciplinary faculty facilitates conceptual development relevant to the interests of each student. The goal is to provide you with the creative analytical and critical ability to effectively express ideas in order to actively participate in the broader cultural and global discourse, to succeed in graduate art programs and as arts professionals.
PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
125 units are required to complete the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art, 3D & Extended Media, 42 units of which must be upper division coursework. Students must complete 24 units of upper division coursework in 3D & Extended Media.
Download the 3D & Extended Media (3DXM) checklist.
Specific Program Requirements can be viewed through UA Academic Catalogs.
Contact an academic advisor or set up an advising appointment to learn more about School of Art programs and admissions.
UNDERGRADUATE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
The Masters of Fine Arts in Studio Art, 3D & Extended Media is a three-year program that emphasizes conceptual development and critical understanding of contemporary issues. Our faculty offer a range of philosophic views and technical expertise in sculpture, ceramics, and extended media to serve the research and production directions of our diverse students. Interdisciplinary approaches are encouraged with other media areas within the School of Art and the University. Graduate seminars serve as meeting grounds for the exchange of critical and theoretical ideas from all areas of the fine arts.
The mission of the 3D & Extended Media Division is to stimulate in students the pursuit of meaningful avenues of inquiry, to hone the analytical skills requisite to the understanding and communication of contemporary theory, and to develop sound conceptual direction in their studio research. Our goal is to provide the practical training they will need to be successful as arts professionals.
OBJECTIVES
- To cultivate an awareness of current contemporary issues and critical thinking.
- To contextualize art work within the broader spectrum of artistic practice.
- To underscore the importance of both technically and conceptually well-executed ideas.
- To foster experimentation, collaboration, and interdisciplinary approaches as tools. To utilize the university, the community, and beyond as resources.
- To prepare graduate students to be professionally successful.
Students will graduate from the University of Arizona with
- A thorough understanding of current contemporary concepts and critical theory.
- The critical perceptions and language to effectively communicate as arts professionals.
- The technical studio skills and strategies to produce convincing materializations of their ideas.
- A high caliber body of work to enter the professional arts.
3D & Extended Media graduate students have individual studios in the spacious and well-equipped Visual Arts Graduate Research Laboratory, as well as two dedicated workshops for metal fabrication and woodwork, and open space for the development of performance and installation projects (see Sculpture Facilities page for more information). The University of Arizona is a Research-One University that provides many opportunities for interdisciplinary research and practice, including facilities that accommodate video, 3D printing, and other computer technologies.
PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
60 units are required to complete the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Studio Art degree.
Please see the Graduate Advising page, and the Studio Art Graduate Handbook for specific program requirements.
GRADUATE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
First Year Experience
All Studio Art majors at the School of Art will begin their journey with the First Year Experience. The program is an engaging variety of 8-week thematic workshop-structured art courses, designed as an experiential initiation into professional artistic practice, creative methodology and studio work ethic.
Learn MoreStudent Work
