Graduate Programs

Rinehart School of Sculpture (MFA)

Rinehart School of Sculpture: research on spatial constructions with an emphasis on architectural, environmental, and sustainable practices.

Rinehart is built on a small cohort; only six to eight students are accepted each year, who are given direct one-on-one access to faculty and internationally renowned guests. The oldest program of its kind in the country, Rinehart expands and reinvents the tradition of sculptural practice.

Rinehart's spacious, individually assigned studios are one of the most vital aspects of the program, which opens onto a common work area with a comprehensive fabrication shop. 

Core to the program is the seminar room where peers interact, exchange ideas, and receive Guest Lecturers for critical readings and writing workshops, balancing intensive studio practice with a rigorous focus on history and critical theory.

Coco fusco lecture ay'22

The Rinehart Seminar consists of weekly lectures and discussions led by Program Director Dolores Zinny and renowned visiting artists, curators & professionals from other disciplines, such as journalists, architects, and scientists. Recent visiting artists include Alexandra Grant, Coco Fusco, and Matt Mullican. Click here to see Recent Visiting Lecturers.

These outstanding professionals give public talks, engage in give-and-take class meetings and seminars, and have one-on-one consultations with students. This time provides students with a solid theoretical framework for positioning themselves and their artistic practice within current local and international dynamics. 

Each semester is focused on an exhibition and its evaluation; upon completing the MFA program, the students will have a four-exhibition portfolio.

Student Work: Cosmo Guo, class of 2024

Field Trips

We are steps away from Baltimore Penn train station, with close-by destinations such as Washington DC (30-40 min), Philadelphia (1h), and  New York City (2h 30 min). 

During these field trips, we visit artists' studios, curators, and exhibitions, for example, Jasper Johns's Mind/Mirror, at the Philadelphia Art Museum with the exhibition curator Carlos Basualdo. 

Rinehart also promotes students working within the Baltimore context and history.

Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Students in conversation with the exhibition curator Carlos Basualdo. ay'22

Special Projects and Collaborations

with Karen Sander Class ETH Zurich 

During one semester, through data exchange, the two classes work to produce two hybrid artworks. The challenge was to think about different modes of fabrication and dissemination employed during the covid pandemic and reflect on which could remain through time to alter the conditions of production and display of contemporary art.

With Yuri Stone at Glenstone Museum Potomac

Each semester Rinehart Faculty and Glenstone Museum curator Yuri Stone methodically analyze how artists and institutions display artworks in space.

Integrated into the Practicum, these sessions are held on-site at Glenstone Museum, Potomac. Being close to the public on Mondays, Rinehart students have exclusive insight into the collection learning behind-door logistics.

The students at Glenstone ay'22

Practicum

Through one-on-one consultations, students are guided on the essential technical knowledge for fabricating and displaying the artwork they have in mind and the history of exhibitions.

We are exploring new production methods using cutting-edge materials and techniques. We conceptualize and bring new solutions for producing and materializing ideas addressing environmental concerns.

Faculty Ben Kelly (5 units each semester) is teaching folding structures, new materials considering weight, space, transport and storage, sustainability, and new efficient modes of production. 

We also teach digital technologies, virtual and non-tangential spaces, and visualizations as an end product and as a tool to plan fabrication and presentation to sponsors and third parties.

 

Student Work: ringo lisko, class of 2024

Program Vision from Dolores Zinny, Director

I translate my experience as an international professional artist into a pedagogical platform guiding students in achieving their goals. We define sculpture as a space for convergence, confluence, and translation. Sculpture is an instance of finding commonalities in experiences. It is a bridge, a connector, a channel for the confluence of local ideas in a globalized context, a space where different voices convey. Sculpture is a shared place of translation where we learn from our culture of differences.

At Rinehart, we encourage ethical commitment and work quality; students learn from their peers, talented faculty, the art community, and national and international guests. They are building a  solidarity network that will accompany them into the future of their careers.

We promote the exchange and collaboration between disciplines to motivate deep thinking across disciplines, genres, and mediums. In doing so, we encourage the development of creative methodologies through visual language. We invite journalists and writers to expand our inspirational sources. We will ask scientists to introduce us to issues related to climate change as we rethink new modes of fabrication and dissemination of artistic creations. We reflect on how urban and architectonic spaces affect our thinking and acting. We invite architects to the program to explore theoretical and practical interdisciplinary dialogue and promote potential hiring.

Our goal is to give the students the tools to empower their understanding of the context of the moment and to provide them with the broadest range of options of what it means to be a professional artist as co-constructors of an art community.

Student Work: BoneZone, class of 2023

You should apply if you are willing to:

You should apply if you are engaged with the following:

Consider sculpture as a place of translation, a channel for the confluence of local ideas in a globalized context. Visual Arts— sculptural and vidimensional creations— large scale projects, public art, installation art
Create new venues and platforms for artists from diverse backgrounds and geographies to convey and flourish. Architectural, urban interventions, site specificity
Engage with your regional community and surroundings exploring gender, race, identity, and climate change. Theater stage, film and TV set design, artifacts and furniture design, clothes and jewelry design, costume design
Investigate the the relations between art and architecture, and reflect on how urban and architectonic spaces affect how we think and act Environmental Studies
Examine the functions of sculpture today: how and for whom are we producing? Performative and spatial practices, sound, immaterial sculpture
Explore Digital spaces, web-based projects, 3D digital modeling
  Text as sculpture, critical theory.

Each graduate program has unique application requirements and guidelines. Candidates are encouraged to apply to multiple programs but must complete and submit a unique application for each. 

Apply Now

If you think you are the right fit for Rinehart School of Sculpture, we encourage you to use the link below to see application procedures and processes.