Master of Fine Arts in Visual Arts
CCAD’s Amelita Mirolo MFA in Visual Arts program brings together accomplished makers from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds to form a community ready to be challenged as artists, thinkers, and citizens.
We revel in the discoveries that emerge when we place illustrators, photographers, 2D and 3D visual artists, and other creative minds alongside one another in our classes and in our studios.
Get ready to confront your artistic habits, assumptions, and mindsets as you begin to better apprehend your work and its role in the world around us. We accept applications on a rolling basis—join us on campus for an information session or see more info here.
As an MFA student, you’ll learn and create in an inclusive environment that fuels collaboration, experimentation, and creation. Our MFA program is located on the third floor of Design Studios on Broad, a renovated early 20th-century building (formerly an auto dealership) in downtown Columbus. This 13,700-square-foot facility offers plenty of space for you to grow your ideas, including individual student studios located next to one another, faculty offices, a lounge, and an exhibition space.
MFA Candidate Work
Something Worth Saving
Mia Smith
Overflowing of Tragedies
Hedi Sharifzadeh
Untitled
Joey Zhao
Cub3s
Jonathan Riles
Man Goes on a Journey, a Stranger Comes to Town
Jonathan Lohr
Untitled
Marian Lerner
Untitled
Shannon West
Something Worth Saving
Mia Smith
2023
Overflowing of Tragedies
Hedi Sharifzadeh
2023
Untitled
Joey Zhao
2023
Cub3s
Jonathan Riles
2023
Man Goes on a Journey, a Stranger Comes to Town
Jonathan Lohr
2023
Untitled
Marian Lerner
2023
Untitled
Shannon West
2023
Spaces to Make
CCAD’s library (which has everything from historic art books to zines and minicomics, plus skeletons, skills, digital camera equipment, VR viewers and other tools for creators)
The Tad Jeffrey FabLab—a unique space featuring 3D printers, one of the largest laser cutters in Ohio, a bigger-than-life walk-in spray booth, and a state-of-the-art wire bender Plus, computer and other labs, darkrooms, studios, digital printing facilities, and much more!
Unique workshop spaces
Faculty
Meet some of the people who will help you along your creative and professional journey.
MFA alum careers
After earning their MFA, our graduates leave ready to take on such roles as:
- College faculty
- Fine artist
- Art director
- Curator
- Filmmaker
- Illustrator
Headquartered in Columbus, like many of the world’s biggest retail brands, Bath & Body Works has hired a number of talented, skilled CCAD students and alumni over the years—creative thinkers who have found professional success and fulfillment in their work.
Each year, CCAD recognizes some of our outstanding alumni with our Alumni Awards. And this year, we were aided in that process by our inaugural 12-member CCAD Alumni Advisory Board, who aided in selecting the winners from the pool of nominees submitted by our community members.
The Columbus Arts Festival is back in 2023. This year’s festival, presented by the American Electric Power Foundation and produced by the Greater Columbus Arts Council, is Friday, June 9–Sunday, June 11, on Columbus’ downtown riverfront.
Columbus College of Art & Design alum Robert Coles (Retail Advertising, 1995) has established the Coles Diversity Impact Scholarship Fund to strengthen access and opportunities for incoming students at CCAD.
Shorts (Industrial Design, 2006) is the founder/creator-in-chief of Columbus creative agency Artfluential; in addition, he founded the Maroon Arts Group (a collective promoting Black culture and art); has a newsletter, Shut Up and Create; and, with fellow alum—and CCAD Trustee Corey Favor (Illustration, 2003)—is co-founder of artist conference Creative Control Fest.
