Led by John Hendrix, students in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’s MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture (MFA-IVC) at Washington University in St. Louis unearth the wild, the wondrous, and the unknown. This two-year residential program combines studio practice in illustration with material culture studies, and prepares graduates to work as author-artists of graphic novels, comics, and picture books, as well as professors, critical writers, and curators.
The MFA-IVC program is built on the expertise of the school’s illustration and design faculty, and the vast resources of Washington University, a tier-one research institution. The school’s assets include the Kranzberg Art & Architecture Library, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, and the D.B. Dowd Modern Graphic History Library, a preeminent site for studying the history and culture of American illustration.
Facilities
MFA-IVC studios are located in Weil Hall, a LEED-Platinum facility with a digital fabrication lab and numerous spaces for collaboration and cross-disciplinary exchange. Students also have access to WashU’s integrated printmaking suite, home to Island Press and the Kranzberg Book Studio.
Faculty
Sam Fox School’s MFA-IVC faculty work in children’s books, editorial illustration, graphic novels, zines, visual journalism, typography and lettering, the cultural history of illustration and comics, and more. They focus on drawing and writing — often together, sometimes separately.
Faculty members include John Hendrix (chair), Shreyas R Krishnan, D.B. Dowd, Gerald Early, Vidya Nagarajan, Edward Kinsella III, Heidi Kolk, Skye Lacerte, Joy Novak, and Dan Zettwoch. Recent and upcoming guest speakers include Brian Floca, Richie Pope, Chitra Ganesh, Ping Zhu, James McMullan, and comics scholar Douglas Wolk.
Learn more
Applications to the MFA-IVC program are due February 7, 2023.
Learn more about the MFA-IVC program at the virtual open house on November 7, 3:30pm (CT) or visit samfoxschool.wustl.edu.
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