Priority early application by: January 15, 2023
Application deadline: March 1, 2023
Funding and competitive scholarships available.
Apply now!


Graduate students in Art History & Criticism and Studio Art at Stony Brook University’s Department of Art work in an interdisciplinary environment that encourages experimentation and innovation. Our faculty are internationally renowned scholars, artists, art historians, curators, and teachers. Our graduates go on to careers as historians, writers and curators, artists, researchers and educators, consultants, and arts professionals in museums, galleries, and arts institutions.

The MA and PhD programs in Art History & Criticism focus on modern and contemporary art. We offer a dynamic curriculum that engages art history as an evolving and interdisciplinary field, with strengths in global modernisms, media, technology, and visual culture. The MFA in Studio Art is a three-year, critically engaged, creative practice program supported by a research university environment, production facilities, and spacious art studios. As a small department, we offer the opportunity to create individualized paths of study where an MA/MFA or an MFA/PhD is possible for exceptional candidates who wish to simultaneously pursue practice and research.

The Department of Art is located in the Staller Center for the Arts, which houses fully equipped workshops, media labs, upgraded seminar rooms, the Zuccaire Gallery, and faculty and student studios. The university has a number of galleries that stage world-class professional exhibitions and offer curating and exhibition opportunities, including the Simons Center, the Tabler Art Gallery, and the Lawrence Alloway Gallery. Our proximity to New York City offers extensive possibilities in research and collaboration; professional networking; and access to museums, galleries, and institutions.

Current faculty include Izumi Ashizawa, Brooke Belisle, Isak Berbic, Toby Buonagurio, Coleman Collins, Stephanie Dinkins, Barbara E. Frank, Shoki Goodarzi, Sohl Lee, Martin Levine, Karen Levitov, Karen Lloyd, Nobuho Nagasawa, Zabet Patterson, Howardena Pindell, Jason Paradis, Lorena Salcedo-Watson, Margaret Schedel, Maya Schindler, Katy Siegel, Katrín Sigurdardóttir, Andrew V. Uroskie, and Lorraine Walsh.

Learn more about these graduate programs at stonybrook.edu.