Painting + Drawing — Master of Fine Arts

What you’ll learn

The Painting + Drawing Area is committed to cutting-edge professional art training within the context of a liberal arts university. Painters are responsible for some of the most provocative and enduring expressions of contemporary visual culture. The painting program is based upon the belief that painting is a language that simultaneously upholds tradition and constantly seeks experimentation to expand and redefine its boundaries. In an atmosphere that is both supportive and challenging, students are asked to question their intentions, investigate and expand their ideas of painting, and to develop a coherent body of work that is the beginning of a dialog with the world.

Graduate students are encouraged to experiment with a wide range of technical and theoretical interests, from figuration to abstraction, and on to digital media, installations and performance. All graduate students have private studio spaces in the Ridges facility.

Explore topics like:

The figure, ethnicity, identity
Bio-narrative, image and alchemy,
Interactive installation, technology, coding
Alternative processes such as 3-D printing, laser cutting, vinyl cutting
The role of design in Painting + Drawing practices, materiality and sustainability
Modalities, social practice, entrepreneurship
Pedagogy and professional practices in Painting + Drawing

Career opportunities

Our students regularly go on to receive Fulbright Awards, national artist-in-residencies, gallery representation, university teaching positions and other types of professional positions in the field as post-graduates. Several well known artists have come from our school including Jim Dine and Jenny Holzer. Recent activity of our painting alumni includes Beth Campbell’s solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art and Frank Oriti’s inclusion in an exhibit at the prestigious National Portrait Gallery in London, UK.

Areas of focus include:

Professional gallery representation; professional studio
University teaching positions
Artist-in-residencies
Fullbright awardees
Arts administration/museum and/or non-profit positions
Creative director, merchandiser, illustrator, web designer
Gallery manager, owner, curator
Art writer, librarian or consultant
Studio assistant

Applying to the program

For application into the M.F.A. in Painting + Drawing, both a Graduate College (online application) as well as School of Art + Design, Painting + Drawing area application must be received.

Please adhere to the following check-list in preparing both of these areas of application. Applications must be postmarked by February 1.

M.F.A. in Painting + Drawing

Online Application--through OU Graduate College online application portal at http://www.ohio.edu/graduate/apply
Application Fee--$50 for US Citizens, $55 for International (credit card or electronic check only)
Letter of Intent/Statement of Purpose
Artist Statement
Resume/CV
Three Letters of Reference

Send to:

Graduate College
Research & Tech BuildingRoom 220
Athens, OH 45701:

1 Official Sets of Transcripts
Through the online application service at https://ouschoolofart.slideroom.com/
20 examples of artistic work with Information about each artwork
$10 SlideRoom application fee

Note: NO MATERIALS other than your official transcripts should be sent through standard mail. Portfolios on CD or DVD will not be considered.

Painting + Drawing faculty

All faculty in the painting area are working artists who exhibit actively and serve as visiting artists and lecturers at colleges and galleries across the country. Ohio University and the Painting Department are committed to the creation of a diverse community of artist scholars. If you’d like more information about the Painting + Drawing program, please reach out to Professor and interim Painting + Drawing Area Chair,

David LaPalombara, Area Chair
Professor of Painting & Drawing lapalomb@ohio.edu
(740) 566-6465

David LaPalombara

First Name

David

Link to Full Profile

Last Name

LaPalombara

Department

Art + Design

Office Phone

(740) 566-6465

lapalomb@ohio.edu

Bio

Professor LaPalombara was the Director of the School of Art + Design from 2007 until 2017. He came to Ohio University from Antioch College, where he chaired an interdisciplinary arts and humanities department. His classroom work includes a variety of collaborative teaching experiences within the arts and across the liberal arts curriculum.

Professor LaPalombara is a recipient of a Rome Prize Fellowship and a Fulbright Fellowship in Italy. He is a contributor for the tour guide City Secrets: Rome , and reviewed Joel Sternfeld’s Campagna Romana for Aperture Magazine . He was twice a visiting artist at the American Academy, continuing a body of work focused on spatial perception. His art has been exhibited and reviewed in Canada, Italy, and a variety of cities in the United States.

For more information about David please visit his website at www.davidlapalombara.com

Educational Background:

B.A. Oberlin College M.F.A. Nova Scotia College of Art and Design

Title

Professor of Painting + Drawing, and
Chair of Foundations

Julie Dummermuth

First Name

Julie

Link to Full Profile

Last Name

Dummermuth

Department

Art + Design

Office Phone

(740) 593-4290

dummermu@ohio.edu

Bio

Julie Dummermuth was born in Mayfield Heights, Ohio in 1973. She has participated in solo exhibitions in such venues as Hiro Exhibitions Space, NYC and Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco. Her work has been featured in multiple group and juried exhibitions in both the United States as well as abroad, including International Young Arts in Moscow, Tel-Aviv, and Amsterdam. She has also exhibited at Minna Gallery & Herbst Pavilion-Fort Mason (San Francisco), Headlands Center for the Arts, Benecia Center for the Arts, & Stanford University (CA), Sun Valley, (ID), Pearl Conard Gallery, Art Space Lima, & Bowling Green State University (Ohio), and Gallery 4731 and Gallery Project (MI). Her work comprises private collections in Moscow, Amsterdam, Tel-Aviv, and San Francisco.

Among her awards, Julie Dummermuth has received graduate fellowships from the San Francisco Art Institute, the Maryland Art Institute and Pratt Institute. She has guest lectured at several organizations and Universities including San Francisco State University, University of Minnesota-Duluth, Boise State University, Bowling Green State University (OH) and the Farmington Arts Organization (MI). She has been a finalist for the HEADLANDS CENTER FOR THE ARTS Tournesol Award and MFA Studio Awards and was also nominated to the SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART’s SECA/IN-SITE award. She recently has been included in the juried periodical NEW AMERICAN PAINTINGS, and in 2004 accepted a full-time faculty position at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. In 2005, Ms. Dummermuth accepted a full-time faculty position with the School of Art at Ohio University. She received her Masters of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2003 and received her BFA from Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio in 1996.

Title

Director of School of Art + Design
Associate Professor, Painting + Drawing

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