ART THEORY AND PRACTICE

Welcome to the Department of Art Theory & Practice (AT&P) at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern University. The department has both an undergraduate program, offering a baccalaureate degree, and a graduate program, offering a Masters of Fine Arts degree.

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graduate

degree requirements | courses | resources | prospective students

how to apply | financial aid | studios and facilities

2-Step Application Process:

1. Official application forms must be completed and submitted online through the Graduate School's website: www.tgs.northwestern.edu/admission
deadline: December 31

2. Additional application materials should be mailed to:
Department of Art Theory & Practice Northwestern University 3-400 Kresge Hall 1880 Campus Drive Evanston IL 60208-2207 deadline: January 15

These additional materials include:

  • your portfolio (please carefully read the instructions for portfolio submission below)
  • two letters of recommendation
  • transcripts from all colleges or universities you have attended
  • a resume
  • an artist's statement, which should not exceed 750 words and should address at length and in detail your artwork and the issues and concerns that inform it
  • a self-addressed stamped return envelope if you wish to have your portfolio returned
Please do not submit these materials in binders or folders

portfolio guidelines
For most applicants, the portfolio is in slide form or jpegs on a CD. Your portfolio should consist of 20 images documenting recent work. If you are using slides, they should be submitted in an 8½" x 11" slide sheet and numbered 1 through 20. Please do not submit slides in carousels or in oddly sized slides sheets. Your slides should be properly labeled with all of the following information: your name, title, date, media and dimensions and a dot in the lower left-hand corner (click here for an example). If you are submitting jpegs, simply burn them onto a standard CD, do not submit them as part of a CD-ROM or powerpoint program. No individual jpeg should be under 200kb or over 600kb in size. Both slides and jpegs on a CD should be accompanied by a separate hard-copy list of each work's title, date, media and dimensions. Jpegs on a CD should be clearly titled and numbered to correspond to the information on this separate hardcopy list.

If video is a more appropriate form of documentation for your work, we recommend that you send a VHS tape or DVD with an excerpt no more than ten minutes long. You may also send an additional tape or DVD of complete works; if you submit more than one tape or DVD, please make sure that the excerpt tape is identified. If your work is computer interactive, only then may you submit a CD-ROM.