The Department of Visual Arts at Western University offers three graduate degrees: a Master’s in Fine Art (MFA), a Master’s in Art History and Curatorial Studies (MA), and a Doctorate in Art and Visual Culture (PhD). These programs are unique in Canada because they combine an emphasis on contemporary critical theory and historical art theory with traditional instruction and supervision in the studio arts and art history. The program offers excellent opportunities for exchange and collaboration across the different areas of study.

The Ph.D. in Art and Visual Culture at the Western University is an innovative program focused on research in art history and visual culture and on creative practices in contemporary art and new media. The program prepares its graduates for professional careers in galleries, museums and other art world contexts; for university teaching and research; and for arts administration in the private and public sectors. The program is unique in that it emphasizes the interrelationship between art historical/visual culture scholarship and studio practice by fostering academic and creative research beside and in connection with each other.

Visual Arts faculty supervise students working in a broad range of fields within art history and visual culture, museum and curatorial studies, and studio practice. These fields include medieval, renaissance and baroque, and modern and contemporary art and architecture, visual culture, art and critical theory, and museum and curatorial studies. In studio practice, the fields include painting, photography, printmaking, drawing, sculpture, installation, performance, sound, video, media, and digital imaging, along with extended and mixed media practices.