Maryland Institute College of Art
Encyclopedia
Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is an art and design college
Art school
Art school is a general term for any educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. The term applies to institutions with elementary, secondary, post-secondary or undergraduate, or graduate or...

 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of the first and oldest art colleges in the United States. In 2008, MICA was ranked #2 in the nation among fine arts programs by U.S. News and World Report, and its Graphic Design Master of Fine Arts
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...

 program tied for #6 among graduate schools for Graphic Design
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...

. MICA is also a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design
Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design
The Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design is a non-profit consortium of 41 leading art and design colleges in the United States and Canada. All AICAD member institutions have a curriculum with full liberal arts and sciences requirements complementing studio work, and all are...

 (AICAD), a consortium of thirty-six leading art schools in the United States, as well as the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD). The school is located in the Bolton Hill neighborhood, along Mount Royal Ave. The main campus is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from downtown Baltimore.

MICA hosts pre-college, post-baccalaureate, continuing studies, Masters of Fine Arts, and Bachelors of Fine Arts programs, as well as weekend young peoples' studio art classes.

History

The Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts was established in 1826. One instrumental figure in the Institute's founding was writer, lawyer and inventor John H. B. Latrobe, son of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, designer of the United States Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...

 and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also called the Baltimore Basilica, was the first Roman Catholic cathedral built in the United States, and was the first major religious building constructed in the nation after the adoption of the U.S. Constitution...

 in Baltimore, MD. The first home of the Institute was called The Athenaeum, and was situated at the cross streets of St. Paul and Lexington Streets in downtown Baltimore. It was destroyed by fire caused by a riot on February 7, 1835.

Classes resumed 12 years later in 1849 in rented space over the downtown Baltimore Post Office. In 1851, the Institute moved from the Post Office to its own building, built above the Center Market on Baltimore Street. The building covered an entire block and had two stories above the market, with two towers.

During this period the Maryland Institute adds a School of Chemistry, thanks in part to philanthropist George Peabody (for which the Peabody Institute
Peabody Institute
The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is a renowned conservatory and preparatory school located in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland at the corner of Charles and Monument Streets at Mount Vernon Place.-History:...

 is named) and B&O President Thomas Swann, and a School of Music. Night classes for Design are added for men who work during the day but would like training in Architecture and Engineering at night. In 1854, a Day School of Design opened for women—one of the first arts programs for women in the country. In 1860, the Day School for men opened, and in 1870 the Day school became co-ed, offering instruction in the fine arts for both men and women.

For 79 years the Institute was housed in the same location above the market, and its Great Hall, large enough to accommodate 6,000, attracted many famous speakers and lecturers. It not only hosted events and shows related to the Arts, but being one of the largest halls in Baltimore, it hosted important events to the city and the region as well. In 1852, it hosted the Presidential Conventions of Gen. Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott was a United States Army general, and unsuccessful presidential candidate of the Whig Party in 1852....

 and his opponent Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce was the 14th President of the United States and is the only President from New Hampshire. Pierce was a Democrat and a "doughface" who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Pierce took part in the Mexican-American War and became a brigadier general in the Army...

 (who became the 14th President of the United States in the following election).

During the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, the Institute served briefly as an armory for the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...

 and a hospital for soldiers wounded at the Battle of Antietam. On April 16, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

 gave a speech during a fair held in the Great Hall to benefit Union Soldiers.

On February 7, 1904, the Center Market building burned down along with 1,500 other buildings in downtown Baltimore during the Great Baltimore Fire
Great Baltimore Fire
The Great Baltimore Fire raged in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, on Sunday, February 7, and Monday, February 8, 1904. 1,231 firefighters were required to bring the blaze under control...

. Temporarily, classes are moved to spaces above other covered markets in the city, while construction begins in two locations. Michael Jenkins donated the future site of the Main Building, which was to house the School of Art and Design, and the City of Baltimore offered the site and funding to rebuild the Center Market building for the Drafting school. Upon opening, the Main Building had spaces for pottery, metal working, wood carving, free-hand drafting, and textile design, as well as a library, galleries and exhibition rooms. The galleries and exhibition rooms were important, because at the time of construction Baltimore still did not have a public art museum.

In 1923, the Institute's galleries hosted the first known public showing of Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...

's work in the United States, brought over from Europe by sisters Claribel and Etta Cone. In 1928, the new Center Market building, now known as the Market Place building, offers a course in Aeronautics theory and drafting following the increase in interest in the industry following Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...

's flight over the Atlantic Ocean.

The Institute legally changed its name to the Maryland Institute, College of Art in 1959, and the Market Place building was razed to make room for the Jones Falls Expressway (I-83). The consolidation of MICA to the Mount Royal campus is furthered by the purchase of the Mount Royal Station
Mount Royal Station
The Mount Royal Station and Trainshed was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's third train station in Baltimore, Maryland, at the north end of the Baltimore Belt Line's Howard Street tunnel in the fashionable Bolton Hill neighborhood...

, a former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...

 (B&O) train station, in 1964. In 1968, MICA was forced to close for the first time in its history since its first fire in 1835 due to the Baltimore riot of 1968
Baltimore riot of 1968
The Baltimore Riot of 1968 began two days after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. Rioting broke out in 125 cities across the United States, and spread to the city of Baltimore, Maryland on Saturday, April 6. The Governor of Maryland, Spiro T...

 that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...



In 1972–1975, MICA was graced with the presence of a number of famous artists and critics of the period, including composer John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...

, poet Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...

, photographer Walker Evans
Walker Evans
Walker Evans was an American photographer best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration documenting the effects of the Great Depression. Much of Evans's work from the FSA period uses the large-format, 8x10-inch camera...

, master printer Kenneth E. Tyler
Kenneth E. Tyler
Kenneth E. Tyler is a master printer, publisher, arts educator and a prominent figure in the American post-war revival of fine art, limited edition printmaking. Tyler established leading print workshops and publishing houses on both West and East coasts of the United States and made several...

, painter Elaine de Kooning
Elaine de Kooning
Elaine de Kooning was an Abstract Expressionist, Figurative Expressionist painter in the post-World War II era and editorial associate for Art News magazine...

, and art critic Clement Greenberg
Clement Greenberg
Clement Greenberg was an American essayist known mainly as an influential visual art critic closely associated with American Modern art of the mid-20th century...

.

In the following years, MICA expanded rapidly along Mount Royal Avenue, adding the Fox building in 1978, the College Center (now the Art Tech Center) in 1986, a renovation of the Main Building in 1990, The Commons (added 1991), Bunting Center (1998), the Meyerhoff House (2002), the Brown Center (2003), the Studio Center (2007), and The Gateway (2008). During that time, the college focused on increased interaction with the international art world—offering study abroad programs and residences in numerous countries around the world.

Buildings

MICA's campus is a milieu of diverse buildings from different periods of Baltimore's development.

Main building

Construction began on a new Maryland Institute campus in Bolton Hill when its Center Market building was destroyed in the Great Baltimore Fire
Great Baltimore Fire
The Great Baltimore Fire raged in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, on Sunday, February 7, and Monday, February 8, 1904. 1,231 firefighters were required to bring the blaze under control...

 of February 7, 1904, and construction was completed four years later in 1908. The State of Maryland, the Carnegie Foundation, and a number of local benefactors contributed funds to build the Main Building. Michael Jenkins donated the land on which the Main Building was built, stipulating that the new building not clash with the nearby Gothic Revival Corpus Christi Church. The Main Building was the first building designed by New York-based architects Pell & Corbett, who were awarded the contract when they won a $500 design contest sponsored by the New York Association of Independent Architects. Otto Fuchs designed the interior studio plans. The architecture was designed to evoke a feeling of the Grand Canal of Venice
Grand Canal of Venice
The Grand Canal is a canal in Venice, Italy. It forms one of the major water-traffic corridors in the city...

, circa 1400. The exterior marble is carved from Beaver Dam marble, sourced from near Cockeysville, Maryland
Cockeysville, Maryland
Cockeysville is a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 19,388 at the 2000 census.-History:...

. It is the same marble used to build the Washington Monument in Baltimore
Washington Monument (Baltimore)
The Washington Monument in the elegant Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland was the first architectural monument planned to honor George Washington.-History:...

, and part of the Washington Monument
Washington Monument
The Washington Monument is an obelisk near the west end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate the first U.S. president, General George Washington...

 in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

.

Important architectural features include the impressive main entrance, with large marble staircase, stained-glass skylight and the names of Renaissance masters surrounding the entrance to the second floor. The exterior of the northeast façade features four stone memorial medallions: one for the city, one for the state, and two others honoring Institute benefactors Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...

 and Michael Jenkins. Throughout the Main Building there are also plaster replicas of Greek and Roman statues that students are often required to make studies of their Foundation year.

In 1908, the New York Association of Independent Architects awarded the building a gold key, the highest award in architecture at the time.

From 1990 through 1992, the building underwent a major, $5.1 million renovation under the direction of architects Grieves, Worrell, Wright & O’Hatnick, Inc. The renovation upgraded the building’s facilities and created additional academic and office space while retaining much of the original design and décor. The Main Building houses painting and drawing studios, undergraduate photography department, foundation department, two departmental galleries, undergraduate admissions and the President's Office.

Mount Royal Station

Built in 1896, the Mount Royal Station (now known as The Station Building) was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...

's showcase passenger station until it ceased its operations at the Station in 1961. MICA purchased the building in 1964 and renovated the building in 1966 under the direction of architect Richard Donkervoet, who took pains to retain as much of the building’s exterior appearance as possible, and also preserved much of the interior character, including vaulted ceilings, columns, and mosaic floor. Architectural Forum recognized the Mount Royal Station renovation for "sensitivity by later architects to the initial conception by the original," and Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s....

, in a lecture given at the Station, commented that the renovation "is perhaps the most magnificent example in the Western World of something being made into something else".

On December 8, 1976, the Station was added to the register of National Historic Landmarks, granting it full protection as an historic site. The Mount Royal Station’s train shed
Train shed
A train shed is an adjacent building to a railway station where the tracks and platforms are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof...

, one of the country’s last remaining such structures, was renovated in 1985 due to advanced deterioration of the shed’s materials. In 1992, the AIA
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...

's Baltimore chapter honored the Maryland Institute and architects Cochran, Stevenson & Donkervoet with a 25 Year Award for Excellence in Design of Enduring Significance for their adaptive reuse
Adaptive reuse
Adaptive reuse refers to the process of reusing an old site or building for a purpose other than which it was built or designed for. Along with brownfield reclamation, adaptive reuse is seen by many as a key factor in land conservation and the reduction of urban sprawl...

 of the Mount Royal Station.

Between 2005–2007, MICA accomplished a two-phased, $6.3 million renovation of the building by the architectural firm Grieves, Worrall, Wright & O’Hatnick, Inc. The first phase, renovation of the interior, was completed in Fall 2005: interior finishes, such as the mosaic tile flooring, marble columns, tin ceilings, wood wainscot, and trim were cleaned and restored. Classroom space was also increased, as well as the quality and quantity of studio space. The second phase, restoration of the building's exterior and train shed, was completed in Spring 2007: stonework and wood were cleaned, repaired, and repainted, the slate canopy restored, and the drainage system fixed; clerestory and structural timbers in the train shed were replaced and the steel roof framing was reinforced. In keeping with the pedestrian landscaping and streetscape that MICA has created along Mount Royal Avenue, a new plaza with benches, bike racks, shrubs, and ornamental grasses and ground cover was added.

The Mount Royal Station currently houses the undergraduate departments of fiber and interdisciplinary sculpture, 3-D classrooms, and the Rinehart School of Sculpture, as well as senior studios. The railroad tracks underneath the train shed remain active as CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...

's freight mainline to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

Dolphin Building

The Dolphin Building at 100 Dolphin Street houses MICA's Printmaking department and Book Arts and Printmaking concentrations, as well as the independent Dolphin Press. It has 15000 square feet (1,393.5 m²) of working space divided into three floors. The building houses lithography
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...

 and intaglio / etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...

 studios on the first floor, screenprinting
Screen-printing
Screen printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink or other printable materials which can be pressed through the mesh as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate...

, and letterpress
Letterpress printing
Letterpress printing is relief printing of text and image using a press with a "type-high bed" printing press and movable type, in which a reversed, raised surface is inked and then pressed into a sheet of paper to obtain a positive right-reading image...

 studios with photo printmaking facilities on the second floor, and a papermaking studio, lecture/computer lab and Senior
Senior (education)
Senior is a term used in the United States to describe a student in the 4th year of study .-High school:...

 studios on the third floor.

Bunting Center

The acquisition and renovation of Bunting Center increased MICA’s academic space by 20% when it opened in 1998. The new building was named for trustee George Bunting, who was instrumental in the development of the Fox Building among other projects.

Bunting Center houses Liberal Arts departments (art history and language, literature, and culture), academic advising and the registrar. Bunting Center also houses one of the four places to eat on campus, Java Corner. The first and second floors house the Decker Library, which houses a large collection of artists' books in a climate-controlled room called "The Cage". Students are allowed to look at any book in the collection. The remainder of the library is divided into the Quarto, which hold oversized books, and the Stacks, which hold normal-sized books. Adjacent to the Decker Library is the Media Resources Collection, which has more than 120,000 slides for teachers to use in presentations, as well as videos and audio tapes.

Additionally, Bunting Center contains the Pinkard Gallery and Student Space Gallery.

The Bunting Center received the Grand Design Award and Honor Award from AIABaltimore in 1998. In 2007, architect Steve Ziger headed the building’s $5.5 million renovation, seeking to create “a real sense of neighborhood” for the college.

Firehouse

MICA purchased a historic Firehouse along North Avenue in 2001 and renovated the building in 2003 to house the College’s operations and facilities management department. The building has 7224 square feet (671.1 m²) of space. As part of the redevelopment agreement, MICA maintained the station’s front façade in accordance with Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation standards. Renovation architect for the project was Cho Benn Holback + Associates, Inc. Kajima Construction Services was the contractor. The Firehouse won an award from the Baltimore Heritage Foundation for preservation in 2004.

Fox Building

Built in 1915 as the Cannon Shoe Factory, the Fox Building was purchased in 1976. After two years of planning by architects Ayers/Saint/Gross, work began in 1979 and the newly renovated building opened in 1980. This renovation retained most of the warehouse character of the building, including exposed ductwork and framing and the original exterior—providing more than 60000 square feet (5,574.2 m²) of usable space. The renovations cost $2.5 million, and the building was named for architect Charles J. Fox, a 1965 graduate of MICA whose family contributed over $1.5 million of the renovation cost. After the conversion, the Mount Royal Improvement Association granted MICA an Award of Merit for its contribution to the community.

In 2005, a second renovation of the Fox Building added Decker Gallery and Café Doris. The building also houses Meyerhoff Gallery, Center for Art Education, Division of Continuing Studies, as well as Ceramics, Illustration, Environmental Design, GFA, Drawing and Painting departments, the woodshop, and the nature library.

Bank Building (Studio Center)

MICA purchased the former Jos. A. Bank sewing plant on North Avenue in August 2000. The all brick building dates back to the early 1900s and was home to Morgan Millwork for most of the century until Jos. A. Bank Clothiers bought it for a sewing plant. The 120000 square feet (11,148.4 m²) building houses the post-baccalaureate certificate program, Hoffberger School of Painting, The Mount Royal School of Art, the Graduate Photographic and Electronic Media program, and Senior
Senior (education)
Senior is a term used in the United States to describe a student in the 4th year of study .-High school:...

 student studios. Although the official name is The Studio Center, many students know it as The Bank Building.

Brown Center

The first newly constructed academic building for the College in nearly a hundred years, Brown Center was dedicated on October 17, 2003 and became fully operational in January, 2004. Bolstered by a $6 million gift from Eddie and Sylvia Brown, the largest gift ever received by the Institute, the Brown Center houses MICA’s digital art and design programs, as well as the 525-seat Falvey Hall, which, in addition to hosting school-related functions, has also played host to events like the Maryland Film Festival and National Portfolio Day. The building was designed by architect Charles Brickbauer and Ziger/Snead LLP.

In addition to Falvey Hall, the Brown Center houses the Video, Interactive Design, Animation, and BFA and MFA Graphic Design departments. Most of the computer labs in the Brown Center are Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...

 computers, though there are two labs with PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...

 computers for 3D animation. It also has an art gallery, a secondary hall for lectures ("Brown 320"), and a "Black-Box" area for Interactive Media installations.

The 61410 square feet (5,705.2 m²), five-story contemporary structure has garnered wide acclaim as an architectural landmark. Awards have included the AIABaltimore 2004 Grand Design Award, AIA Maryland 2004 Honor Award of Excellence, regional award of merit in 2004 in the International Illumination Design Award competition, and several awards for excellence in construction. In addition, MICA President Fred Lazarus traveled to Italy in June 2006 to receive the Dedalo Minosse International Prize
Dedalo Minosse Prize
The Dedalo Minosse International Prize for commissioning a building is promoted by ALA-Assoarchitetti, Italian association for professional Architects....

 for Brown Center. Brown Center was the only American project among the finalists.

Additional facilities

Additional buildings making up MICA's campus include the Maryland Institute College of Art shop (known simply as "The MICA Store") at 1200 Mount Royal Avenue, where most of the students get supplies for their projects and books for their classes, and where visitors can purchase official MICA merchandise.

The Art Tech Center at 1206-1208 Mount Royal Avenue has facilities for large-format printing (up to 44" x ∞"), laser-cutting and 3D printing. Additionally, it houses the Tech Desk, for students to rent out technology like digital cameras, projectors and computers.

Other facilities include the Jewelry Center at Meadow Mill, Kramer House, Main Building Annex (administrative offices and alumni relations), and The Center for Design Practice and Dolphin Press & Print @ MICA archives at 1210 Mount Royal Ave.

The Commons

MICA's first official student housing facility, The Commons is a three-building, four-story student apartment complex. Among the first student residences to be constructed on the apartment-living model, it houses approximately 350 students. When MICA proposed purchasing a lot on McMechen Street that had been vacant for more than 30 years to build the Commons, the Bolton Hill neighborhood not only approved the purchase, but also gave $50,000 in donations. Built in 1991, inside the Commons is MICA's largest green space and above the Gatehouse is an area for Student Organization meetings.

In 2000, American School and University included The Commons in its Architectural Portfolio awards, citing Mahan Rykiel Associates for their Landscape Architecture work on the project. The Maryland/Potomac Chapters of the American Society of Landscape Architects also gave the project an award.

Meyerhoff House

Meyerhoff House opened in August 2002 as a residence for Sophomore
Sophomore
Sophomore is a term used in the United States to describe a student in the second year of study at high school or university.The word is also used as a synonym for "second", for the second album or EP released by a musician or group, the second movie of a director, or the second season of a...

, Junior
Junior (education)
"Junior" is a term used in the United States to describe a student in their 3rd year of study . A Junior is considered an upperclassman...

 and Senior
Senior (education)
Senior is a term used in the United States to describe a student in the 4th year of study .-High school:...

 students. The building includes the College’s main dining facility, student life center, and recreational amenities. Originally built as the Hospital for the Women of Maryland, the building had been used as nursing home for some time until it closed in 1994. The building was vacant for 7 years until MICA purchased it in January, 2001.

The Gateway

Construction began on The Gateway in October 2006 and completed in August, 2008. It was designed by RTKL Associates Inc., and is located at the intersection of Mount Royal and North avenues, alongside the Jones Falls Expressway (I-83).

The Meyerhoff and The Gateway buildings increased MICA student housing 90% between 2002 and 2009, allowing more students to stay on campus. The Gateway includes apartments to accommodate 217 student residents, a translucent studio tower, a multi-use performance space, the College’s largest student exhibition gallery, and a new home for the Joseph Meyerhoff Center for Career Development. In August, 2008, the first students moved into the Gateway.

Students and alumni

Approximately 1,644 undergraduate students and 228 graduate students hail from 48 states and 53 foreign countries. The student body is 66% female, 34% male, 22% minorities and international students, and 97% traditional college-age. Sixty-five percent of MICA students receive some form of financial aid. Among the most selective art colleges in the United States, MICA has consistently enrolled more Presidential Scholars in the Visual Arts than any other college or university in the nation, and in the last several years has enrolled approximately 2/3 of those who received Scholastic Arts' Gold Portfolio award. In 11 of the last 14 years, a MICA student has won the National Student Art Achievement Award, which is given by the National Art Education Association for outstanding studio achievement in candidates for teaching.

MICA's approximately 10,000 alumni living in 58 countries have won international awards, attended graduate programs, exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the world, and are represented in public and private collections across the globe. 86% of B.F.A. graduates who take jobs immediately after graduation are working in art related fields; 23% of MICA's B.F.A. graduates pursue graduate study immediately after graduation.

In the past eight years, 14 MICA graduates have received Fulbright awards for study abroad and five students have earned the Jacob Javits Fellowship for graduate study. Since 2003, two alumni have received the national Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Scholarship and three Jack Kent Cooke Foundation scholars have also chosen to study at MICA. Additionally, four alumni have been awarded Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grants.

Graduate Programs (MFA)

  • Community Arts
  • Curatorial Practice
    Curator
    A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...

  • Graphic Design
    Graphic design
    Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...

  • Hoffberger School of Painting
    Painting
    Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

  • Illustration
    Illustration
    An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...

     Practice
  • Mount Royal School of Art
  • Photography
    Photography
    Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

     & Electronic Media
  • Rinehart School of Sculpture
    Sculpture
    Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

  • Studio Art

Graduate programs (MA)

  • Art Education
    Art education
    Art education is the area of learning that is based upon the visual, tangible arts—drawing, painting, sculpture, and design in jewelry, pottery, weaving, fabrics, etc. and design applied to more practical fields such as commercial graphics and home furnishings...

  • Community Arts
  • Social Design
    Social design
    Social design has many definitions and the term is put to very different uses across the globe. Some definitions exist within the design world and refers to design in its traditional sense, meaning the shaping of products and services...

  • Teaching
    Teacher
    A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

     (MAT)

Undergraduate programs (BFA)

Majors
  • Animation
    Animation
    Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

  • Art History, Theory, and Criticism
    Art history
    Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...

  • Ceramics
  • Drawing
    Drawing
    Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...

  • Environmental Design
    Environmental design
    Environmental design is the process of addressing surrounding environmental parameters when devising plans, programs, policies, buildings, or products...

  • Fiber
    Fiber art
    Fiber art is a style of fine art which uses textiles such as fabric, yarn, and natural and synthetic fibers. It focuses on the materials and on the manual labour involved as part of its significance.-Fiber:...

  • General Fine Arts (GFA)
  • Graphic Design
    Graphic design
    Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...

  • Humanistic Studies/Studio Discipline (Integrated Major)
  • Illustration
    Illustration
    An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...

  • Interaction Design and Art
    Interactive art
    Interactive art is a form of installation-based art that involves the spectator in a way that allows the art to achieve its purpose. Some installations achieve this by letting the observer or visitor "walk" in, on, and around them; Some others ask the artist to become part of the artwork.Works of...

  • Interdisciplinary Sculpture
    Sculpture
    Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

  • Painting
    Painting
    Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

  • Photography
    Photography
    Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

  • Printmaking
    Printmaking
    Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...

  • Video
    Video art
    Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...

     and Film Arts


Undergraduate students may also add a studio concentration and a liberal arts/humanities minor, if they so elect:
Dual Degree & 5th Year Capstone Graduate Programs
  • Art Education
    Art education
    Art education is the area of learning that is based upon the visual, tangible arts—drawing, painting, sculpture, and design in jewelry, pottery, weaving, fabrics, etc. and design applied to more practical fields such as commercial graphics and home furnishings...

     5-Year BFA/MAT
  • Business of Art & Design (MPS)
  • Community Arts (MA)
  • Social Design
    Social design
    Social design has many definitions and the term is put to very different uses across the globe. Some definitions exist within the design world and refers to design in its traditional sense, meaning the shaping of products and services...

     (MA)

Notable alumni

  • Donald Baechler
    Donald Baechler
    Donald Baechler is an American artist. He attended the Maryland Institute College of Art from 1974–77, and Cooper Union from 1977-78. Dissatisfied with New York City, he proceeded to the Staatliche Hochschule fuer Bildende Künste Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main, Germany."At Cooper Union I met...

     1977
  • William Henry Rinehart
    William Henry Rinehart
    William Henry Rinehart was a noted American sculptor. He is considered "the last important American sculptor to work in the classical style."-Biography:...

     (1825–1874), sculptor
  • Hans Schuler
    Hans Schuler
    Hans K. Schuler was a German-born American sculptor and monument maker. He was the first American sculptor ever to win the Salon Gold Medal. His works are in several important museum collections, and he also created many public monuments, mostly for locations in Maryland and in the Washington,...

     (1874–1951), sculptor
  • Wright Butler
    Wright Butler
    Wright Butler was a prominent architect in Cumberland, Maryland, United States.Born as the son of a furniture manufacturer, Butler studied architecture at the Maryland Institute of Baltimore for three years beginning in 1888...

     1891, architect
  • Lee Gatch
    Lee Gatch
    Lee Gatch , an American artist, was born in a rural community near Baltimore. He graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in the early 1920s and then studied in Europe for a few years before returning to the United States...

  • Ernest Keyser
    Ernest Keyser
    Ernest Keyser American sculptor born in Baltimore, Maryland on December 10, 1876. He studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, at the Art Students League in New York City and at the Académie Julien and with Denys Puech in Paris....

    , sculptor
  • St. Clair Wright 1932, preservationist and gardener
  • Morris Louis 1933
  • Elaine Hamilton
    Elaine Hamilton-O'Neal
    Elaine Hamilton-O'Neal, , professionally known as Elaine Hamilton, was an internationally known American abstract painter and muralist born near Catonsville, Maryland...

     1945
  • Jane Frank
    Jane Frank
    Jane Schenthal Frank was an American artist. She studied with Hans Hofmann and Norman Carlberg and is known as a painter, sculptor, mixed media artist, and textile artist...

     1935
  • John Ennis
    John Ennis (artist)
    John Ennis is an American painter born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Ennis is a portrait painter and former book-cover illustrator; his paintings currently hang in over 100 fine art collections worldwide...

     1976
  • Joan Erbe
    Joan Erbe
    Joan Erbe is a Baltimore painter and sculptor. She is best known for using bright colors and has been called "The Grand Duchess of Baltimore Painters"...

  • Tamara Dobson
    Tamara Dobson
    Tamara Dobson was an American actress and fashion model. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland and received her degree in fashion illustration from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Dobson, who stood 6 feet 2 inches , eventually became a fashion model for Vogue Magazine...

  • Earl Hofmann
    Earl Hofmann
    Earl Hofmann was one of Baltimore's realist artists who studied with and assisted Jacques Maroger at the Maryland Institute College of Art. He was a major part of the Baltimore art scene of the mid-twentieth century...

     1953
  • Ned Steinberger
    Ned Steinberger
    Ned Steinberger is an American creator of innovative musical instruments. He is most notable for his design of guitars and basses without a traditional headstock, which are called Steinberger instruments...

  • Jeff Koons
    Jeff Koons
    Jeffrey "Jeff" Koons is an American artist known for his reproductions of banal objects—such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror finish surfaces....

     1976
  • Lesley Dill
    Lesley Dill
    Lesley Dill is an American contemporary artist and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She is represented by George Adams Gallery, New York and Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans.-Education:...

     1980
  • Angie Elizabeth Brooksby
    Angie Elizabeth Brooksby
    Angie Elizabeth Brooksby is a contemporary American born artist most known for her cityscapes of Paris, specifically the paintings of the Parisian blue hour. Before living in Paris she lived and painted for over 20 years in Florence, Italy...

     1988
  • Richard Armiger
    Richard Armiger
    Richard Armiger is an influential professional creative Architectural Model Maker maker and founder of , London.His work has been published widely and examples can be found in museums in Europe and North America including the permanent collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum.The Design...

  • Andrew Cornell Robinson
    Andrew Cornell Robinson
    Andrew Cornell Robinson is an American artist based in New York City. He was born in 1968 in Camden, New Jersey.Robinson is best known for his artwork that spans various media from ceramics and painting to photography and sculptural installations...

     1991
  • John Carter
    Carter (Artist)
    John Carter is an American artist and film director based in New York City, using the professional name Carter for his artworks. He was born in 1970 in Norwich, Connecticut...

     1992
  • Jeremy Caniglia 1995
  • Matthew J. Baek
    Matthew J. Baek
    Matthew J. Baek is a Korean-American illustrator, children's book author, and graphic designer working as a government contractor for USAID...

  • Joshua Field
    Joshua Field (artist)
    Joshua Field is an American artist known for narrative paintings which use iconic and psychological imagery to create complex sometimes mysterious scenarios. He exhibits his paintings in the United States and Europe....

     1996
  • Kika Karadi
    Kika Karadi
    Kika Karadi is an American contemporary artist. Currently, she lives and works in New York. She has shown at the 51st Venice Biennale, Prague Biennale 2, and also at international art fairs like Art Basel Miami Beach and the Armory. She is noted for her large-scale abstract paintings with...

     1997
  • Brock Enright
    Brock Enright
    Brock Enright was born in 1976 in New York City, and raised in Virginia Beach, VA. He received his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and his MFA from Columbia University. In his 2001 MFA thesis presentation, his mother performed a body building routine...

     1998
  • Matt Johnson
    Matt Johnson (artist)
    Matt Johnson is an artist based in Los Angeles,Johnson was born in New York. He is a sculptor who creates humorous works out of everyday materials...

     2000
  • Kamrooz Aram
    Kamrooz Aram
    -Biography:Kamrooz Aram is a contemporary artist whose work explores themes relating to systems of belief, including nationalist, religious, and artistic ideologies...

     2001
  • Ted Mineo
    Ted Mineo
    Ted Mineo is an American artist based in New York City. He attended the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2002. He then began graduate work at Yale University's School of Art at age 21, earning a Master of Fine Arts degree in 2004...

    , 2002
  • William Downs
    William Downs
    William Downs is a contemporary artist who focuses mainly on painting, drawing and printmaking.Born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina, William lives and works in New York City. He studied at the Atlanta College of Art and Design where he received his BFA in Painting and Printmaking in 1997...

    , 2003
  • Jen Stark
    Jen Stark
    Jen Stark is a contemporary artist whose majority of work involves creating paper sculptures. She also works with drawing and animation. Her work draws inspiration from microscopic patterns in nature, wormholes, and sliced anatomy...

    , 2005, Paper Sculptor, Drawer, Animator
  • Jimmy Joe Roche
    Jimmy Joe Roche
    Jimmy Joe Roche is an American visual artist and underground filmmaker, based in Baltimore, Maryland. He is a long-time collaborator of the Baltimore-based musician Dan Deacon.-Career:Roche's works have been screened in venues and museums all over the U.S...

    , 2008

Notable faculty

  • Joe Cardarelli
    Joe Cardarelli
    Joe Cardarelli was a poet, painter, graduate of the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, and teacher of writing at the Maryland Institute College of Art for 27 years. Cardarelli pushed generations of MICA artists to incorporate writing into their creative repertoire, and regularly collaborated with his...

     (Poet
    Poet
    A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

    )
  • John Yau
    John Yau
    John Yau is an American poet and critic who lives in New York City. He received his B.A. from Bard College in 1972 and his M.F.A. from Brooklyn College in 1978...

     (Poet
    Poet
    A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

    )
  • Ellen Lupton
    Ellen Lupton
    Ellen Lupton was born in 1963, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ellen Lupton is a graphic designer, writer, curator, and educator. Well known for her fascination and study within "typography", Lupton decided to expand her love for design, and later took on the graphic design world...

     (Graphic Designer
    Graphic designer
    A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...

    )
  • Timothy App
    Timothy App
    Timothy App is a contemporary American painter whose works are in numerous private and public collections including the Baltimore Museum of Art.-Biography:...

     (painter
    Painting
    Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

    )
  • Earl Hofmann
    Earl Hofmann
    Earl Hofmann was one of Baltimore's realist artists who studied with and assisted Jacques Maroger at the Maryland Institute College of Art. He was a major part of the Baltimore art scene of the mid-twentieth century...

     (painter
    Painting
    Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

    )
  • Salvatore Scarpitta
    Salvatore Scarpitta
    Salvatore Scarpitta was an American artist best known for his sculptural studies of motion.Scarpitta was born in New York City and grew up in Los Angeles graduating from Hollywood High School. He then attended the premier art university in Europe, the Academia di Belle Arte in Rome...

     (sculptural studies)

See also

  • Joe Boudreau
    Joe Boudreau
    Joe Boudreau is an American artist.Born in Vincennes, Indiana, Boudreau moved with his family to Baltimore, Maryland at the age of seven. It was in Baltimore that he spent most of his formative years and where he resolved to be an artist...

     (Painter
    Painting
    Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

    )
  • David Byrne (musician)
    David Byrne (musician)
    David Byrne is a musician and artist, best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the American new wave band Talking Heads, which was active between 1975 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo recordings and worked with various media including film, photography,...

  • Norman Carlberg
    Norman Carlberg
    Norman Carlberg is an American sculptor and printmaker. He is noted as an exemplar of the modular constructivist style....

  • Grace Hartigan
    Grace Hartigan
    Grace Hartigan was an American Abstract Expressionist painter of the New York School in the 1950s.-Biography and early career:...

  • Brian Ralph
    Brian Ralph
    Brian Ralph is a U.S. alternative cartoonist. His illustrations have appeared in Wired and the New York Post. His debut graphic novel Cave-In was nominated for three Harvey Awards, one Eisner Award, and listed as one of the Comics Journals "five best comics of 1999". His second graphic novel...

  • Arlene Raven
    Arlene Raven
    Arlene Raven was a feminist art historian, author, critic, educator, and curator...

  • Carl Plansky
  • Raoul Middleman

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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