Illinois State University MA Program in Visual Culture is a small and selective program housed in a large and diverse School of Art that offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in studio art and art education, and an undergraduate major and minor in art history. We are located two hours south of Chicago, and the Amtrak station is adjacent to the campus. Students frequently take advantage of the $12 train ticket to spend a day visiting museums and galleries in Chicago.
The Visual Culture Graduate Program provides a rigorous foundation in a range of critical, cultural and visual theories and methodologies. Our graduates go on to complete Ph.Ds or pursue art-related careers such as curating. We maintain a low graduate enrollment so that Visual Culture faculty may work closely with students in independent studies and thesis projects. In addition to three core Visual Culture Seminars and several art history courses, students are expected to take courses outside the School of Art. Visual Culture research is necessarily interdisciplinary, and the Program has affiliated faculty in English, History, Political Science, Anthropology, Theatre and Film Studies, Foreign Languages, Communications, Sociology and more.
