Laguna College of Art and Design LCAD
Master of Fine Arts in Painting
Laguna Beach, USA
MA
DURATION
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
Key Summary
About: Laguna College of Art + Design's Master of Fine Arts in Painting emphasizes traditional skills and contemporary theory for representational painting and drawing. The programme centers on studio practice, technical study, a written thesis and thesis exhibition, plus training in presentation, marketing and college‑level teaching logistics. Faculty include F. Scott Hess and Kent Williams; visiting artists have included Jerome Witkin. Student work has shown across Southern California and appeared in Juxtapoz and Drawing.
Career Outcomes: Graduates pursue professional roles as gallery artists, college-level art instructors, curators and arts administrators. You'll gain skills in exhibition, portfolio, teaching and arts marketing.
The core of Laguna College of Art + Design’s MFA program in Painting is built on the values of time-honored skills informed by contemporary theory and designed to help you realize the ideas possible through representational modes of painting and drawing. Our curriculum recognizes that there are particularly technical, ideational, and formal issues related to representation that require you to undergo specialized study at the graduate level, and we strive to meet these demands with a faculty and a curriculum tailored to your needs.
The primary goal of the MFA program in Painting is to support you in building on the traditional skills you acquired in your undergraduate studies so that you may realize ideas possible in the discipline of representational art. You will achieve this goal through the creation of a coherent body of work, a written thesis, and a thesis exhibition. Additionally, you will gain insights into the presentation and marketing of your work and will be educated in the logistics of teaching art at the college level.
Our students have recently been included in group exhibitions across Southern California at venues that include Laguna Art Museum, Koplin del Rio, and Arena 1. Our current students and alumni have had solo and group exhibitions around the country with the prominent galleries that represent them.
Work by our students has been published in Juxtapoz, Blue Canvas, Southwest Art, Drawing, Pastel Journal, and Art Collector magazines.
Our faculty includes such acclaimed artists as F. Scott Hess, John Nava, Kent Williams, and Peter Zokosky and it attracts world-renowned visiting artists including Jerome Witkin, Alex Kanevsky, Margaret Bowland, Bo Bartlett, and Justin Mortimer.
As a graduate of LCAD’s MFA program in Painting, you will be equipped for a career as gallery artists and/or a teacher in higher education.
