Mar 29, 2024  
2017-2018 Graduate Catalog 
    
2017-2018 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Intermedia and Digital Arts (IMDA)


Return to {$returnto_text} Return to: Graduate Programs


VIN GRABILL, Chair
CAZABON, LYNN, Associate Chair
LISA MOREN, Graduate Program Director

Degree Offered

M.F.A. (Degree Types )

Faculty

Professors

BAILEY, DAN, M.F.A., School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Time-based media
DURANT, MARK ALICE, M.F.A., San Francisco Art Institute; Photography
MOREN, LISA, M.F.A., Cranbrook Academy of Art; Inter-media, experimental video
NOHE, TIMOTHY, M.F.A., University of California, San Diego; Inter-media, sound
SMALLS, JAMES, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles; Art history

Associate Professors

ABRAHAM, GUENET, M.F.A., Yale University; Graphic design
BRADLEY, STEVE, M.F.A., Florida State University; Electronic media, installation
CAZABON, LYNN, M.F.A., Cranbrook Academy of Art; Photography and digital imaging
CHAN, IRENE, M.F.A., San Francisco Art Institute; Printmaking
COOK, CATHY, M.F.A., University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Film
DYER, ERIC, M.F.A., Maryland Institute College of Art; Computer animation
GRABILL, VIN, M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Advanced Visual Studies; Video
JACOB, PREMINDA, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles; Art history
O’DELL, KATHY, Ph.D., City University of New York, Graduate Center; Art history
RE, MARGARET, M.F.A., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Visual communications

Assistant Professors

BELL, KATHERINE, M.F.A., University of Maryland Baltimore County, Imaging & Digital Arts
PARKS, CORRIE FRANCIS, M.F.A. University of Southern California; Animation
ROZNAC, GARY, M.F.A. University of Arizona; Visual Communications and Graphic Design
CORDOVA, VIVIANA, M.F.A., MICA, Graphic Design

Lecturer

STEVEN H. SILBERG, M.F.A., Photography and Media

Associate Staff

ABBOTT, SANDRA, BS, Towson University; MA, Northern Illinois University; CMS, Harvard University
BERRY, MELANIE, M.F.A., School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Film
BOOT, LEE, M.F.A., Maryland Institute College of Art, Animation
GARDNER, SYMMES, M.F.A., Tyler School of Art, Temple University; Painting
PEREGOY, CHRIS, M.F.A, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Digital imaging, photography
MYERS, CHARLES, M.S., University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Information systems management
TUDOR, WILLIAM-JOHN, M.F.A., University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Inter-media composition
VALIENTE, CHRISTIAN, B.A., University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Visual arts

Program Description

The Intermedia + Digital Arts (IMDA) M.F.A. Program is an interdisciplinary visual arts program where artists seek to expand or reinvent their professional practice. The IMDA program is committed to art that poses unique conceptual and social challenges while offering an environment that provides artists a studio, teaching opportunities, courses in emerging methods, contemporary art and theory, engaged faculty and high-end research centers crossing many boundaries throughout the research university. Graduate students take advantage of Baltimore’s vibrant art scene pursuing issues such as food justice, the environment, transportation, urban interventions, translation, race and gender identity, gift economies, and technology in both intellectual and formal terms.

The M.F.A. in Intermedia and Digital Arts recognizes the conceptual and technical transformation now occurring in the visual arts. The program is committed to investigating these transformations within the broader context of the history of art. This exploration of emerging technologies gives rise to new processes that pose new conceptual challenges. Answering these challenges is central to the IMDA student’s course of study.

Prominent Visiting Artists that have given 1-on-1 feedback to graduate students include: Janine Antoni, @rtMark, Zoe Beloff, Catherine Chalmers, Paul Chan, Annica Cuppetelli and Cristobal Mendoza, Paul DeMarinis, Tony Dove, Johanna Drucker, Hasan Elahi, eteam, Wendy Ewald, Darko Fritz, Guerrilla Girls, Dana Hoey, Nina Katchadourian, Matmos, Larry Miller, Alison Knowles, Margot Lovejoy, Joseph Nechvatal, Keith Piper, William Pope.L, Michael Rakowitz, Andrea Robbins and Max Becher, David Rokeby, Mark Tribe, Fred Wilson, Martha Wilson, Karen Yasinsky and The Yes Men.

Program Admission Requirements

General admission requirements are those of the Graduate School. In addition, applicants will submit a portfolio of work, a C.V. and an artist’s statement directly to the visual arts department through Decision Desk. The deadline for applications materials is Feb. 1. It is recommended that applicants visit the department during the application process.

Application Deadlines
Original application documents are sent directly to the Graduate School, not to the graduate program. Applications, portfolios and other required materials must be postmarked by Feb. 1 for financial consideration by the IMDA M.F.A. Program. Information about the program may be obtained by writing: Graduate Program Director, Intermedia and Digital Arts M.F.A. Program, Visual Arts Department, UMBC, FA 111, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA. Phone: 410-455-2150. Fax: 410-455-1053. E-mail: imda@umbc.edu. More information about the program is available at the IMDA Web site: www.imda.umbc.edu.

Facilities and Special Resources

The university sustains two galleries, the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture and the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery, which curate and present exhibitions of national and international eminence. The Department of Special Collections at the Albin O. Kuhn Library includes 1.5 million original photographic prints and slides, an artist’s book collection and a film and video collection with more than 1,000 titles. An active Visiting Artist Lecture Series brings renowned artists and scholars to the program, and many commit themselves to an engagement with the graduate students in critiques following their primary public presentations.

Artists such Janine Antoni, Zoe Beloff, Paul Chan, Abigail Child, Annica Cupetelli and Cristobal Mendoza, Paul DeMarinis, Tony Dove, Joanna Drucker, Hasan Elahi, eteam, Nina Katchadourian, Alison Knowles, Guerrilla Girls, Margot Lovejoy, Matmos, William Pope.L, Andrea Robbins and Max Becher, David Rokeby, Mark Tribe, Karen Yasinsky, Fred Wilson, Martha Wilson and Michael Rakowitz and The Yes Men have all visited UMBC in recent years.UMBC students also are encouraged to take advantage of the wealth of performances, exhibitions, lectures and screenings in Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia and New York. Highly engaged faculty include a 1:1 ratio with IMDA students. Faculty research interests are current, diverse and reflect hybrid practices and methodologies of emerging media. The benefits of a uniquely qualified faculty with special expertise in interdisciplinary arts, along with an innovative curriculum and facilities, make UMBC singularly prepared to support the academic and creative research of graduate students in the IMDA M.F.A. Program.

To sustain this program materially, UMBC supports impressive imaging and digital media facilities comparable to the finest in the country. The IMDA Program doubled its space when it moved into the program’s production studios and laboratory spaces in the new Information Technology/ Engineering (ITE) Building in the fall of 2003. The IMDA space is now adjacent to the Imaging Research Center’s (IRC) new state-of-the-art facility, fostering increased interdisciplinary opportunities for our graduate students. The IRC continues to conduct leading-edge experimental computer visualization and animation research. The IMDA program’s new facility houses individual studios for video production, editing and audio, as well as a “smart classroom” production studio and an adjacent archive projection booth. The new facility offers additional graduate computing space and faculty-staff offices and a shared instructional lab with the IRC.

Facilities available for graduate students include Final Cut Pro non-linear digital video editing workstations; a Pro-Tools digital sound studio; Maya and Softimage certified training centers; Silicon Graphics and Macintosh computer labs; private color and black-and-white darkrooms with 40” processors; an Epson 9600 40”-wide inkjet printer; large-format, high-resolution scanners; 16mm and 35mm film production equipment; 16mm and 35mm aerial image optical printer and animation stand; film to video transfer; DV video production and postproduction equipment; film, video and photography studios; analog sound studios; professional lighting and grip equipment. In addition to digital labs and media facilities available on campus, IMDA graduate students share 4,800 square feet of studio space in the IMDA graduate studio space, which is located six miles from campus on the first floor of the Raleigh Industrial Building in Baltimore. The facility features a loading dock, parking garage, 24-hour access and a security guard station.

Financial Assistance

Financial packages include Research Assistantships in teaching and research centers, providing tuition remission, health care and a stipend. Other merit-based grants are available. A limited number of applicants are accepted to the program each fall.
Apply by February 1 for consideration toward financial packages.

Programs

Courses

    Art

    Return to {$returnto_text} Return to: Graduate Programs