©Evan Hume, Faculty

Each installment of In Focus: The MFA Review highlights a different MFA program for photographic artists, offering readers a concise overview of its identity, curriculum, faculty, student experience, financial support, and post-graduation outcomes. It also serves as a showcase of the creative work produced by faculty, students, and alumni. Rather than functioning as rankings or endorsements, these features are intended as practical starting points—tools to help prospective students compare programs, identify what matters most to them, and make more informed decisions about their graduate education. While certain details shared in these articles may change over time, my hope is that these program snapshots offer a clear sense of what each represents in the present moment.

Thank you to Evan Hume for completing this interview and compiling all the images/resources!

Institution name: Iowa State University

Degree Title: Integrated Visual Arts

Location: Ames, IA

Link to Program Page: https://www.design.iastate.edu/academics/graduate-programs/master-of-fine-arts-in-integrated-visual-arts/

Link to Application Page: https://www.iastate.edu/admission-and-aid/apply

Instagram: @avc.isu

©Evan Hume, Faculty

Tell us a little about your program. How would you define its scope and purpose? 

Integrated Visual Arts (IVA) is a three-year interdisciplinary MFA program housed in the Department of Art and Visual Culture with faculty in studio areas including photography, digital media, printmaking, illustration, painting & drawing, ceramics, metals, textiles, and woods. Art history faculty specialize in areas such as history of photography, modern and contemporary art, Italian Renaissance and Baroque Art, medieval Chinese art, and East Asian Buddhist art.

What would you say makes your program special?

The program strongly encourages students to work across media. Students not only refine their skills but develop new skillsets while in the program, crossing media boundaries to pursue ideas and concepts. The program is flexible in many ways, and faculty are encouraging, accessible, and excited to work with graduate students. Also, being in the context of a large Research 1 institution with an emphasis on science and technology provides students with opportunities to further expand interdisciplinary practice.

©Johnny DiBlasi, Faculty

What specialized facilities are available for student use (i.e. darkroom, lighting studio, print lab)? 

In the photography area, we have a black and white darkroom with ten workstations. For working digitally, we have a classroom with iMacs, scanners, and tabletop inkjet printers as well as a wide format inkjet printer. There is also the Output Center in the College of Design, which offers prepress color printing, wide format printing, scanning, 3D printing, and laser cutting. DSLRs, mirrorless cameras, video cameras, microphones, and other audio devices are available for checkout. The Student Innovation Center on campus has several makerspaces including a digital media studio (including a lighting studio), letterpress studio, AR/VR lab, and textiles and 3D printing lab.

Is your program strictly photography-focused, or does it encourage/allow interdisciplinary work?

The IVA program encourages interdisciplinary work, and many of our students incorporate multiple media into their practice. However, students may choose to concentrate in one studio area.

©Austin Stewart, Faculty

Do you specialize in a particular area (i.e. documentary, experimental, environmental work)? And once in the program, is a student able to shift their focus if their creative interests change?

Our program strongly encourages students to pursue ideas across media, and to shift focus as appropriate to develop their personal vision. We have eight media areas, as described above, and we have had graduate students produce strong work both within each area, and across combinations of all of them.

In photography, there is no area of specialization. Students may pursue any direction that suits their creative interests.

How structured is the curriculum? Are there required courses, or is it more self-directed?

The program offers a combination of required courses and flexible options. We have a twelve-credit (four-course) series of seminars, and an art history methods course, that all students take. Beyond that, students are free to choose from a wide variety of studio courses, and to take classes in departments across the College of Design and in other university departments, as appropriate to their creative pursuits.

©Olivia Valentine, Faculty

Does the program incorporate video work or emerging media such as AI, VR/AR, or 3D/360 imaging?

Yes, we have faculty whose teaching and research incorporate digital media such as video, AI, VR/AR, and 3D rendering.

Associate Professor Austin Stewart teaches video art and interactive art courses encompassing moving image production, site-specific installation, and software-based artwork. Associate Professor Johnny DiBlasi teaches courses such as AI in Art & Design and Data, Code, and Form, which incorporate creative uses of AI, machine learning, and data visualization. There are also courses offered in 3D modeling and 3D animation.

Does the program offer career development support, such as portfolio reviews, workshop/conference attendance, or networking opportunities?

At the university level, the Graduate College offers a wide variety of career development workshops, courses, and other opportunities that are available to graduate students across campus. Our students often choose to attend writing and research workshops, to participate in career development days, or to join programs designed to prepare students for careers both within and outside of academia. In addition, the College of Design offers career development support for graduate students, including individualized advising sessions. The Graduate and Professional Student Senate offers some funding for conference attendance on a competitive basis.

©Olivia Valentine, Faculty

What are key graduation requirements (exhibition, thesis paper, portfolio, etc.)?

For their first four semesters, all IVA students participate in a final review exhibition at the end of the semester. The exhibition is usually held in the College of Design’s Gallery 181.  Every other spring semester it is held at the Octagon Center for the Arts in downtown Ames, where some of the students also have studios. As part of the exhibition, each student participates in a faculty critique, presenting their work for feedback from Art and Visual Culture faculty.

The requirements for completion of the program are a thesis exhibition and paper. In the third and final year, students will take three credits of thesis research and three credits dedicated to the thesis exhibition with their major professor. The student’s thesis defense with their committee will take place during the exhibition, which is held in their final semester. Most students choose to have a one to two-week long exhibition in Gallery 181 at the College of Design, but some have used spaces off campus.

©Matty Palamara, Alum

Who are your current faculty members? What are their areas of creative interest?

Assistant Professor Evan Hume is the full-time photography faculty. His research-intensive work with declassified images critically engages with photographic reconnaissance and surveillance in the context of conflict and covert operations. He utilizes processes such as collage, scanner manipulation, and data bending to emphasize the tension between informational and enigmatic archival material. Hume has published two monographs with Daylight Books: Viewing Distance (2021) and Critical Collection (2025).

We have several studio faculty members whose research interests and creative work intersect with photography, including:

Associate Professor Johnny DiBlasi is an interdisciplinary researcher and artist whose practice sits at the intersection of art, science, and technology, and through this creative practice, he works with computational media, bio-data, digital networks, and artificial intelligence to create interactive installations. His works address timely topics such as creative AI, cybernetics, phenomenology, human-computer interaction, and bio-creation.

Associate Professor Austin Stewart critically considers the dynamic relationships between technology, culture, human behavior, and ecological crises. Currently his practice is focused on creating immersive environments based on the rhythms of natural spaces, such as an ocean beach, that encourage visitors to introspect. His work manifests in a variety of different media from video to robotics, performance to software design, and from virtual reality for chickens to vegetated floating islands.

Associate Professor Olivia Valentine’s work as an artist is focused on questioning boundaries and interstitial spaces through a range of sculptural, photographic, and craft practices. This line of inquiry began through investigations into the space of the textile edge, through careful study of techniques such as bobbin lace and iğne oyası (Anatolian needle lace). Over the past decade, she has expanded the frame of her work to address edges within architecture, landscape, and larger environment – often using a camera or other image making methods as a significant component of her process-based practice.

©Matty Palamara, Alum

Are faculty members primarily full-time or adjunct? 

Graduate faculty are primarily full-time, and each media area has at least one full-time faculty member.

How involved are faculty in mentoring students beyond coursework?

We have more full-time faculty than graduate students, so there are opportunities for significant one-on-one engagement and mentorship. Students are expected to reach out, especially during their first year, to discuss their work with professors they may not be taking studios with at the moment.

Students select a major professor by the middle of third semester and select two other thesis committee members as well as submit a thesis proposal by the middle of fourth semester. In addition to the major professor, the committee should consist of at least one other faculty member from the Department of Art and Visual Culture and a faculty member from outside the department. So, students are encouraged to seek out graduate faculty from other departments or colleges within the university during their first few semesters.

How often do guest artists, curators, or critics visit for lectures and/or critiques? 

The College of Design has a visiting artist and scholar program with three to four guests visiting every academic year. They give a public lecture and often meet with classes and individual graduate students. Additionally, artists from the greater Des Moines area will often be invited to visit the IVA critique class.

©Nicole Soriano, Alum (video still)

How many students are admitted each year, and how many are photography focused? 

The program typically admits between four and six students each year. Of these, one to two are usually photography focused. Others may include photography as some aspect of their practice.

The program admits students for both Fall and Spring entry.

What is the approximate cohort size, and what effect does this have on critiques, collaboration, and networking?

For students entering in fall semester, the cohort may be four to six. For spring semester, it may only be one or two students who join the current first-year cohort. At any given time, there are typically about fifteen IVA students total.

What kind of work are current students creating?

Current students focus in a wide range of media, with some pursuing illustration, painting, and sculpture, while others incorporate photography, data visualization, and generative AI as some aspect of their practice.

Students concentrating on photography and photo-related media are making conceptually driven work with analog and digital processes while engaging in a range of social, historical, and technological issues.

©Nicole Soriano, Alum (video still)

What is the total cost of the program (and duration), and what funding options are available?

Students typically complete our 63-credit program in six semesters (3 years). For an Iowa resident, 6 semesters of tuition and fees would total roughly $50,000. For a domestic non-Iowa resident, 6 semesters of tuition and fees would total roughly $105,000.

The department offers a limited number of quarter-time teaching assistantships. For students who receive these, they require 10 hours of work per week. For non-resident and international students on assistantship, the tuition rate is reduced to the in-state rate. The assistantship then covers half of the in-state tuition, as well as some fees. Students on assistantship also receive a stipend, issued in the form of a bi-monthly paycheck, as well as free health insurance.

Are there teaching assistantships, and what percentage of tuition do they cover?

See above

Are additional grants/resources available to support student projects?

ISU’s Focus Grant program provides up to $800 of support to students for independent creative projects developed and executed outside of their coursework. Proposals are accepted in fall and spring semesters, and students work individually with a faculty advisor throughout the duration of the project. An exhibition is held every spring at the Memorial Union Gallery on campus, including all the Focus Grant supported projects completed over the last calendar year.

©Tashina Azure-Mitchell, MFA Candidate

What types of careers do alumni pursue, and how does the program support students after graduation?

Numerous of our alumni have gone onto university-level teaching positions, both tenure- and teaching-track.  Numerous others make their living working as independent artists, including photographers, ceramicists, jewelers, and illustrators, among other forms of practice. Other careers include community arts organizations, K-12 teaching, museum installation and curatorial work, and nonprofit administration.

How connected is the alumni network, and do graduates stay involved with the program?

We maintain close contact with many of our alumni and actively work to build rapport between alumni and current graduates. We often invite alumni back for critiques and meetings, and when appropriate, we connect alumni with current students for one-on-one mentoring and advising sessions.

©TJ Benson, Alum (Integrated Visual Arts Minor)