Mindful of
the past, We contemplate
and create a better future
We inspire rigorous paths of study through individual expression and collaboration across many disciplines of art, art history, and design. Through education and encouragement of broad dialogue within arts, we promote positive and sustainable change in our global community.
Art and Design at MSU
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Master of Fine Arts
Our MFA program seeks to expand our empathic understanding, cultivate the voices of underserved populations and ideas, and mitigate and critique damage done to ecologies, marginalized cultures, and the environment brought about by several centuries of colonialist pursuits.
new program studies race through art
We have established a Critical Race Studies Residency Program that will bring an Artist-in-Residence and a Designer-in-Residence to campus to enrich the life of student experiences and the greater community by facilitating practices of inclusion through art and design as part of the Department of Art, Art History, and Design.
SPARTAN'S JOURNEY OF DETERMINATION
Born with no hands and missing her big toe along with the supporting bones on each foot, Kathryn Bailey, a 24-year-old Studio Art graduating senior hasn’t allowed her quadrilateral limb deficiency to keep her from living a “normal” life and now is about to graduate with a degree in Studio Art and a concentration in Painting and Graphic Design.
MFA in Art, Art History, and Design
The Master of Fine Art program seeks highly motivated students who have the artistic and scholarly vision to guide us into equitable, sustainable, and creative futures. We encourage new and rigorous forms of artistic expression and design innovation that transcend typical constraints to make meaningful contributions to the world. A 100% funded program, your able to customize your student experience at one of the leading research institutions in the world.
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Rebecca dekuiper
Apparel and Textile Design Alumna
Lead Designer, American Girl
featured News
Arts & Letters and RCAH Students Earn Awards at Diversity Research Showcase
Students from the College of Arts & Letters and the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities (RCAH) earned top honors at the 9th Annual Diversity Research Showcase hosted by MSU’s Honors College. Thirteen students from the two colleges presented their research, with two RCAH students receiving first place in the poster presentation category and a College of Arts & Letters student earning third place in the oral presentations category. The 2026 Diversity Research Showcase, which was open to all MSU undergraduate students, took place on Jan. 23 at Campbell Hall and online. The event gave undergraduate students the
Student View: Learning, Growing, and Leading at the MSU Museum
Rachel Lewis is a CoLaborator at the MSU Museum and a fourth-year student majoring in Art History and Visual Culture in the College of Arts & Letters and Journalism with a concentration in Photo Journalism in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences. The CoLaborator program empowers graduate and undergraduate students to shape the MSU Museum’s exhibitions and facilitate visitor engagement.
‘Patchwork: Reclaiming Space’ Exhibit Invites the Public to Reflect, Create, and Heal
Patchwork: Reclaiming Space, a collaborative, participatory exhibition at the MSU Union Art Gallery that runs through Saturday, Feb. 14, invites the public to pause, reflect, and remember through shared creative expression rooted in community. The exhibition encourages members of the Michigan State University community to spend time in the gallery acknowledging the past, reflecting on the present, and making art. All materials are provided for communal collage creation and to create fabric patches to be sewn into the communal tapestry displayed in the gallery — a shared patchwork of Spartans’ art brought together by Spartan Upcycle, the student-centered creative reuse branch of the