UWM Graduate Program

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is accepting applications through January 25, 2022 for admission to the graduate program with a focus in Jewelry & Metalsmithing, Blacksmithing and/or Digital Fabrication & Design for the Fall 2022 Semester.

Applicants are accepted based on their commitment to advancing their practice and a portfolio that demonstrates technical competency, understanding of the discipline and conceptual development.

The UWM graduate MFA experience fosters intensive individual research and creative practice. The program is structured to ensure a broad and balanced integration of media, processes and concerns allowing a rich combination of tradition and innovation. UWM and the Peck School of the Arts have much to offer to its graduate students, particularly when it comes to facilities and faculty.

Financial Support

The Peck School of the Arts offers a wide range of support to graduates as they pursue their degree. Project and Teaching Assistantships are available on a competitive basis. Currently, most of the Art and Design graduate students at UW-Milwaukee receive full funding with health insurance.

In addition to the competitive teaching and project assistantships, The Department of Art and Design offers a Graduate Fellowship in Digital Craft Technologies (Steigleder Charitable Trust Graduate Fellowship), specifically to support students in the master level program with an emphasis in Digital Fabrication, Digital Craft Technologies, or a related field. This fellowship supports the student’s artistic and research development in Digital Fabrication, as well as their engagement with new technologies through teaching and facilities management.

NEW THIS YEAR!

Blacksmithing/Metalsmithing Graduate Craft Assistantship (Windgate Contemporary Craft Initiative Graduate Fellowship) will support a highly motivated graduate students in contributing to the craft disciplines through their own creative research, assisting in expanding and improving our facilities and programing, and facilitating the use of the space by our students, as well as community. This three-year Fellowship will cover full tuition and provide a stipend.

Facilities

Graduate studio spaces are housed in our Kenilworth facility, an impressive converted factory building that also contains faculty studios, special research spaces, and performance spaces all filled by UWM’s Peck School of the Arts. The architects re-designed this building to provide an unrivalled amount of space, privacy, and access to equipment.

A comprehensive Metalsmithing Studio with a wide range of traditional tools and equipment supports work at a jewelry or sculptural scale, and is located directly adjacent to a well-outfitted woodshop. The Digital Fabrication Studio, houses our technology based equipment and fuels cutting edge design, rapid manufacturing, 3D printing, and machining.

The Digital Fabrication Studio contains PC workstations and a remote lab, running Rhinoceros, Fusion 360, Keyshot, RhinoCAM, Adobe Creative Cloud, and many other apps. Equipment includes a Sense handheld 3D scanner, several 3D printers, (Qidi, Rep Rap, Makerbots, Form 1 SLA printer), a vinyl cutter, two hydraulic presses, two Shapeoko CNC routers, two mini lathes, a manual milling machine, bending brake, bench shear, drill press, flex shafts, powder coating set-up, and basic metalworking hand tools. The Machine room attached to the studio contains a vertical metal cutting bandsaw, a horizontal metal cutting bandsaw, three Beaumont metal grinders, a large drill press, a manual tool room lathe, a sandblast cabinet, and several numeric controlled machines such an 4’x8’ CNC router, an Epilog 40watt laser cutter, Boss LS2440 80 watt large rotary table laser cutter, and a Tormach PCNC 1100 (capable of machining aluminum, brass, and steel).

The newly updated Blacksmithing facility contains 6 workstations (4 gas forges, 2 induction forges), with post vice a wide variety of anvils. Equipment includes: treadle hammer, #6 flypress, 34lb. Anyang power hammer, 25T Anyang hydraulic forging press, various swage blocks and a large assortment of hammers, tongs, and hand tooling. The studio also includes various fabrication equipment such as a drill press, belt sander, mig/tiq welders, and a variety of hand fabrication tools.

Faculty

Students work with diverse faculty in the Department of Art and Design, in Jewelry and Metalsmithing specifically, with Adam Hawk, Yevgeniya Kaganovich, Erica Meier, and Glenn Williams as graduate faculty. Academic Staff member Chad Bridgewater is also on staff and graduate students are able to take the upper level undergraduate courses that he teaches, as well as work with his for their graduate assistantship assignments. Site visits are encouraged.

For more information please contact:

Professor Yevgeniya Kaganovich, Head, Jewelry andMetalsmithing + Digital Fabrication and Design, yk@uwm.edu

Assistant Professor Adam Hawk for Blacksmithing-specific questions, as well as Digital Fabrication, hawk@uwm.edu

For questions about the application process, project and teaching assistantships, please contact the graduate office, artgrado@uwm.edu and the Director of Graduate Studies, Nicole Ridgway, ridgwayn@uwm.edu

Application Deadline for 2022-23: January 25

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