Overview of Graduate Studies
Housed within a tier-one research university located in Athens, Georgia, the Lamar Dodd School of Art (Dodd) is a nationally ranked art school offering degrees in the fields of Studio Art, Art Education, and Art History.
Dodd graduate students are generously accommodated within a variety of dedicated studio and research spaces in state-of-the-art facilities, and form a tight knit, vibrant community. They benefit from a strong exhibition program at the Dodd Galleries and the Athenaeum, as well as the Geogia Museum of Art, and a robust Visiting Artist and Scholar lecture series that brings distinguished practitioners to campus on a regular basis.
The Dodd offers generous, merit-based assistantships and scholarships and is committed to a diverse student body. Studio programs are structured to foster stylistic diversity through individual exploration and cross-disciplinary research. Likewise, course offerings in Art Education and Art History ensure that students are exposed to a wide array of subject matter, as well as a range of methodological approaches.
Studio Art
Our rigorous, interdisciplinary program is rooted in creative inquiry, material experimentation, and a commitment to professional preparedness. Our expansive facilities and personal studios serve as a site for both individual exploration and collective exchange. Over the course of 3 years of full-time study, MFA students engage in ambitious studio work, study art history and criticism, and build connections across campus to further their unique creative practice. Their interests will be diverse, but they will share our belief that art is a vital mode of inquiry.
Graduate student working with local grade school students during after school education program at the Athenaeum, Contemporary Art Studio. (Photo/Sidney Chansamone, sid.chansa@gmail.com)
Art Education
The Art Education program at the Lamar Dodd School of Art is grounded in critical, experiential, and interdisciplinary inquiry. Faculty and students benefit from close proximity to the Georgia Museum of Art, partnerships with schools and community organizations in diverse settings, and the expertise of renowned studio and art history faculty within the School of Art. As a community of art educators we explore the intersections of contemporary art, histories of art education, visual culture, service-learning, social justice, and digital technology. Graduates are encouraged to be innovators who challenge the status quo through locally and globally transformative practices.
Art History
Home to six core faculty members with specialties ranging from Classical Antiquity to Contemporary Visual Culture and to the affiliate curatorial faculty of the Georgia Museum of Art, the Art History area is committed to training students broadly while developing significant depth in each student’s field of choice. To that end, graduate-level Art History coursework is divided between small, advanced lecture-discussion courses and intimate Socratic seminars on highly specialized topics. These courses, along with mentorship in historiography and methods, and the independent thesis or capstone portfolio, aim to develop specialized skills required by the discipline of art history and for careers in research, writing, and museums.
Last updated: August 7, 2026