"I am at an advantage for applying to jobs, internships, and graduate programs in scientific illustration because not only can I draw, but I can understand the science of what I’m drawing."
Moe Brooker '63 credits instructors at PAFA with helping him develop as an artist. “What I learned at PAFA allowed me to go from being a realistic painter, which I did for more than 10 years, to become an abstract painter, which took seven years, and is what I do today.”
Mia Rosenthal had her sights set on being a painter when she enrolled in PAFA’s graduate program. Soon after her arrival, however, she found herself “making things that weren’t paintings.”
Bodu Yang decided to make museums her main subject in her paintings, as PAFA’s museum was a critical factor in her artistic development. “I really value the relationship between artwork and exhibition spaces.”
Growing up in a small town in Pennsylvania can be a challenge when you’re considering a life in the arts. Making the choice of where to study can be a difficult one.
Aaron Fowler first came to art-making after the tragic loss of his 6-year-old cousin. “After drawing him I felt a whole lot better about the situation, as if I had gone to therapy,” says Fowler.
Steven Dufala (Cert. ‘00) and Billy Blaise Dufala (Cert. ‘03) are prolific multidisciplinary artists whose work defies categorization extending from sculpture and drawing to theater, music and performance art. They co-teach a course in the BFA program. In conversation with artist Sharon Louden, the…
The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art (SAMA) is celebrating the work of more than 40 artists in the PAFA community. Scott Dimond, SAMA’s Curator for Visual Arts, said the exhibition brings a contemporary twist on traditional and realist painting.
“By far the greatest part of my experience at PAFA was the one-on-one interaction with my core group of chosen critics/ teachers and my fellow MFA students. I continue many of these relationships today."
Orit Hofshi began working at Mishkan Omanim (The Artist’s Studio) in Herzliya, Israel, following a decade of studying, working and exhibiting in the U.S.
Itsuki Ogihara strives to apply her fine arts education in the design world. "The best thing I learned was to have a great eye: to be able to see and identify things, like colors. What I learned as a fine artist is universal.”
Perspectives
About PAFA
Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is America's first school and museum of fine arts. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, PAFA offers undergraduate and graduate programs in the fine arts, innovative exhibitions of historic and contemporary American art, and a world-class collection of American art. PAFA’s esteemed alumni include Mary Cassatt, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, William Glackens, Barkley L. Hendricks, Violet Oakley, Louis Kahn, David Lynch, and Henry Ossawa Tanner.
