Each year PAFA’s Fine Arts Venture Fund awards more than $20,000 to student projects. When Sophie Brenneman (MFA '17) heard about the Fine Arts Venture Fund while she was a first-year MFA student she thought it was too good to be true.
For more than 85 years, PAFA has coordinated a BFA degree program with the University of Pennsylvania, combining the academy’s fine arts studio training with an Ivy League liberal arts education at Penn.
Meg Borah (MFA '18) thinks there is more to art than natural talent and ability. She is using her time at PAFA to strengthen her drawing skills in the hopes of becoming a Philadelphia-area art teacher.
To find his own voice, PAFA MFA student Ben Grzenia listens to others. Learn more about how PAFA's MFA faculty and visiting critics help students like Ben to try new methods of experimentation and develop new modes of critical thinking.
The art of illustration is woven into the DNA of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The Illustration program was officially introduced at PAFA in the fall of 2015 but there is a long-standing tradition of illustration at the academy. Fine Arts Dean Clint Jukkala sat down with Jessica Abel…
For Kristy Munday (Cert '18), the ASE is a culmination of more than a semester's worth of work and multiple mediums coming together. She attributes this convergence to the lessons she's learned as a PAFA student.
PAFA announces the addition of more than 40 historic, modern, and contemporary works to its permanent collection of American art. Works by Dawoud Bey, Mary Cassatt, Eldzier Cortor, Sam Gilliam, Joyce Kozloff, the Guerilla Girls, Rina Banerjee and Martin Puryear are included.
As museums and art schools deal with the fall out over sexual harassment allegations brought against Chuck Close, PAFA responds to the discussion with an interactive show
Brice Hunt's interest in traditional illustration and desire for a school that felt like home is what attracted her to PAFA.
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.
