Overview
Watch the video and click on the tabs to learn more. Hint! Some tabs may be hidden. Click on the right green arrow to scroll.
Introduction to Fine Arts
The Fine Arts degree program at MCC invites you to explore the potential of a creative life. Those enrolled in the program will receive the mentorship, vocabulary and skills necessary to succeed within the creative economy and its countless configurations, contexts and careers.
The Fine Arts degree focuses on creative practice, problem setting, tangential research, play, articulation and exhibition. Students who champion these tenets of a creative practice will be prepared to offer considerable contributions to their industries, cultures and contexts.
Degree & Certificate Options
The Fine Arts program has the following degree and certificate options:
- Fine Arts Associate of Arts (A.A.)
- Fine Arts Associate of Arts (A.A.) – Illustration Pathway
- Graphic Illustration Certificate
The Illustration Pathway curriculum can be explored separately using the tabs above.
Program Goals
The Fine Arts program has been carefully planned and designed to provide you with the essential skills you would typically learn in the first two years of a 4-year degree program. As a diligent Fine Arts student, upon graduating you will be able to transfer into other degree programs and succeed with distinction having been armed with a strong arts foundation. If you are on the Illustration pathway, you will receive the education you’ll need to successfully transfer into 4-year bachelor degree programs in Illustration or Animation.
Either way, if you are planning to transfer to another school or intend to build a studio-based career upon graduation, the Fine Arts degree and Illustration pathway will provide you with the skills, techniques and vocabulary that are essential for aspiring artists to succeed. When you complete the program you will also be equipped with a portfolio that will demonstrate your rigorous engagement with artistic mediums and creative problems.
Curriculum
You have the option of completing this degree fully on campus, fully online or using a hybrid model that includes both.
Admission Requirements
In addition to college-wide admissions requirements, you must have:
- An interview with the Fine Arts Program Coordinator prior to admission to the program
- An Adobe Creative Cloud Subscription
- A computer/laptop that supports Creative Cloud system requirements
Incoming Transfer Policy
Appropriate transfer credits for courses within the major may be accepted within a 10-year time frame. The Department Chair, on an individual basis, will evaluate transfer cases more than 10 years old.
Curriculum: Required Courses
Course Sequencing
Degree Program – First Year
Degree Program – Second Year
Outcomes
Acquired Skills
After earning your Fine Arts degree you will be able to:
- Apply the skills, tools and vocabulary of your chosen discipline in order to create work that exhibits developing technical ability, substance and artistic distinction.
- Articulate ideas, formulate arguments, question assumptions, and demonstrate the ability to evaluate and interpret information through both written and visual mediums.
- Collaborate with peers and professionals in the arts, thereby broadening your body of knowledge while developing a personal identity as an artist.
- Demonstrate a developing awareness of global, historical, cultural, philosophical and contemporary contexts, as well as the relationship between you, as an artist and your community.
Employment Opportunities
Graduates of the Fine Arts A.A. degree program will be prepared to transfer to Fine Art and Painting programs at 4-year colleges and universities.
You will also be equipped to maintain your own private studio practice, the output of which may be exhibited in galleries, bought in private sale or commission or used upon application to kick-start a commercial freelance career.
Potential Salary
Salaries for Fine Arts vary widely depending on position.
Outgoing Transfer Opportunities
Students who graduate from MCC’s Fine Arts program will have an opportunity to transfer to several 4-year colleges including:
- University of New Hampshire
- Keene State College
- Plymouth State University
- Colby-Sawyer College
- New England College
- Massachusetts College of Art
- Maine College of Art
- Franklin Pierce University
- Endicott College
- Lesley University
- UMass Lowell
- …and many more!
Illustration Pathway
MCC offers the Illustration Pathway option for students wishing to explore the discipline of illustration while receiving a Fine Arts A.A. degree!
The suite of courses taken within the Fine Arts – Illustration Pathway will equip you with the skills essential for visual storytelling, world building, character design and more.
The pathway includes the Fine Art core curriculum with specific illustration courses as electives. These courses prepare you to take on commercial projects and also provide you with the foundational education needed to successfully transfer to bachelor-level illustration or animation degree programs.
If you are on the Illustration pathway, you will receive the education you’ll need to successfully transfer into 4-year bachelor degree programs in Illustration or Animation. When you complete the degree program you will also be equipped with a portfolio that will demonstrate your rigorous engagement with artistic mediums and creative problem-solving.
