The Nomad/9 MFA offers artists a relevant, field-based approach to graduate studies. Created in 2015, Nomad/9 is a rigorous, low-residency program with a high-impact curriculum that includes ecology, history, culture, and craft. The curriculum provides a thoughtfully curated set of residencies which augment each student’s in-depth thesis advising with artists Christy Gast and Mary Mattingly. During residencies, visiting faculty teach courses in that utilize each site as a learning lab, such as:

• Mark Dion addressing the sub-tropic ecosystems in the Everglades of South Florida
• Muriel Hasbun on Central American art, cultural memory and diaspora in El Salvador
• Ramona Kitto Stately teaching Dakota culture through beading in Minneapolis
• Allison Smith offering a class on protest textiles in her studio in Oakland
• Linda Weintraub addressing Eco Materialism in Rhinebeck, New York
• Nico Wheadon teaching Professional Practices for Public Art through the Studio Museum of Harlem
• Caroline Woolard teaching Art and Economies at Brooklyn Commons

This unusual curriculum is the result of founder and director Carol Padberg’s application of ecological design principals to graduate pedagogy, with a focus on ethical culture. The resulting graduate program is built for a diverse student body of artists from a variety of disciplines and divergent points of view. Socially engaged artists, artist educators, interdisciplinary practitioners, eco artists, craftspeople, and artists with an interest in new forms and collaborations are encouraged to apply. Applications for the incoming Cohort 4 are now available online at nomad9mfa.org, with a deadline for Scholarship Consideration of February 1, 2019.