PAFA’s Continuing Education program offers more than two-dozen classes each season for people looking to expand their skills and join a community of artists. Each spring, CE students have the opportunity to show at PAFA through the Continuing Education Programs Annual Student Exhibition.
PAFA's student-run Visiting Artists Program brings an outstanding roster of local, national and international artists to PAFA each semester. Students get the opportunity to experience one-on-one private critiques with artists such as Amy Sherald, Njideka Akunyili, and Cosmo Whyte.
Through the Restorative Justice program, Aaron and other young people on probation work as paid apprentices through Mural Arts Philadelphia, receiving job training, mentorship and art education. Learning to make art themselves at PAFA is part of the 6 month job-training program. At the end of the…
Artist Melissa Joseph (MFA '18) has focused her work on gun violence and the difficult task of healing while studying at PAFA. For three days, Joseph invited anyone to join her in the Broad Street Studio to wash and talk, as part of her Expunge project.
Brad Davis (MFA '18) walks Philadelphia’s neighborhoods for inspiration. The painter was particularly drawn to a newsstand in Rittenhouse Square that became the basis of a painting he will show at this year's Annual Student Exhibition (ASE).
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.
Perspectives
About PAFA
Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is the United States’ first school and museum of fine arts. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, PAFA offers a world-class collection of American art, innovative exhibitions of historic and contemporary American art, and educational opportunities in the fine arts. The PAFA Museum aims to tell America's diverse story through art, expanding who has been included in the canon of art history through its collections, exhibitions, and public programs, while classes educate artists and appreciators with a deep understanding of traditions and the ability to challenge conventions. 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.
