News

Inga Kimberly Brown

Inga Kimberly Brown (BFA ’14) likes to keep busy. Whether she’s creating work for an exhibition at the Amelia Center Gallery in Florida or working on commissions, she always tries to have a paintbrush in her hand. The PAFA graduate recently completed a work for the 3rd Regiment United States Colored…

Liza Samuel

Liza Samuel (BFA '17) traveled to California, Arizona, Texas, and Arkansas with the help of the J. Henry Schiedt Memorial Travel Scholarship. The scholarship allowed her to spend 30 days collecting materials such as dirt, burnt wood, and rocks, which she used to make her own paint.

Jonathan Chase

“One of my favorite things about the program in my time here was that I was able to sort of make the mistakes that maybe I wouldn’t have been able to do as freely if I were at another program. The faculty and my peers were open to sharing ideas and having a dialogue. I thought that was really…

Madeline Peckenpaugh

In the fall of 2016, Peckenpaugh spent a month in Nepal through the PAFA Fellowship’s Patan Museum Residency. On the last day, she inadvertently drank contaminated water and contracted typhoid. Making the most of a situation to better her work is Peckenpaugh’s style—read more to learn how that…

Emmitt Smith

“I liked the location [of PAFA], and I liked the museum history paired with contemporary context. People encourage you to push the boundaries of your ideas."

Josias Figueirido

"PAFA challenged me about was it meant to be a professional artist. PAFA gave me another level. PAFA gave me a professionalism that I didn’t have. It made me want to be competitive. It taught me that when I go to MOMA, when I go to the Whitney, I have to think about how to put my work here. I have…

Abigail Gray Swartz

When Abigail Gray Swartz’s illustration of a reimagined Rosie the Riveter graced the cover of The New Yorker in 2017, friends and family kept saying she had won the artist lottery.

PAFA Fact Sheet

Press Kit

Niloofar Gholamrezaei

"Cultural norms in Iran made it difficult to organize or participate in figure drawing clubs. I decided to join a program that gave me this possibility."

PAFA History

Press Kit

Dream Garden

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Cast Collection

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About PAFA

Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is the United State'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.