MFA in Costume Design Description
This program is intended for the graduate student who is
preparing for and committed to a professional/or academic career
in costume design and technology. We seek to provide a program balanced
in costume construction techniques and production and the artistic
techniques and practices of the costume designer. We believe that
this is consistent with most jobs in the field and that each stage
of the process requires complete understanding of the others.
Class contents may vary slightly for the purpose of ensuring that
each student may experience a wide variety of periods and styles
and balancing the production range of the year. The curriculum provides
four costume design courses and the opportunity to take rendering
twice as the stage design students do and to focus their work in
figure drawing, painting and other media. Color exercises and textile
history and identification are part of Costume Design I among the
courses. History of costume is usually included in that course but
is also available and recommended in the Textiles, Clothing and
Design department.
We have benefited greatly by an exchange of students with the TCD
department over the last fifteen years by having students take courses
among Fashion Illustration, Draping, Apparel Design II, History
of Costume, History of Textiles, Surface Design and Socio-psychological
Aspects of Clothing. This is particularly beneficial in that the
students have contact with other professors and different resources.
Likewise, some Masters students from the TCD program have chosen
6-9 credit minors in Theatre Costume as part of their programs.
Graduate students with assistantships are also responsible for supervision of student help, organization of stock, patterning and cutting according to level of experience and thereby develop a construction portfolio and familiarity with the facilities and responsibilities they will assume with employment. Students must take Stage Makeup if they have not had it or if they wish to have the opportunity to teach the course for experience while here.
