Launched in 2003, the Masters of Visual Studies (MVS) is a rigorous, two-year academic and studio art-based graduate program at Canada’s premier Department of Art. The MVS experience occurs within a rich, cultural and academic environment that opens students up to new ways of thinking about visual culture. Graduates of the program have the skills currently demanded by professional studio art and curatorial practices, including critical writing and theoretical discourse.

The MVS program is solidifying its position as an exceptional and unique program in Canada that produces stellar artists and scholars. For this reason, alumni and friends of the U of T have set up the MVS Scholarship Fund to support emerging artists who excel in both the academic and studio components of the program.

A new tradition builds a Canadian art legacy

Catherine Heard (2005), Dara Gellman (2008) and Andrea Cooper (2006) — Alumni

"I enjoyed the stimulating environment and the intellectual exchanges with U of T faculty and wanted to find a way to give back to the University," says Catherine, now a visiting artist and professor at Brock University. "As members of the first graduating class, J.P Kelly, Craig Leonard and I were in a unique position to add to the University's collection of Canadian art. We each donated a work and raised money for the first scholarship."

The scholarship is awarded annually to an outstanding second-year student who has excelled in the academic and studio components of the elite program, which admits only four students every year. The successful candidates must already be established artists or curators.

The inaugural recipient, in 2006, was Andrea Cooper, a public relations consultant who continues to create and exhibit her film and video work. "My recent exhibitions at the Berlin International Film Festival and Antwerp came about through meeting professional curators to whom I was introduced through the program," she says.  "The scholarship helped me when I most needed it after graduation. I was honoured, but also deeply moved that it was the three graduating students from the previous year who raised the money." In turn, Andrea gave back by organizing a fundraiser for the award.

In 2008, the baton was handed to Dara Gellman. Like her predecessors, she will donate an artwork, which will be displayed in an MVS seminar room.

"This tradition creates a record of the students who have graduated from the program," says Catherine, "and a legacy for the University."

Story by Olena Wawryshyn
Photo: Roch Lecompte

• To learn more about this program, contact Leslie McCarley at 416-946-5192 or leslie.mccarley@utoronto.ca.

• Or give to the Department of Art in support of the MVS Scholarship Program.