Sculpture school ranked No. 1 in nation

What’s it like to be No.1? Just ask the students and faculty in the School of the Arts sculpture department.

For several years U.S. News and World Report magazine has ranked VCU’s graduate school for sculpture as the No. 1 public and private school in the country. The latest ratings ranked Yale University second and the Art Institute of Chicago as third.

Richard Toscan, dean of the arts school, said the sculpture’s graduate program stands apart from other sculpture programs because the faculty pays a lot of attention to how their graduates make the transition to the professional art world.

“Enrollment is always close to capacity,” Toscan said. “Applications for the graduate program have gone way up and have gotten very competitive.”

Miriam Ewers, a second-year graduate student studying sculpture who earned her BFA at the Rhode Island School of Design, said she chose VCU for her MFA because she knew the sculpture school had interesting professors and faculty.

“They struck me as great people to study with,” she said, adding that she, indeed, was aware of VCU’s ranking before she applied and found the application process difficult.

Nancy Strange, the communications director for the arts school, said 16 students now study in VCU’s undergraduate sculpture program.

Each year nearly 170 people apply for admission to the sculpture program, but only three to six spaces are available.

The school, Toscan said, strives to retain its ranking by the U.S. News and World Report magazine. The department doesn’t receive any awards or grants, but he said several alumni have garnered awards for their work as professional artists.

Toscan pointed to the recent win by Teresita Fernandez, a 1992 MFA graduate who recently received the $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship award, while Tara Donavan, a 1999 MFA alumna, won the $50,000 Calder Grant that includes spending six months in France.

U.S. News and World Report also gave VCU’s graduate arts school an overall ranking of No. 1 among other public, but not private, arts schools in the nation. The Rhode Island School of Design, the Art Institute of Chicago and Yale University ranked No.1 for private graduate arts schools.

Although the undergraduate program isn’t ranked, Strange said the students are taught by the same faculty and receive the same resources and opportunities. Studios are the only resource the students don’t share.