I translate my experience as an international professional artist into a pedagogical platform guiding students in achieving their goals. We define sculpture as a space for convergence, confluence, and translation. Sculpture is an instance of finding commonalities in experiences. It is a bridge, a connector, a channel for the confluence of local ideas in a globalized context, a space where different voices convey. Sculpture is a shared place of translation where we learn from our culture of differences.
At Rinehart, we encourage ethical commitment and work quality; students learn from their peers, talented faculty, the art community, and national and international guests. They are building a solidarity network that will accompany them into the future of their careers.
We promote the exchange and collaboration between disciplines to motivate deep thinking across disciplines, genres, and mediums. In doing so, we encourage the development of creative methodologies through visual language. We invite journalists and writers to expand our inspirational sources. We will ask scientists to introduce us to issues related to climate change as we rethink new modes of fabrication and dissemination of artistic creations. We reflect on how urban and architectonic spaces affect our thinking and acting. We invite architects to the program to explore theoretical and practical interdisciplinary dialogue and promote potential hiring.
Our goal is to give the students the tools to empower their understanding of the context of the moment and to provide them with the broadest range of options of what it means to be a professional artist as co-constructors of an art community.
Rinehart is built on a small cohort; only six to eight students are accepted each year, who are given direct one-on-one access to faculty and internationally renowned guests. The oldest program of its kind in the country, Rinehart expands and reinvents the tradition of sculptural practice.
Rinehart's spacious, individually assigned studios are one of the most vital aspects of the program, which opens onto a common work area with a comprehensive fabrication shop.
Core to the program is the seminar room where peers interact, exchange ideas, and receive Guest Lecturers for critical readings and writing workshops, balancing intensive studio practice with a rigorous focus on history and critical theory. Students also receive workshops from visiting critics and scholars as well as from Studio Manager Ann Walsh.
The Rinehart Seminar consists of weekly lectures and discussions led by Program Director Dolores Zinny and renowned visiting artists, curators & professionals from other disciplines, such as journalists, architects, and scientists. Recent visiting artists include Asad Raza, Aruna D'Souza, Javier Téllez, Tony Cokes, Alexandra Grant, Coco Fusco and Matt Mullican. Click here to see Recent Visiting Lecturers.
These outstanding professionals give public talks, engage in give-and-take class meetings and seminars, and have one-on-one or group studio visits with students. This time provides students with a solid theoretical framework for positioning themselves and their artistic practice within current local and international dynamics.
Each semester is focused on an exhibition and its evaluation; upon completing the MFA program, the students will have a four-exhibition portfolio.
We are steps away from Baltimore Penn train station, with close-by destinations such as Washington DC (30-40 min), Philadelphia (1h), and New York City (2h 30 min).
Field trips have been varied and frequently include unique dialogues with distinguished institutional curators. The program focuses on taking students to exhibitions examining sculpture and design, often visiting shows organized by scholars and curators who have previously visited Rinehart. Through these excursions, Dolores Zinny seeks to have students investigate the way that space itself can be structured to expand on more limited notions of sculpture.
Since 2022, field trip destinations have included: the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with an exclusive on-site seminar by senior curator Carlos Basualdo; The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, for Woven Histories with renowned curator Lynne Cooke; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; The WhitneyBiennial; and ongoing trips to Glenstone Museum.
Rinehart also promotes students working within the Baltimore context and history.
