Master of Fine Arts UP Diliman

09/08/2026

Hello, for your information: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Bhefifdb6/

31/07/2026

What does it mean to speak of "the West" in Philippine art?

This semester in FA 213: Western Influences in Philippine Art, we begin with a simple observation: the period from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century was one of extraordinary revolutionary ferment. Revolutions, occupations, wars, and nation-building unfolded across successive colonial regimes—Spanish, American, and Japanese—each leaving behind visual languages, institutions, and ways of seeing that continue to shape artistic practice today.

This is not a survey course about memorizing artists, styles, and masterpieces.
Instead, we investigate the operations of contact and erasure, adaptation and resistance, translation and invention. We ask how Philippine artists negotiated the arrival of foreign artistic forms, how colonial power attempted to define what counted as art, and how local artists continually transformed these inheritances into something else.

The course argues that the "West" is not a fixed geography waiting to be copied. Colonial regimes insisted upon the West as something ideologically distant—an ideal to emulate and an authority to obey. Yet the artworks produced in the Philippines tell a different story. They reveal the West as an ongoing altercation between local intentions and outside influences, between colonial prescriptions and Filipino acts of translation, refusal, accommodation, and reinvention.

In other words, this course asks not simply how the West came to the Philippines, but how Philippine artists produced their own idea of the West.

By the end of the semester, students will have explored how painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, print culture, exhibitions, and visual media became sites where colonial histories were negotiated and where the image of the modern Philippines was forged—not despite these encounters, but through them.

Perhaps the most important question is not What is the West? but Whose West are we looking at?

Qualified non-MFA students may enroll with the consent of the instructor and the approval of their home college.

30/07/2026

What if sound is not merely something we hear, but something we inhabit?

This semester, FA 215: Production of Space introduces sound as a central text in artistic inquiry. Sound art is not simply music. It is an engagement with the architecture of sound—its rhythms, textures, echoes, silences, densities, and movements through space. Sound occupies, produces, and transforms space. It can become sculpture, performance, installation, memory, politics, and environment. Rather than treating sound as accompaniment, we ask: How does sound itself produce meaning?

Space is the central text in this problematization of art production. The seminar explores conversations about the construction, reconstruction, and deconstruction of space as a material, cultural, historical, and political idea and/or object. By the end of the semester, students are expected to produce an art project with space as the main inspiration. For this semester, sound will be introduced as an additional text to complicate the discourse further. Sound will be appraised as a space where art production may happen, and as a material for/ from art production.

The course welcomes students interested in expanding their artistic practice beyond conventional media and into the spatial, sensory, and conceptual possibilities of sound.

Qualified non-MFA students may enroll with the consent of the instructor and the approval of their home college.

04/06/2026

Announcement:

MFA Thesis Oral Defense

JELLIE ROSE ANNE C. AVERILLA

MFA thesis title
LONGING-BELONGING: THE ARCHIVED MAP OF HOME (2018) -
An Archive-Based Installation of the Overseas Filipino Worker Diaspora

Date: June 8, 2026, MONDAY
Time: 1:00 PM
Venue: G/F Bartlett Hall
College of Fine Arts

Zoom details:

https://up-edu.zoom.us/j/98135640239?pwd=ottb9fWUOZ0e48YaJHbYOx0DEqaS6q.1
Meeting ID: 981 3564 0239
Passcode: mfagr@d26

Thesis Oral Defense Panel Committee

Adviser: Prof. Leo Antonio C. Abaya+ (production)
Assoc. Prof. Mary Catherine P. Sta. Ana (writing)
Reader/Critic: Prof. Lisa Ito-Tapang
Panel Member: Dr. Patrick D. Flores
Panel Member: Prof. Jamel Joseph A. Obnamia
Panel Member: Ms. Maria Patricia N. Ledesma

ABSTRACT

The Archived Map of Home was both biographical and autobiographical as it explored the experiences of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), their families, and the author herself. The thesis project took the form of an installation art exhibition staged at the Corredor Gallery of the UP College of Fine Arts in 2018.

The work examined the Filipino diaspora and the emotional conditions produced by migration through the use of ready-made objects and padala collected from OFWs and their families. These belongings and sent objects reflected labor, sacrifice, care, and the longing experienced by migrant families separated by geographic distance.

The thesis’ conceptual framework was grounded in the experience of the child left behind by OFW parents and approached through the psychoanalytic theories of Jacques Lacan and Donald Winnicott.

The collected padala materials, including letters, souvenirs, domestic objects, and other sent items, became emotionally invested objects that mediated attachment, absence, and longing. Functioning as transitional objects in the psychoanalytic sense discussed by Winnicott, these materials operated as symbolic extensions of absent loved ones and preserved emotional connections across distance.

Archiving became the central methodological and artistic process in the creation of the work. Using belongings and padala materials collected and preserved throughout the years, the author carefully selected, analyzed, catalogued, and spatially arranged the objects within the installation. Through this process, ordinary domestic objects were transformed into affective archival records of migration, familial separation, and belonging. The installation constructed a space where fragmented familial relationships, memories, and emotional presences could be temporarily brought together.

Originally produced in 2018, the installation is revisited in this manuscript as both an artistic and archival investigation into the emotional conditions of the Filipino diaspora.

KEYWORDS: OFW diaspora, archive-based installation, psychoanalysis, longing, belonging, padala, transitional objects, archival mapping, migration, material memory

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25/05/2026

Why take MFA Applied Visual Communication this Midyear?

Because visual communication is not limited to graphic design.

It is how ideas move through the world.

Painters communicate through color, composition, and image. Sculptors communicate through scale, material, and presence. Architects communicate through movement and space. Performance artists communicate through bodies, gesture, duration, and encounter.

Even outside the arts, we constantly communicate visually:
through presentations, interfaces, social media, exhibitions, classrooms, campaigns, public spaces, archives, and everyday life.

This course approaches visual communication as an interdisciplinary practice of translation:
How do artistic ideas become public?
How do works become legible to audiences?
How do images, spaces, objects, performances, and systems create meaning?

Designed for MFA students and interdisciplinary practitioners, the course combines readings, discussion, studio production, critique, and applied experimentation across media and forms.

Visual communication is not merely a specialization.

It is a contemporary condition.

And increasingly, every practitioner must learn how their work speaks, circulates, survives, and resonates in the world.

FA233: MFA Applied Visual Communication
Midyear Term 2026
18 June – 22 July

For MFA students: prerequisite courses must be fulfilled.
For non-MFA students: Consent of Instructor is required.
Students from non-MFA majors may enroll if suitable and permitted by their home program.

29/04/2026

Printmaker Ambie Abaño shares her thoughts and approaches to her art. Abaño finished her MFA at the UP College of Fine Arts wherein she explored tropes, portraiture and the flexibility of material with relief printmaking. She currently shares her expertise as Associate Professor with students at the UP College of Fine Arts printmaking studio.

6 likes, 1 comment. "EP82: A Sanctuary of Memories Ambie Abaño Built | Printmaking, Beyond My Body, Ibarra Dela Rosa, AAP"

22/04/2026

Announcement:

MFA Thesis Oral Defense

SAMANTHA D. FELEO

entitled

CYCLES OF BECOMING:
MATERIAL NEGOTIATION AND CRYSTALLINE TEMPORALITY IN GENERATIVE SCULPTURE

30 April 2026, Thursday, 10:00 AM,
Conference Room, Art and Design West Building,
College of Fine Arts, UP Diliman

ABSTRACT

This practice-led research investigates the concept of "Crystalline Temporality," a framework
that explores the non-linear, durational rhythms inherent in chemical crystal growth and their
implications for contemporary sculpture. Challenging the traditional notion of the art object as static and immutable, this thesis positions the artwork not as a fixed artifact, but as a "metabolic event"—a continuous negotiation between human intervention, technological monitoring, and the inherent agency of "vibrant matter."

The inquiry is structured around the tension between unilateral control (the artist’s imposition of form) and material negotiation (the response to the material’s needs). Grounded in Systems Aesthetics and New Materialism, the methodology synthesizes chemical experimentation with a custom-built, open-source cybernetic interface, "Crystaltronics." This system performs a process of transduction—translating the invisible metabolic shifts of Monoammonium Phosphate (MAP) crystals into perceptible digital “call for care”. Rather than automating the process for industrial perfection, the technology functions as an empathic listening device, enabling a telematic feedback loop that redefines the artist’s role from fabricator to responsive steward, paralleling the devoted labor of maternal care.

The research is materialized through the generative installation Cycles of Becoming. The
exhibition choreographs a spatial narrative across four distinct zones mapping the material
lifecycle—from the inception of form (The Grain of Sugar), to active growth (The Open Studio), to historical accumulation (The Crystal Archive), and finally, to chemical resorption (The Crystal Cave). By capturing the full spectrum of morphogenesis—including unpredictable material "imperfections" such as efflorescence and structural entropy—the study demonstrates that failure and dissolution are not compromises of form, but vital phases of cyclical regeneration. Extending this logic of the "Open System" outward, the project actively subverts the traditional gallery dynamic through public pedagogical workshops, transforming the viewer from a passive witness into an active co-creator entangled in the material's survival.

Ultimately, this thesis posits that the "threshold of form" is permeable. By dissolving the
dichotomy between the organic and the synthetic, the grown and built, the research reveals that even within inorganic matter, there exists a profound capacity for becoming, arguing that the true artwork is not the final object, but the precarious, cyclical unfolding of the system itself.

Keywords: Crystal, Crystalline Temporality, New Materialism, Ethics of Care, Vibrant
Matter, Systems Aesthetics, Generative Art, Installation Art, Tech Art, Cybernetic
Transduction

20/04/2026

Making is only the beginning.

The MFA program challenges artists to push beyond production — toward research, reflection, and transformation.

Work alongside peers and mentors in an environment that values depth, dialogue, and critical rigor.

Applications are now open.

The Master of Fine Arts program at the UP College of Fine Arts is designed for artists committed to sustained research, critical engagement, and the expansion of their practice.
If you are ready to deepen your work within a rigorous and supportive academic environment, we invite you to apply.

Applications are now open.

MFA APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
UP College of Fine Arts, UP Diliman

A. Eligibility
Applicants must have:
1. A baccalaureate degree in Fine Arts, Visual Arts, Design, or related art degree from a recognized institution.
o Non-art degrees may be evaluated on a case-to-case basis relative to current art practice.

2. At least two (2) years of professional art practice.
o Exceptional cases with at least one (1) year may be considered.

3. A Cumulative Weighted Average Grade (CWAG) of 2.00 or better (or its equivalent).

4. For foreign applicants: Graduate-level English proficiency (TOEFL/IELTS per UP standards).

APPLICATION DOCUMENTS

Applicants must submit the following in one complete application package:

1. Fully accomplished UPCFA Graduate Program Application Form
2. PSA Birth Certificate (original + photocopy)
o Married applicants: Marriage Certificate
3. Official Transcript of Records (original + photocopy)
4. Letter of Intent
o State your artistic direction, goals, and reasons for pursuing the MFA
5. Portfolio of Works

May be submitted as:
o Original works
o Photographic prints (minimum 5R size)
o Flash drive (digital documentation)

6. Two (2) Sealed Recommendation Letters
o From professors, employers, or professionals in the field
o Referees’ signatures must be affixed across the envelope flap

7. Application Fee (Non-refundable)
o ₱700.00 (Local Applicants)
o $20.00 (Foreign Applicants)

Incomplete application packages will not be processed.

Important Dates
Application Period: 01–30 April 2026

After Submission
• Qualified applicants will be scheduled for:
• Panel Interview
• Portfolio Presentation
• Additional university requirements (e.g., health clearance, proposed plan of study) may be imposed upon admission.
• Applicants from non-art undergraduate degrees may be required to complete prerequisite undergraduate units.

For Foreign Applicants
• Student visa or study permit upon acceptance
• Official TOEFL or IELTS numeric results
• Work permit (if intending to work while studying)

All required documents must be submitted in one complete application package to the UP College of Fine Arts Graduate Office within the application period (April 1–30, 2026).
Incomplete applications will not be processed.
• Submission is physical (hard copy)
• Sealed recommendation letters must remain sealed
• Portfolio may be submitted as original works, prints, or digital files (flash drive)

MFA APPLICATION SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
All applicants must submit their requirements in one complete application package within the official application period (01–30 April 2026).

1. Prepare Your Application Package
Place the following in one properly labeled envelope:
• Accomplished Application Form
• PSA Birth Certificate (original + photocopy)
• Official Transcript of Records (original + photocopy)
• Letter of Intent
• Portfolio (original works, prints, or flash drive with digital documentation)
• Two (2) sealed recommendation letters
• Proof of payment of application fee

All documents must be complete upon submission.

Incomplete or partial submissions will not be processed.

2. Label Your Envelope Clearly
Write the following on the front of your envelope:
MFA Application – [Full Name]
Contact Number
Email Address

3. Submit Your Application
Applications may be submitted through:

Option A: In-Person Submission
Graduate Office
College of Fine Arts
G/F Bartlett Hall
UP Diliman, Quezon City
(Office hours: 9-5)

Option B: Courier Delivery
Applications sent via courier must arrive within the application period.

The College is not responsible for delays in delivery.

Important Reminders
• Submit all requirements together in one package.
• Sealed recommendation letters must remain sealed.
• Late submissions will not be accepted.
• Only applicants with complete requirements will be scheduled for interview and portfolio presentation.

13/04/2026

Artistic growth does not end with the undergraduate degree.

The MFA at UP College of Fine Arts is for artists who recognize that their work can evolve further — through sustained inquiry, critique, and research-driven practice.

If you are ready for the next stage of your development, apply.

Applications are now open.

The Master of Fine Arts program at the UP College of Fine Arts is designed for artists committed to sustained research, critical engagement, and the expansion of their practice.
If you are ready to deepen your work within a rigorous and supportive academic environment, we invite you to apply.

Applications are now open.

MFA APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
UP College of Fine Arts, UP Diliman

A. Eligibility
Applicants must have:
1. A baccalaureate degree in Fine Arts, Visual Arts, Design, or related art degree from a recognized institution.
o Non-art degrees may be evaluated on a case-to-case basis relative to current art practice.

2. At least two (2) years of professional art practice.
o Exceptional cases with at least one (1) year may be considered.

3. A Cumulative Weighted Average Grade (CWAG) of 2.00 or better (or its equivalent).

4. For foreign applicants: Graduate-level English proficiency (TOEFL/IELTS per UP standards).

APPLICATION DOCUMENTS

Applicants must submit the following in one complete application package:

1. Fully accomplished UPCFA Graduate Program Application Form
2. PSA Birth Certificate (original + photocopy)
o Married applicants: Marriage Certificate
3. Official Transcript of Records (original + photocopy)
4. Letter of Intent
o State your artistic direction, goals, and reasons for pursuing the MFA
5. Portfolio of Works

May be submitted as:
o Original works
o Photographic prints (minimum 5R size)
o Flash drive (digital documentation)

6. Two (2) Sealed Recommendation Letters
o From professors, employers, or professionals in the field
o Referees’ signatures must be affixed across the envelope flap

7. Application Fee (Non-refundable)
o ₱700.00 (Local Applicants)
o $20.00 (Foreign Applicants)

Incomplete application packages will not be processed.

Important Dates
Application Period: 01–30 April 2026

After Submission
• Qualified applicants will be scheduled for:
• Panel Interview
• Portfolio Presentation
• Additional university requirements (e.g., health clearance, proposed plan of study) may be imposed upon admission.
• Applicants from non-art undergraduate degrees may be required to complete prerequisite undergraduate units.

For Foreign Applicants
• Student visa or study permit upon acceptance
• Official TOEFL or IELTS numeric results
• Work permit (if intending to work while studying)

All required documents must be submitted in one complete application package to the UP College of Fine Arts Graduate Office within the application period (April 1–30, 2026).
Incomplete applications will not be processed.
• Submission is physical (hard copy)
• Sealed recommendation letters must remain sealed
• Portfolio may be submitted as original works, prints, or digital files (flash drive)

MFA APPLICATION SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
All applicants must submit their requirements in one complete application package within the official application period (01–30 April 2026).

1. Prepare Your Application Package
Place the following in one properly labeled envelope:
• Accomplished Application Form
• PSA Birth Certificate (original + photocopy)
• Official Transcript of Records (original + photocopy)
• Letter of Intent
• Portfolio (original works, prints, or flash drive with digital documentation)
• Two (2) sealed recommendation letters
• Proof of payment of application fee

All documents must be complete upon submission.

Incomplete or partial submissions will not be processed.

2. Label Your Envelope Clearly
Write the following on the front of your envelope:
MFA Application – [Full Name]
Contact Number
Email Address

3. Submit Your Application
Applications may be submitted through:

Option A: In-Person Submission
Graduate Office
College of Fine Arts
G/F Bartlett Hall
UP Diliman, Quezon City
(Office hours: 9-5)

Option B: Courier Delivery
Applications sent via courier must arrive within the application period.

The College is not responsible for delays in delivery.

Important Reminders
• Submit all requirements together in one package.
• Sealed recommendation letters must remain sealed.
• Late submissions will not be accepted.
• Only applicants with complete requirements will be scheduled for interview and portfolio presentation.

07/04/2026

The future of contemporary art is shaped by artists who think critically, research rigorously, and practice deliberately.

The MFA program at UP College of Fine Arts supports practitioners contributing to local and global discourse.

Be part of that conversation.

The Master of Fine Arts program at the UP College of Fine Arts is designed for artists committed to sustained research, critical engagement, and the expansion of their practice.
If you are ready to deepen your work within a rigorous and supportive academic environment, we invite you to apply.

Applications are now open.

MFA APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
UP College of Fine Arts, UP Diliman

A. Eligibility
Applicants must have:
1. A baccalaureate degree in Fine Arts, Visual Arts, Design, or related art degree from a recognized institution.
o Non-art degrees may be evaluated on a case-to-case basis relative to current art practice.

2. At least two (2) years of professional art practice.
o Exceptional cases with at least one (1) year may be considered.

3. A Cumulative Weighted Average Grade (CWAG) of 2.00 or better (or its equivalent).

4. For foreign applicants: Graduate-level English proficiency (TOEFL/IELTS per UP standards).

APPLICATION DOCUMENTS

Applicants must submit the following in one complete application package:

1. Fully accomplished UPCFA Graduate Program Application Form
2. PSA Birth Certificate (original + photocopy)
o Married applicants: Marriage Certificate
3. Official Transcript of Records (original + photocopy)
4. Letter of Intent
o State your artistic direction, goals, and reasons for pursuing the MFA
5. Portfolio of Works

May be submitted as:
o Original works
o Photographic prints (minimum 5R size)
o Flash drive (digital documentation)

6. Two (2) Sealed Recommendation Letters
o From professors, employers, or professionals in the field
o Referees’ signatures must be affixed across the envelope flap

7. Application Fee (Non-refundable)
o ₱700.00 (Local Applicants)
o $20.00 (Foreign Applicants)

Incomplete application packages will not be processed.

Important Dates
Application Period: 01–30 April 2026

After Submission
• Qualified applicants will be scheduled for:
• Panel Interview
• Portfolio Presentation
• Additional university requirements (e.g., health clearance, proposed plan of study) may be imposed upon admission.
• Applicants from non-art undergraduate degrees may be required to complete prerequisite undergraduate units.

For Foreign Applicants
• Student visa or study permit upon acceptance
• Official TOEFL or IELTS numeric results
• Work permit (if intending to work while studying)

All required documents must be submitted in one complete application package to the UP College of Fine Arts Graduate Office within the application period (April 1–30, 2026).
Incomplete applications will not be processed.
• Submission is physical (hard copy)
• Sealed recommendation letters must remain sealed
• Portfolio may be submitted as original works, prints, or digital files (flash drive)

MFA APPLICATION SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
All applicants must submit their requirements in one complete application package within the official application period (01–30 April 2026).

1. Prepare Your Application Package
Place the following in one properly labeled envelope:
• Accomplished Application Form
• PSA Birth Certificate (original + photocopy)
• Official Transcript of Records (original + photocopy)
• Letter of Intent
• Portfolio (original works, prints, or flash drive with digital documentation)
• Two (2) sealed recommendation letters
• Proof of payment of application fee

All documents must be complete upon submission.

Incomplete or partial submissions will not be processed.

2. Label Your Envelope Clearly
Write the following on the front of your envelope:
MFA Application – [Full Name]
Contact Number
Email Address

3. Submit Your Application
Applications may be submitted through:

Option A: In-Person Submission
Graduate Office
College of Fine Arts
G/F Bartlett Hall
UP Diliman, Quezon City
(Office hours: 9-5)

Option B: Courier Delivery
Applications sent via courier must arrive within the application period.

The College is not responsible for delays in delivery.

Important Reminders
• Submit all requirements together in one package.
• Sealed recommendation letters must remain sealed.
• Late submissions will not be accepted.
• Only applicants with complete requirements will be scheduled for interview and portfolio presentation.