Message from the Provost

Exploring the Art and Ideas That Shape Our Culture

We create opportunities at the Corcoran for students, faculty and visitors in Washington, D.C. and throughout the world.

We invite you to join us—as a student, a parent, a visitor, or a supporter—in the wide-reaching yet intimate Corcoran community. You may be interested in the Corcoran’s degree programs or innovative continuing education opportunities. Anyone can attend lectures, poetry readings, arts events, and exhibitions, which are offered through our Visiting Artists program or through our fast-paced, community-based Gallery 31.

A highlight of our year is NEXT, a gallery-wide exhibition showcasing the thesis work of our graduating students. The month-long celebration includes private tours for gallerists, professional networking opportunities, thesis critiques and portfolio reviews.

Our graduate programs are challenging and competitive, rigorous in nature and rewarding by design. Nationally known graduate degree programs include a Masters of Arts in the fields of Exhibition Design, Interior Design, Art and the Book, Teaching, and Art Education. Additionally, the new Master of Arts in New Media Photojournalism program—launched in Fall 2011—links students with investigative photographers teaching Corcoran students to tell their stories.

From their first encounter at the Corcoran, our Undergraduate students and AFA students are encouraged to see, question, explore, critique, and problem-solve using art as both a guide and a vehicle to understand the world. Our talented undergraduates study painting, drawing, ceramics, sculpture, graphic design, interior design, digital media, fine art photography, and photojournalism with renowned and award-winning faculty-in-residence.

Your Corcoran experience as an adult learner might include a four-week digital photography seminar, a semester-long course in digital media designed to upgrade your workplace skills, or a botanical illustration course led by a nationally known Corcoran artist and faculty member.

Performance projects, demonstrations of paper engineering, exhibitions of Norwegian design, and poetry readings are just a small sample of the exciting, ever-changing offerings in Gallery 31. 

Our Visiting Artist Program brings artists, scholars, and critics to the Corcoran to for intensive, practical sessions with students. The 2011 schedule building upon the much-anticipated 30 Americans exhibition, includes sessions with Carrie Mae Weams, Hank Willis Thomas, Nick Cave, Kara Walker, and Nina Chanel Abney.

Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, one of Mexico’s most important contemporary photographers, is Artist-in-Residence for the fall 2011 semester. He joins the Corcoran via an Embassy partnership with the Mexican Cultural Institute.

Beyond our walls, we take students and teachers into the community and beyond, offering study abroad opportunities in India, Mexico, Israel, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Glasgow, Scotland this year.  

The Corcoran experience: next to the White House in the nation’s capital, at the intersection of international culture and policy-making, surrounded by world-class museums. We bring together the strengths of an internationally recognized museum and prominent art and design college, creating a place where students explore, discover, enjoy, and engage in art and design.  

Catherine Armour
Provost and Chief Academic Officer

About Catherine Armour

Catherine Armour is the Provost and Chief Academic Officer of the Corcoran College of Art + Design. Ms. Armour has led design projects in architecture, interior design, and product design for a wide variety of clients, including Hyatt Hotels, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Buffalo Sabres Hockey Team, and Vassar College. Her design work includes projects for Disney; the Las Vegas Clark County Public Library; Emory University Art Museum; the National Museum of Prehistory, Taiwan; the World Bank; and most recently, the National Cathedral School for Girls, located at the base of the National Cathedral Close in Washington, D.C.

A frequent lecturer on design and architecture and an award-winning architect, she is also a renowned educator who has developed many of the Corcoran’s Master’s degree programs—including the Master of Arts in Interior Design and the Master of Arts in Exhibition Design—drawing on the unique strengths of the cultural environment of Washington, D.C.

In a joint project between the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Corcoran College of Art + Design, Ms. Armour curated and designed the popular exhibition The Furniture of Frank Gehry, and led a team of designers, museum professionals, and students in designing the exhibition Modernism: Designing a New World, 1914–1939.

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