In 2011, two artists enrolled at Mills and UC Berkeley, Claire Colette and Kari Marboe, saw a need for dialogue between programs and wished to create opportunities for artists in MFA programs. With this impulse they created a platform for connection through a shared exhibition offered at Root Division. This seed of an idea has become a biennial Root Division tradition called MFA Now. The MFA Now Archive Project and Juried Exhibition has provided a platform for looking at Bay Area artists and institutions in order to promote dialogue and to archive current art-making practices and models.

In what would mark the seventh iteration of the show we've decided that the needs of this year are quite different. With an international pandemic collapsing the final year of learning for many MFA students, thesis exhibitions sequestered online, the re-imagining of arts institutions, and increased unsteadiness within academic spaces -- we are presenting MFA Revisited. This exhibition is open to artists who would have graduated from their MFA programs and presented thesis exhibitions in Spring of 2020.

It is our hope to provide space and audience while bolstering the work and growth of the 2020 cohort of graduates throughout the Bay Area.

ABOUT THE MFA Revisited ARCHIVE PROJECT:
The MFA Revisited Archive is an inclusive publication of all eligible 2020 MFA graduates set to be released in March 2021. All artists who submit to the MFA Revisited exhibition will be featured in this archive. The book includes a full page dedicated to each contributing MFA graduate and a compilation of essays by faculty, Root Division staff, and the exhibition juror. The archive serves to navigate the contemporary moment in Bay Area MFA programs and to find connections between artists and institutions - even in the midst of a turbulent year.