Cranbrook Academy of Art is the nation’s top-ranked school devoted exclusively to graduate education in art, architecture, craft, and design. Each year, more than 100 self-motivated students come together to form an artistic community in which each individual develops with the mentorship of renowned Artists-in-Residence.
Cranbrook’s simple but radical educational approach was created more than 90 years ago, and its top-ranked programs have consistently produced some of the world’s leading artists, architects, and designers.
At Cranbrook, we believe that graduate school should be the foundation for a lifelong career in art, architecture, and design. Like real life, our educational experience is modeled on professional artistic practice. Our program is focused on time spent in the studio, not the lecture hall. Cranbrook offers 11 programs of study leading to the MFA or MArch degree, each with a dedicated Artist-in-Residence who lives and works on campus. Departments provide only one forum for study, however. Students, like Artists-in-Residence, readily cross disciplinary boundaries, experiment with different media, and learn from other disciplinary viewpoints. This curiosity fuels Cranbrook’s innovative legacy.
To live and work with more than 100 other artists, architects, and designers on a historically significant, exquisitely designed campus is an unusual and remarkable way to study. In addition to planned programs, the educational experience at Cranbrook develops from the character of the individuals and the chemistry of the group. While it is a place of long-standing creativity, it is also a living and working community that is always changing and growing.
Cranbrook Academy of Art continues to have a significant impact on the world of art, architecture, and design completely disproportionate to its size. Outstanding artists, architects and designers – the Saarinens, Ray and Charles Eames, Daniel Libeskind, Florence Knoll, Jack Lenor Larsen, Donald Lipski, Duane Hanson, Tony Matelli, Niels Diffrient, Lorraine Wild, and Hani Rashid, to name only a few – have been a part of Cranbrook’s community of artists. Lasting friendships formed at the Academy lead to future professional collaboration. Our alumni have an international influence through their individual artistic practices and teaching professions. It’s reasonable to say that the work emanating from Cranbrook in the 20th century changed the way people live, and the way they understand art and design.
