Ren Adams

Thanks for the detailed responses, littlenova and GreenPainter. I have spoken with both Renee and Zlata and had an excellent conversation with Zlata especially. She's excellent.
 
MICA definitely stands out. I've been recommending their program to many. 
 
I was originally wait listed at MICA after my interview with Renee, which initially broke my heart. They were #1 on my list. MassArt, which is also "high ranking" doesn't compare (for me, at least) in terms of their low residency program, staff, output, or even their handling of my application and interview.
 
I was called in from the wait list recently. In my second phone call, Zlata indicated that the program was worried that I was so focused on printmaking, that their printmaking facilities would disappoint me, or not be able to handle what I was doing. She was making sure I would be happy there. It sounded as though they factored this "print studio shortcoming" in early on, and bumped me to the wait list because of it (though she did not, at any time, say this directly).
 
I wish they had asked me if I was worried about the print facilities during my first interview. If I had been accepted in the first round, it may have changed my overall "taste." I let Zlata know that it would NOT be a problem and I'd be branching more into new media, anyway.
 
 
Edited to add:
 
I will be sharing details about my final decisions here in this thread, too. I think we've started quite a nice resource for future low residency students that would be nice to keep building. Our firsthand accounts, insights and experiences are incredibly helpful to each other and others, especially since other parts of the Visual Arts forum don't always discuss this kind of program. 

I received a call yesterday that confirmed I was accepted into the MICA Summer MFA program, with scholarship. I also received an email with a ton of information attached, including funding info.

I've been on the wait list for some time now.

I received a call yesterday that confirmed I was accepted into the MICA Summer MFA program, with scholarship. I also received an email with a ton of information attached, including funding info.

I've been on the wait list for some time now.

Despite some recent um, awkward posts on this forum, I just want to say thank you to everyone who has been supportive and helpful on this forum! I don't think I would've survived the application process without it!!!
 
 
Sorry, I am a day late with this post! I've been sick and working. O_O
 
Anyhoo, dude, don't worry too much about any of the comments thus far. "Illustration" is a dirty word in the world of fine arts, but it doesn't have to be. The reason for this pejorative use is complex, and so I think a lot of it stems from confusing the "easiness" of the reading of an image with as you said, mistakenly associating graphic/linear (and sometimes humorous) works with that easiness. Personally, I can see your images developing, but they're just not quite there yet, however you ARE definitely on your way. Don't worry about potentially being read as illustrative, and just keep making the work you need to make and pushing yourself and your comfort zone (with both regards to ideas and form). I can see a little bit of Lisa Yuskavage dotted in and around your portfolio, which is interesting. It took me like 5 years of bad drawings to get into school (and your drawings are way ahead of what I was doing a few years ago!). I have also gotten the "illustration" bit, b/c of my love of line-work and use of humor. So don't worry, and just keep making stuff! I was going to remain anonymous, but I have nothing to hide nor regret any of my past posts, so here's my website if you're curious.
 
Good luck to you in your future applications, and as the Koreans say, fighting!!!!

Sorry for beating a dead horse, but it feels like an uphill battle for you to apply for painting. Much of painting discourse has, for a long time, become about the material itself, while your concerns feel narrative. One of my professors explained his notion of illustration vs drawing/painting as an act of portrayal vs a material activation, or to bring a preconceived notion alive vs activating new notions. When I think of illustrative artists, Yoshitomo Nara is the first to come to my mind, but the discussions in his work represent his cultural identity as well as a sly nuanced suggestiveness, rather than something opaque. He also branches out his devilish girls into multimedia, while maintaining his vision. Your work, as well as your statement (purely my opinion) reflects an illustrative approach to narrative and historical reference. Much of the work is humorous, entertaining, strong and clearly considered, but divergent from the direction of painting. 
 
It's not uncommon for an illustrator to bleed into art dialogue, and vice versa. I feel calling illustration a bluntly 'commercial' practice a bit over generalized. Could you elaborate more one what you think fine arts does 'outside of that?' I think there is a fairly clear distinction between drawing and illustration.
 
(In typing this I see michaelwebster beat me to a few points )

Many Thanks indeed!! I literally stopped posting because of how obnoxious it was to skip over all the excessiveness. Cheers! 

Finally - thank you

Guys, thismessageispaidforby... has been temporarily suspended for using offensive language. I hope everyone else can stay civilized. I don't enjoy using such strong interference in threads but this was getting excessive.

BOOM!!! Full scholarship, stipend and teaching ASS-shit-san-sip from USC!!!
 
THUMBS DOWN to Columbia and their over priced, lack of funding school!!! 
 
F-NYC, LA here comes the HEATER!!!!

I'm going to the Foundation Center sometime this week to check out their grant and scholarship database.  This is the organization that puts out those huge grant resource books.  They have locations around the US you can visit for free and search their database with the help of their librarians. - Check out the website and find a location near you.
 
I'll post what I find, here's what I have now:
 
Worldstudio Scholarship: Due March 29th
Artists of color / $2,000 - $5,000
http://scholarships.worldstudioinc.com/
 
Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Arts Awards: Due November (apply next year?)
Artists from low income backgrounds / up to $50,000 award
http://www.jkcf.org/scholarships/graduate-scholarships/graduate-arts-award/

Congrats, lady rainicorn!!!
 
 
 
There are plenty of fellowships out there, if you take the time to dig deep and identify the ones that fit your profile. By profile I mean, your citizenship, your hometown, home state, socioeconomic background, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, undergraduate institution, exact area of study, research interests, international experience/language skills, etc. A lot of funds are restricted in one way or another, so I have found it incredibly beneficial to target my search and have had great results over the years. (For example, one year, my scholarship applications fell through and I was short about $4000 for summer housing and sent out letters to 15+ U.S. organisations based on my citizenship/ancestry, and within a few weeks I was offered free summer housing in downtown Manhattan, so I could do my internship. Sure, I come from a very low-income background, so I have done my fair share of begging throughout college--but have come across very-very generous individuals and organizations.) 
 
Good starting points are the lists of outside fellowships that most schools actually publish on their websites. I'm sure if you ask any of the financial aid offices you're in touch with, they'll be happy to help you and provide a list. Most large $10,000+ fellowships had deadlines in the fall, so you might want to keep that in mind for your second year of grad school. But I'm sure you'll be able to find a bunch of smaller awards to apply for now, if you aren't missing gigantic sums after your institutional grants.
 
I am not a U.S. citizen, so I wouldn't know about the money out there that's restricted to citizens (most of it), but here are a few $10,000+ ones: Cooke, AAUW (for women), Kinley, PEO (for women).
 

Congrats capers and rainicorn!

"The Bank" Doesn't seem to be too helpful for the Visual Arts, so let's start compiling a list of external grants and fellowships for the visual arts. 
 
Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Arts Award
Up to 50K/Year
Need to be nominate by school, deadline is the November before the fall you anticipate attending school. 
http://www.jkcf.org/scholarships/graduate-scholarships/graduate-arts-award/
 
Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fund
Must be nominated
Stipend of $18,000 plus tuition/fees. 
Open only to U.S. citizens.  
http://foundationcenter.org/grantmaker/liebmann/
Designated institutions only: http://foundationcenter.org/grantmaker/liebmann/application.html
 
Point Scholarship
Eligibility: LGBTQ
Awards up to 25k annualy on 'last provider' basis (Ie: Fills in the gaps)
Part one due: Last week of January before anticipated attendance
http://www.pointfoundation.org/OnlineApplicationInfo
 
Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship
1 Award Annually up to $20,000 in architectural design and history, art and design, etc
1 Award Annually $9,000 in art, architecture, etc
The fellowships are to be used by the recipients toward defraying the expenses of advanced study in America or abroad.
Preference to under 25
Deadline: December before anticipated attendance
http://faa.illinois.edu/kate_neal_kinley_memorial_fellowship
 
Dedalus Foundation
Students in painting or sculpture who are entering their final year in an M.F.A. degree program at a college, university, or art school in the United States may be nominated [by their departments]
Each fellowship carries a stipend of $20,000
http://dedalusfoundation.org/

Got my official email acceptance at ucla. Can finally breathe easy and not be so bummed I missed calarts interview day

HAHAHAHA - you again. You really can't keep it together can you? 
 
Though, maybe some insults and a little 'keeping it real' positivity is better then listening to a bunch of whiny, sacred individuals who only place a post to either:
 
A. Say they got in or rejected for a specific program
B. Get some 'inside info' about a fucking interview so they can 'better' themselves and make up some lies to tell the professors. 
C. Say congrats (secretly pissed off at the same time)
 
WOW

OK OK OK OK OK - I get it.... 
 
 
 
Stress - No
Misread - No
No Thanks
In this Instance - Not Helpful - Only bragging. 
Not to assume the worse - Yes, we all get it. Glad someone told us all again. 
 
Assumptions - what kind of trouble you speak of?
 
Interesting Posts - Sure. More like Real. 
Maybe I will
Go back and delete - Never. 
Reflect before posting- Sure did. Toned it down a bit actually. 
 
Schools acceptance - Thanks. After leaving school once before I doubt even going back again. I accepted, but still. Academ-dick BS is killer. DO NOT let those fools at the higher level control your though power. Personally, Im tired of people asking why I have an incomplete MFA degree?
 
____
 
 
 
 
This was not a personal attack, but rather a generalization of how schools work. Nothing schools give you everything. Those that think they are PIMP SHIT, charge you everything they can. SVA is a cash dump hole. They take anyone who has a functioning brain and is willing to pay. Take it personally if you would like. You shouldnt. What you said pisses me off. Not becuase of how you set it, but the content itself. Everyone on this forum has shelled out muko bucko to apply to schools where it is nothing but a crap shoot. Does anyone here actually realize what is happening with our economy and the world we live in. They are taking our freedoms and liberties away one day at a time. What about the poison they put in all your waters? Your food? The air you breath? The security and fact that the government is recording EVERY SINGLE phone call, text message and email. How about the Smart Meter? How about everything 30 seconds your smartphone sends out a signal to show your exact location. Dont believe me? Put your phone by a music player and listen for the music to get interrupted by the signal. Control!!! This forum is about freedom and what can believed to be perceived as truth. Try saying something about gun control or any heated political topic on twid-turd or fakebook and see how long it takes for your account to be suspended or monitored. ITS ALL CONTROL. It happens at the very top, and it happens with the wanna-be professors who pick and choose who they want. 
Why the F are you people applying to school in the first place. Don't you all realize the art world is dead and unless your are in with the 1%, blew a blue chip gallery director or you fuck a  chicken in public. 99.9999% of you, including myself, DO NOT STAND A CHANCE out there.  Get a clue people. Your 'graduate degree' will not help you or make you a better artist. It only postpones the realization. Here how it is in school - 'try this, try that, do this, do that, write this, write that, experiment here, experiment their. Your just wasting your time. If you are good, then you will be good. Its not like learning a language or how to read. You dont get better as you go. Graduate School pumps you full of BS and then they say, good luck! On to the next crowd of losers with no chance. IF YOU WERE GOOD - they would know it and would probably reject you because you are a threat to them and others around. Or, they give you a shit tone of money and do what it takes to get you to the school. I like the second way better but thats me. 
 
Top 5 school? Does anyone actually know how those rankings work? Its based on the income of previous Alumni and schools they teach at. 
 
Ignore my nonsense? This is truth, my fellow patriot, and if you dot believe me, try calling or contacting some recent graduates from SVA or Ohio State and see what they are doing, at this moment? You are diluted as every other american who thinks that the american dream is about doing whatever it is you want and going to school and getting a little jobby so one can live all comfy and shit. HAHAHAHAHAHA! FUCK THAT! Get out there and make a difference, bro. You 'straight up' got in, but so did everyone other person, so now what. You going to take a chance and move to the BIG GAUNTLET, I mean BIG APPLE, and grind hard, get dirty and do some shit or you going to go to broketown OHIO, where you live all comfy and teach a bunch of UG losers who are attempting to get a BFA when they should be more concerned with a BS or something that benefits humanity, not their penis. 
 
'your career as an artist is limitless.  Make the most of any and all opportunities you are given' - HAHAHAHAHA - limitless my ass. Good luck showing anywhere besides some 'National Juried Exhibition' which costs you forty bucks. HAHAHAHA
 
 
 
That is as cute as your little bunny in your picture. This is for real, so be wowed!!!
 
 
 
Hello, we meet again. I see you have thrown in your two cents. That is nice. I know no one cares on this forum what I have to say, but you sure do. To make at least a quarter of your posts directed to hatred towards me. Don't worry,  I am used to it. Grad Crit, Streets or Public Forum - you all are alike. I would tell you to stuff a fat one in your mouth, but I am not like that. So, BUDDY, why not trying being a little bit more creative with, not only your name choice, but how you say things about a fellow poster. I don't believe a 'Troll' would have posted over 50 times. I will admit, one could see some of those posts as negative or a bit touchy in subjects, but thats how life is. I give input when it seems necessary. Spontaneous at times, but informed.
Its nice that people share what schools they applied for and if they got rejected. Haven't heard much from you? Did you even apply to school? Are you an 'Artist'? Why not share something about yourself instead of dogging on what others say? Are you sad because the 'BIG school' rejected your pa-the-dick application and human existence. Either way, I still love you and hope where ever you are today, that the sun is shining and there is a cool breeze blowing ever so gently across your backside. I wish you would smile, look up at the clouds and take a deep breath. In and Out. Rising and Dissolving. Coming and Going. Completion. Realize everything around you is in the same position as you and you are no better then the earth you stand on or the rock that is to your right. 
 
-----------
What someone does is artful. What comes out is a bi-product called ART. Schools are buying you, your personality, your talent, your mind - not some product. They want engagers, not closet dwelling poopers.
 
Best to you all. 

no, but for real, what is your problem? why have you been trolling this forum for months adding your inane comments when you know no one here gives a shit about you? is it because the only time you get to interact with other people is when you annoy them to the point that they'll actually tell you to shut up?

i'm telling you... this person has GOT to be doing some really idiotic ~performance art~ here...  i can't believe this is for real.  wow. 
 
 
 
Congratulations!!  Yay for a fellow printmaker!
 
 
Now, was that so hard????

Umm, wouldn't you instead not like the applicants attitude, rather than the forum itself?

But for real, I am sure glad you stalked this forum for probably months and decided to give us your two cents after you 'got something' so you would feel inferior to the rest of us, dick!

Have a great time either A, living in dumptown Ohio and letting your 'free ride' take you nowhere or B, paying with your asshole at SVA where ultimately - even when trying to buy your way in - you will end up with a masters in serving cafe mochas. This will be fitting because most likely, anything you produce, will never make outside the walls of your place of employment. Unless, you throw it to the curb, where it will better be served as a urinal for some stray animal.

<3

Everyone has had really insightful advice regarding MFA's. I am currently networking while working my full time day job. By next year I plan on positioning myself in a higher paying job that allows me the flexibility to go part time if I get into school --- as far as I'm concerned this job is already prepared for me in the coming months. If I get into a school I will only do it if it's a scholarship type deal...I don't want to pay for the degree or go into any debt. Even then I want to postpone starting for a year to just build up several kinds of savings accounts and store up as much as possible before the financial change. I don't make art for money at all and it is very much a personal creative process. If I can't get a scholarship than it's not for me....that's my plan.