I'm preparing my application materials for art history PhD programs. I have two professors who agreed to write me reference letters, and I am thinking about a rather unconventional third referee….I wrote my Master's dissertation on two artists, one of whom know me well- we met regularly for about a year and discussed his work in his studio. Since he knows me and my research study very well, I think that a reference letter from him might be very useful. Currently, he is teaching in an MFA program in a big university in my country, so he is not entirely a non-academic referee, isn't he?
What do you think? does the committee will accept a reference letter from an artist who was the subject of my thesis?
thanks