Firenze

These are very interesting ideas. Could you give an example of how your friend teaches the art side of things in the biology course? I'm just wondering since I will have an MFA degree in two years on top of a previous master's degree in biology. I've thought of putting together a sort of "math in nature for artists" course that would involve discussing such topics as the golden mean spiral found in nature that contains the golden ratio and also geometric patterns used by muslim artists that are derived from nature.

In case the info is helpful to someone, I received a rejection letter in the mail today from Indiana University-Bloomington's painting program. Interestingly, it seems like a disproportionate number of faculty at various colleges got their MFA's there so it appears to be a great place to go for those who want to get a teaching position in the future. Has anyone received a rejection letter from the SAIC low-res program? Two weeks ago they told me (by phone) that decisions would be mailed out on Mar. 24th but I haven't received anything yet and I live in Chicago!

What department at SAIC did you apply to? I applied to painting and received a rejection letter from SAIC last week. Admissions said they're mailing out decisions for their Low-Res program today. Also, I received a mailed rejection letter from RISD today. As for networking, who you know seems to count a lot these days. It makes me wonder if I would do better job-wise if I stayed in Chicago and pursued a low-res program which involves choosing a new local mentor each semester. That could allow me to get to know faculty from the four best art departments in the area. Of course, a MFA from a regular (non low-res) program is supposedly better when applying for college teaching jobs. It's hard to know what to do......

It looks like your school isn't on the list of international schools that are eligible for federal student loans, unfortunately. Some MFA students have found success raising funds on Kickstarter.

Being an older student, myself, I forget what it's like to be a regular college-age student still forging your identity and belief systems. Thanks for explaining that and reminding me of their perspective. Patience, thoughtfulness, generosity and forbearance are definitely traits I hope to display when I start an MFA program this fall. That's an excellent goal. Best wishes to you, as well.

Complements of dictionary.reference.com for adding little to the discussion..... snark·y [snahr-kee] Show IPA Slang. adjective, snark·i·er, snark·i·est. 1. testy or irritable; short. 2. having a rudely critical tone or manner: snarky humor. Origin: snark2 + -y1 Related forms snark·i·ness, noun

Yes, I have sat in on multiple professor's critiques at multiple institutions, including SAIC. I haven't attended critiques in non-US schools. However, in investigating non-US MFA programs I've gotten the impression that most of those schools have critiques as an integral part of their curriculum. As for critiques being designed to make you question your work, WHY do artists need to have their work questioned? That implies from the beginning that there's something wrong with it. Why do art students even have to explain why they're making a particular piece of art? Art students should be free to make whatever work they want to and not have to justify it. Critiques seem like hostility towards art-making in general that actually discourages creativity rather than encouraging it. In the critiques I've attended everyone sat around with bored looks on their faces not really making strongly helpful comments to anyone and RARELY said anything positive about anyone's work. I think that's wrong. If you see positives in other students' work you should be allowed to express it. Also, there's a subtle pressure to conform instituted by the critique process. In relation to that, a few summers ago SAIC's student newspaper published a letter from a group of Jewish students attending SAIC saying that they didn't feel free to express their faith/beliefs in their artwork at SAIC. Coming from a Catholic perspective, I felt equally unwelcome to express any sort of values based on my beliefs in my artwork. The prevailing culture there tends to be against religious expression, against beauty, and leans towards a more atheist view. For example, the professor for one of my courses gave us readings that included one that was aggressively anti-Christian. In that environment, you know that putting up a painting with religious content is going to be treated with disdain at critiques, so why bother. Where is the artistic freedom? You asked, "If there is no criticism, nothing to question, what then is the point of a work if it's a closed loop?" Just the act of putting the work up for display in a critique session ensures it has a point because other art students and professors see it. That in itself prevents it from being a closed loop because it has an influence on others. I think critiques should be "discussions" in which the person making the work of art talks about any areas of their work they're struggling with, gets comments on this from classmates and professors, receives suggestions for improvement where/if needed, and also receives comments on any positives of the work. The current worldview of academic art leans towards atheism, dislike of beauty, dislike of order, dislike of introverted "lone-genius" artists, and denies that there is any sort of universal truth in this world. Giving assistance and help to art students isn't pandering....it's being human. Actually Montessori schools are pretty great because they encourage creative thinking. I'll tell you what would happen if Albrecht Durer walked through the door....everyone would tell him he's too stuck on detailed work and would tell him he needs to branch out and try something different. Then he would start making a bunch of meaningless abstract paintings, everyone would stop hassling him and another great artist would bite the dust. There was a guy in one of my SAIC classes who drew beautiful detailed imaginary landscapes in pen. Based on comments he got in critiques, he started making drab abstract works. That's the effect the class had on him so I'm sure they would do the same thing to Durer.

I question whether or not the critique process as practiced in art schools and MFA programs these days is actually beneficial to artists. It seems that the end result of critiques is to get students to conform to the current worldview of academic art rather than to help them grow as artists. So, it's kind of a brain-washing process, as I see it. You can conform and make crap art or you can rebel and make life difficult for yourself in the program. It's funny that artists are supposed to have artistic freedom because that's really not the case in grad school. They give you plenty of freedom as long as you make work that fits into the narrow spectrum of what they view as "contemporary art". If people truly had artistic freedom in art school, everyone would be encouraged to make whatever the f*** they want to and would be given assistance and encouragement in doing so. Art-making is hard! Art students don't need to be torn down by nearly constant critiques....they need encouragement!

Congrats! It might be frowned upon unless you have also received an offer from another school with better funding. In that case, you could call NYAA and ask them if they could meet the level of funding the other school is offering.

Thanks....good to know. Good luck!

Most contemporary artists suck. The art world started going to pot after Michaelangelo.

I got it, too. It initially activated a tiny slither of hope that by some miracle I might still get into the SAIC low res program. It's so annoying that the dates are wrong in the email and most people probably aren't even eligible to apply for the scholarship.

Having taken some classes at SAIC and being familiar with the atmosphere there, I totally agree with this ^.

I think they've already sent out requests for painting interviews and the wait list people are probably chosen from the pool of interviewees. Please share if you get information that contradicts this.