beriredux

Oops, right, sorry!!! I got excited when I saw contemporary in quotes because I had been thinking about this quite a bit lately.

Wow! I hadn’t seen the one on the RCA before. The blatant pandering to the market and lack of institutional criticality is shocking! Here we see bad, or misguided intentions feeding the system. I saw the Goldsmiths one a long time ago...not sure how I'd feel about it now.

The part that I think will need explaining is why the courses you took outside of art were so disposable. It seems to indicate a disconnect between other academic subjects and your art practice (less of a problem with RISD than with the Unis). This is more understandable with required (non-art) course work, but I think it is more of a concern with electives. It could maybe be explained that not only did the withdrawals allow you to prioritized art courses, but also that finding the right courses, (those that would enrich your art practice) required some trial and error (maybe?)t. Some applications (or Sops / PSs) will give you space to explain this, others with short artist statements might not. It could just be left to interviews. If adcoms really like your portfolio and statement, I think you would still get an interview without the explanation.

I don't know of any, but I agree that it would be great if there were more. The issue about programs that are 'contemporary' or those that are "'less 'contemporary'" as you say, is an interesting one. If by that you mean a more traditional program, then that is one thing and I'm not particularly interested (there will be others who are :-)), but if you are asking about programs that encourage a move past or out of the stalemate of what has come to be called 'contemporary art' (art that is both of its time, and means whatever anybody wants it to mean) then that is another. What would the characteristics of a program that encourages a move past this stalemate be? Suhail Malik (who perhaps ironically teaches at Goldsmiths - not sure how long he has been there tho) makes an interesting argument for art with explicit intentions. One thing he suggests for art to "exit" what he call "the genre of contemporary art" is for critiques to focus on whether an artwork actually does what it sets out to do, rather than rewarding the most ambiguous artworks. Is this where you wanted to go with your post liebkuchen? If so, I'd love to hear what others thought.

CCA - California College of the Arts. You can do a dual degree in Visual and Critical Studies along with a creative practice MA or MFA

Hi Skywater, Can you elaborate? With "back office" are you referring to the administration/institution? If so, can you share your experience? Also, what do you mean by "giant hot mess"? Thanks.

Hi Kogepan, There are so many multidisciplinary programs out there that it is difficult to know where to begin to answer that question in a way that would be useful. Perhaps you could narrow the field in some other way first—by location, reputation, faculty, student work—and then eliminate the ones that are too disciplinary for your needs once that is done. At the same time you need to be aware when reading program descriptions that many have a disciplinary application process for the purposes of application review only. It is a way to distribute the applications amongst faculty, as well as one of the ways they try to assemble a diverse cohort. They then dispense with disciplinary divisions once the program is under way. Your recommenders should be able to help you focus your search once you have a good idea of what you want. They know your work, have some idea about how and where it could improve and may have helpful inside info about faculty and programs. Good luck!

Yes, that is a great resource smartstrategy (thanks for re-posting :-)), but I think the OP was trying to address state schools' lower tuition, rather than just (or maybe as well as) funding.

So here's the wikipedia list of state schools as a master. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_state_universities_in_the_United_States Some motivated, generous, and service oriented person could pull the ones that have MFA programs adding comments about tuition, funding, the character of the program, and faculty etc. and make a database that was really useful.

Just thought I should add (for others reading this) that I saw that someone on another thread (from a previous year) recommended applying to multiple departments at SAIC. There may be other places where that is advisable as well.

Good question! I'd be interested in what others have to say about this. I think Goldsmiths is pretty unique that way. There is the Whitney ISP—it isn't an MFA or MA, but a graduate level program that might still get you into phd programs later...worth checking out. Maybe Northwestern, Columbia? anyone know? Carnegie Mellon?

So far, my "hook" refers to my motivation or over arching concern, but it is short...only one sentence. That may change—as it is still a work in progress.

Potentially a waste of money? Maybe check with Yale to find out if one department would pass your application over to the other, if they thought it a better fit, or if they require a separate application. A few programs have mentioned, in their info sessions, that they will do this, and I experienced this last year—my application at one school was reviewed by two committees from two different departments. Some programs only accept one application—presumably because they want you to be more decisive about what conversations you want to have. I can see your dilemma though. I have a friend whose practice sounds similar and she places herself squarely in the category of photography while acknowledging the importance of sculpture. However, unless you are engaging with actual issues around photography and/or the photographic image it might be better to stick with the sculpture department. Why do you consider yourself primarily a sculptor?

You already seem to spill your guts in your work , I wouldn’t over do it in your SOP. What you include in the SOP will depend on wether the program also asks for a personal statement and what they specify on their website. Generally, you want them to know why you do what you do, but I think you need to make sure to also allow enough space for other things like situating your work within contemporary practice materially and conceptually, why you want to go to grad school and why the particular program will be of benefit to you. I do think allowing your personality to show through is pretty important as long as it doesn’t overwhelm the work in your portfolio. Some programs want a project proposal as well. So as jujubea pointed out, there isn't a whole lot of room for too much gut spilling anyway. The best case scenario is that the reader discovers someone with a shared passion.

Hi allybee, I don't think age would make a difference once you get in to a program. I interviewed last year and had one faculty member speak about a hesitation to admit younger applicants (not me). However, I think that was specific to that program (I didn't notice that elsewhere, and the younger applicants were more like 21. 24 is closer to the average and you shouldn't have any problems getting in or participating in grad programs at that age.

Not sure exactly what you are looking for. My guess is that there aren't any programs in the US that focus on general material /technical exploration in sculpture. I could be wrong though—if I am, hopefully someone will speak up. However, if you can identify specific techniques and materials you are interested in, someone may be able to point you to a particular school or faculty member. I remember hearing about a program at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam that did a temporary program MFA in materials exploration, so there may be others out there like that. Here's the link: http://sandberg.nl/material-utopias Good luck!

I think it probably depends on which techniques you already know and which you want to learn .