littlenova

Hi Ren, Thank you for the thoughtful response. This will be very useful for folks visiting this board in the future.

I was also accepted into the MassArt summer residency instead of Provincetown...kind of a bummer that they are not doing the Provincetown program this year. The 3.5 week format was a good fit for me. In any event, congrats on getting into MICA...I wish you all the best in your decision. I plan to attend MICA this summer and hope to see you there. I am really looking forward to the experience.

One other program for folks to seriously consider is SVA Applied Art...the faculty pulled out all the stops when interviewing me...David Ross is super cool (look him up on TED talks). I'll probably regret declining, but the expense and first year requirement to spend seven weeks in residency was a bit much for me.

I am typing on my IPhone with a single digit, so i'm gonna abreviate my closing. Thanks again for the thoughtful reply and wish you all the best, k

Yo Photo people:
I believe Vermont, Skowhegan and Lightwork are great places to apply. I have had friends and peers that have gone and highly recommend them. That being said, most residencies are not really grad school "prep", because they tend to look at exceptional bodies of work, a decent exhibition record or those that have completed an MFA. This is not always the case, but it is pretty competitive.

But, you never know unless you apply!

I just did a photo residency at Atlantic Center for the Arts this past fall with Rineke Dijkstra. ACA was brilliant. Last year, they had Thomas Struth. They rarely have photographers, but when they do---it's a magical place to live for a month (on the beach) and work alongside some of the most amazing artists. There were 7 of us and I was the only one without an MFA. I have no clue how I got so lucky...but, I'm glad I applied. The staff said depending on the popularity of the master artist you could be up against 35 other candidates or 200. Mine was pretty popular because of who Rineke is. But, some of them are easier to get into. And you can apply as many times as you want. (Each year...)

http://www.atlanticc...r_dijkstra.html

Only down side...you have bring your own equipment. Not as awesome as Lightwork where they have beautiful darkrooms. But, VSC is like that, too. So....

Incidentally, I got 100% grant funding from the Joan Mitchell Foundation. SCORE!

So, yeah...They are out there. You just have to look.

Carnegie Mellon.   

Ptsd - yeah, it was foudation center. I think capers (maybe?) posted it a few pages back. Might be on their recent posts in their profile.

I got my official admit letter from the school of art for UCLA, full tuition, non resident compensation and a 18k stipend for the first year. Unreal. Totally freaking unreal. Unsure what the deal is with the second year....

If your work is this disjointed and thoughtless than you'll be weeded out the first semester of graduate school. I would love to print this out and show it to USC. My hope, though, is that you have a come- to- jesus moment and realize that your views are narrow, insensitive and grossly ignorant.

I have met many famous artists and theorists who have the right to be as arrogant as you, but are humble and let their work and research level people. I would venture to say you are overcompensating for something that isn't happening in your art.

Stop bullying people. Use your words.

I didn't mean illustration in a pejorative sense, at all. I was thinking more along the lines of fine arts illustration which yes, can exist for commercial purposes, but also can exist as art outside of that. ( Audrey Kawasaki, James Jean, Mark Ryden, and Nick Iluzada are good example of people who would do 'fine art illustration' and I would actually categorize Dzama there too. Personally I feel the only difference between Jean and Dzama is the Zwirner representation for Marcel) 
 
Perhaps a post-bacc year would be good? 

As a side note, I'm not saying peeps here were necessarily using the term "illustrative" as a pejorative specific to the work being discussed here. But it can be, as I've heard it used that way by countless professors and artists. I just think the semantic argument that people can get into can be distracting, so I don't mean to put anyone down. It's interesting, b/c I feel like in Asia, the boundaries between design, illustration, and fine arts are far more fluid and overlapping. Not sure why that is, but it sure was fun to be in a culture that loves paper!!

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!!!!

Hey you...
 
Just wanted to encourage you to look up Deb Sokolow's work. She started out doing these idiosyncratic, Darger-esque illustrations and long explanations/stories to go with them about her imagined worlds and conspiracy theories. But, beyond the 2D work, she puts on really great performances that are informed by her maps and doodles and drawings. It lets you more into her intention and makes it more accessible. 
 

If your work is this disjointed and thoughtless than you'll be weeded out the first semester of graduate school. I would love to print this out and show it to USC. My hope, though, is that you have a come- to- jesus moment and realize that your views are narrow, insensitive and grossly ignorant.

I have met many famous artists and theorists who have the right to be as arrogant as you, but are humble and let their work and research level people. I would venture to say you are overcompensating for something that isn't happening in your art.

Stop bullying people. Use your words.

If your work is this disjointed and thoughtless than you'll be weeded out the first semester of graduate school. I would love to print this out and show it to USC. My hope, though, is that you have a come- to- jesus moment and realize that your views are narrow, insensitive and grossly ignorant.

I have met many famous artists and theorists who have the right to be as arrogant as you, but are humble and let their work and research level people. I would venture to say you are overcompensating for something that isn't happening in your art.

Stop bullying people. Use your words.

If your work is this disjointed and thoughtless than you'll be weeded out the first semester of graduate school. I would love to print this out and show it to USC. My hope, though, is that you have a come- to- jesus moment and realize that your views are narrow, insensitive and grossly ignorant.

I have met many famous artists and theorists who have the right to be as arrogant as you, but are humble and let their work and research level people. I would venture to say you are overcompensating for something that isn't happening in your art.

Stop bullying people. Use your words.

i feel SO sorry for the future classmates of *the artist formerly known as*.  assuming she's really for real, which i still have my doubts about. 

Hey you...
 
Just wanted to encourage you to look up Deb Sokolow's work. She started out doing these idiosyncratic, Darger-esque illustrations and long explanations/stories to go with them about her imagined worlds and conspiracy theories. But, beyond the 2D work, she puts on really great performances that are informed by her maps and doodles and drawings. It lets you more into her intention and makes it more accessible. 
 

@sguid or any other lovely painters...
 
Hear any news from U.Oregon or U.Washington yet? Nothing on my side. Le'sigh...

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!!!!

Found your blog/work interesting. 
 
See you in L.A. MA-Focka

Applying to Graduate School is a tricky process. Where to choose and how to get in. If your doing "Figurative work" for lack of a better term, it usually has to be the cream of the crop. Underdeveloped figurative art sticks out like a sore thumb. In recent years there has been a substantial influx of fastidiously done over plasticized figurative work being submitted to graduate schools all over the country. The trick is to separate yourself from the masses who simply work from photos and use naples yellow and flesh tone from the tube to paint. One idea is to paint or sculpt more naturalistically, paying more attention to the affect of light on form and painting with larger brushes and broader planes instead of over exploiting those HD Details we can all become so enamored with and can be over done so easily. One possibility is to do a year of Post Bach. at an institution where the figure is really focused on. Beef up your chops and then go where ever you want to Grad School. I know from experience. There is a little Art School In Old Lyme, Connecticut called The Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts. Maybe some of you would benefit from looking into what they have available.  I know of several people who have taught there such as Roland Becerra, Dan Edwards, Jon Demartin, Jerry Weiss and David Wenzel ( the guy who animated Tolkiens: The Hobbit.)  Hope this helps some of you out! Cheers!  

I attend the MICA low-residency program and we are offered TAships (GTIs) and opportunities to teach if we want to live in Baltimore for a semester (s). We also can work towards a teaching certificate after taking Pedagogy coursework. The professor who heads the Pedagogy courses received her Phd from Teachers College at Columbia and is really progressive with the curriculum and assisting us with preparing teaching portfolios, organizing guest speakers, etc. 
 
That being said, not all low-residencies are created equal. Bard is amazing. MICA is stellar. I've heard good things about MassArt and Maine. But, I would steer clear of AIB and some of the newer programs until they are a bit more seasoned. I was accepted and visited a lot of them and the alum and faculty work were iffy. :/

Thanks! Got a phone call.  Really impressed by how professional and fair they are about everything at MICA.  The mid atlantic is a whole other world from the northeast as far as public relations go.  An expensive school, but one that I think is quickly getting better and better.  Got one or two things I'm waiting on, but good chance I'll take their offer, everyone is so nice, and feel wonderful that they like my work.  

@thismessageispadiforby:

Lol... Just wikied Info Wars...just another brand of Libertarian ideology. Isolationism...Coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs, folks. If I would've known, I wouldn't have even wasted my breath on the response above. 

@thismessageispadiforby:

Lol... Just wikied Info Wars...just another brand of Libertarian ideology. Isolationism...Coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs, folks. If I would've known, I wouldn't have even wasted my breath on the response above.