michaelwebster

Yes, they need to know some about your practice and then why it makes since to go to that particular program based on your work. I would definitely include key words or phrases from your artist statement in your SOP when describing your practice.

There are 10 each year, so 20 total.

Well I will probably see you in March then.

Wow, they are a little strict. Its nice to know they announce they didn't get your transcript the day it was already due.

I think that sounds about right for your work. And email the school back about the transcripts and rush mail it. They will probably won't have an issue with that.

27-29 is average for MFAers. I agree with you Fool4nine I don't think age will hurt as long as your work is good.

Nope. Many schools don't ask for artists statements. What they want is a statement of purpose.

I think all schools do it a little differently. SAIC has no written thesis, seminar classes don't require much writing. Art history papers are the primary writing we have to do. Most schools have thesis credit hours so you have a lighter load while writing your thesis.

I know of a couple MFA students that have changed schools after their first year, so its definitely possible. I think your going to have a really hard time finding good funding unless you get into Northwestern or another school that gives all students free rides, since you might be seen as more of a gamble. I would recommend getting recommendations from someone, even if they are not your current professors. You don't want someone writing your recs that is hesitant to do it because they may not be the best recommendations.

10 details of 10 paintings is fine as long as the work warrants it. If you make big paintings with tons of tiny, intricate details then of course it will make sense.

It might make a good back-up school, but a school like that wouldn't ever be my first choice. I would shy away from a school with such administrative problems as dissolving temporarily and crappy resources. Even if the faculty are good, problems will come out of the woodwork while you are there.

I think that is complete BS. If he wants to look like 98% of the paintings coming out of MFA programs right now he will make it look "painterly-ness," but clearly that is not his intention. If you look at the schools brianmc is looking into, they are not centered on "painterly-ness" painting. There is no "too illustrative" standard in any MFA program I am aware of. While most painting programs don't have an interest in graphic novelists or illustrators, he is doing it consciously, not from a naive location, so this changes the way to read his work. brianmc, I do not think you should only show work from undergrad or throw out the narrative you have been developing. I think as long as the faculty know your purposefully making work in this style then they will be able to read your work.

its only at 23% because of all the non-studio departments. The studio departments are about 8% average. I know sculpture is 7-8%.

I feel the same way about SAIC trying to sell itself, but I consciously chose that environment as a contrast to ECU because I wanted to be shaped by different environments. What is funny is that at SAIC I haven't seen much of any pressure for people to change their approach to art-making the way I have heard about at smaller schools. The mantra of many programs is to break down the student to build them back up, maybe similar to what you thought about MICA, but SAIC has not been that way at all.

The beach is about an hour away. The school environment is good there, with many students putting in long hours all the time. At SAIC the buildings become empty at night, its strange.

I think the facilities are at least average, if not better than average. I don't know that much about the technical issues of printmaking, so its hard to give advice in that area. The screenprinting room is a little small for a big class of 15 people, but its not crowded outside of class time. The school of art has about 600 students including the 50 grad students so it is not a small school. Most students aren't fans of Greenville, but for a couple of years its not bad. Oh, also the MFA program is 3 years.

Yea I know about ECU, that is where I went to undergrad, and although I only took 1 screen printing course I know a bit about the program. I also worked with the graduate director while I was in school a lot. The two print professors are Michael Ehlbeck and Matt Egan: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cfac/soad/printmaking/ehlbeckwork.cfm http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cfac/soad/printmaking/eganwork.cfm I think you should apply there based on your work because many of the faculty have related practices to you in some way. Printmaking has a small number of MFA students (maybe 3-4?) but the school as a whole has about 40-50, so its almost necessary to work with people in other departments as well. One art history faculty, Ron Graziani, is awesome and one of the standouts at the school and I think he would be interested in your work. Message me if you have any more specific questions, I would be happy to help.

I totally included a few artists or writers in my SOP. I used it as a way to frame parts of my practice, things that were borrowed. But I could see it hurting some people's essays too. I think I wanted to give people an entry point to my work, to show how it developed off of other discourses going on. To shmo264: I guess this depends on your practice, but I don't frame my work in regards to originality, so bringing in specific influences didn't concern me.

Yes to all of the above. They need to get to know your work, your influences, your desire to go to that specific program, and where you see your work developing. This isn't just VCU specific, but the same for most schools. Just make them want you.

I have been in their studios once. The studios were a little small, and the program didn't really impress me, but didn't seem bad either. It might be a good mid-range/backup school for your work.

Don't worry about being an international student, except maybe with TOEFL scores. Universities want students from many countries. In fact its an advantage in many ways. You just have to have good artwork too.

Its great that your willing to share this info for us all. Of course I want to add a few points. The pursuit of naturalism in painting is thousands of years old, but because of a multitude of issues, is no longer the major pursuit academically. Trying to apply to MFA programs with naturalistic painting is a little like applying to a science grad program and telling them your work is most similar to Copernicus or Newton. They are still relevant to the development of what we call science today, but contemporary debates have progressed quite a bit. In fact, the idea of the contemporary university developed from modern ideals that also delivered impressionism, cubism, and abstraction; moves away from naturalism. There are plenty of exceptions, NYAA being one of the most obvious, but I am speaking in general. Most graduate schools want you to be furthering existing discourses that you are already involved in when you apply, not beginning them. I think you could surely fit into and benefit from getting an MFA, but I would take more time to develop your direction before applying. While you might be able to find an MFA program for you now, I would take a few years, because you will get a lot more out of it if you are at a different stage. In addition, I do think you have some interesting things going on in your work, but you may not be acknowledging or speaking about them yet. There is an interesting nostalgic quality and a physical metaphor to memory in the monoprint process. The fact that these look like family portraits reminds me of recalling memory, the "lower resolution" in the prints comes from the act of "recalling" the past. I have no idea if any of that speaks to you, but sometimes you are doing "conceptual" work without knowing it.

Its from talking to faculty at 3-4 schools as well as multiple grad students who have been part of the whole process. Almost all letters of rec are written by competent people who talk about the strengths of the students they are writing about. Sending in these letters is almost a formality, they just don't want to see mediocre or terrible recommendations. Some schools don't even want letters, but just a list of 3 people to call if they get a weird vibe from you. The only time letters of rec could make a big difference is if they are from friends of the faculty or from someone with a lot of clout in the artworld. Its much more important for them to hear you describe your own work.

Some of those, like RISD, Yale, Columbia, UCLA probably aren't even close to good fits with your work, BUT, you never know because sometimes they choose people that don't fit their mold. I would look at East Carolina University, the graduate director, Scott Eagle, has similar work in some ways. http://www.scotteagle.com/Mine.html I don't know about all of those schools though.

what kind of departments are you looking for? I would look into SAIC Performance with your dance and body-in-photography work. My other recommendations will depend on what kind of work you want to do, you have many different things on your website.