cadred

The MFA in painting & Drawing at UW is TERRIBLE. This program is so disrespectful to the students that if you ask me, they don't deserve ambitious students. If you take your artistic practice seriously, you'll find yourself struggling very much in this place. The art scene in Seattle is pretty bad in general, artists mostly don't stay here, and I think UW, being the major MFA program in the city, can definitely be blamed for it. The photomedia and 3D programs seem much better than the painting program, I can only speak from my experience as an MFA painting student. The painting studios are very spacious and nice, but other than that, this program has very little to offer. In the painting dpt, there are no group crits, no seminars, no discussion, nothing. All you get is 30 mins twice a semester one on one visits with each faculty, who couldn't be less interested in the students. I mean, their studios are right across the hall from you, and yet they do everything they can to avoid you. You'd be lucky if your teacher even says hello to you when they pass by you in the hallway. They make sure you know that they are artists first and teachers second, but man is that an understatement. They actively try to avoid you, and due to this lack of involvement, when one of them does come into your studio, you can expect a very generic feedback. Most students won't make any personal connection with any faculty member, and even deep into your second year you'd likely feel like your faculty doesn't know what your work is about. They had Denzil Hurley who was a great teacher, but he retired. I think teaching graduate students is a privilege, and it's sad that these are the people who get paid to hold these full time positions, while so many great teaching artists are fighting for low-paying adjunct positions. Since there's no departmental seminar or anything, there isn't a setting that puts the students in discussion with each other, so if you're lucky to click with your classmates, you might enjoy some occasional peer feedback. However, it has happened that peers wouldn't engage or speak to each other throughout the entire program. You can work in your studio with your door closed and not interact with anyone except your 1on 1s with faculty for the entire two years. The only seminar that does exist is a combined seminar for all MFA students, but these classes are often poorly run. It's a VERY traditional program, which was surprising given that the teachers came from Yale, SAIC, etc. The feedback you'll get is almost exclusively aesthetic, so don't expect any concept development. In general, the teachers are very prescriptive and old fashioned, they all teach undergrad and grad, and I think they are much more comfortable with teaching technical skills to beginner undergrad students, than working with grads. I read here and elsewhere ppls reviews from ten-fifteen years ago saying that the faculty was old fashioned, combative, close-minded, not involved with the students, and boy I couldn't believe it remained the same till today. Also, the administration and faculty don't really speak to each other, so don't expect to have anyone to speak about your issues with. No one will ask for or respond to your feedback here. Overall it feels like the faculty is comprised of a bunch of people on a tenure track waiting to retire while doing as little as possible until they finish. The program does give out a lot of money, including full rides and undergrad teaching experience (though most of your undergrad class will not be art students), so I'd recommend *considering* it only after you visited and if offered near full to full funding for coming here. Otherwise definitely avoid this program cause it's bad.