SocialKonstruct

I agree. My art practice right now in my BFA photography program has shifted a lot already. When I started school two years ago I wanted to be a photojournalist but now I am interested in social practice and conceptually constructed photography and sculpture. Theaster Gates is pretty awesome and I look to his example of how to conduct an ethical and thoughtful studio practice. Already he is helping out Chicago better and faster than the local politicians there who argue over how to reconstruct Chicago cultural centers.

That's awesome! I like a cooperative and healthy environment to foster art making :). Exploration and social practice are great :).

Don't quote me with this but I heard that even once or twice there was a fist fight between two artists and it didn't go very well. I gather I have learned not to be emotionally involved with my art practice at all. If folks dislike my art, I just shrug it off and move on and listen to good advice. I am not a crowd pleaser.

I wouldn't be able to do a comparison but I can try to ask my Columbia MFA friends (who graduated from there) and that our gallery represents about Columbia's paintings... Also I know is that articles have alluded to the Pit Crit being a pretty intellectual and emotionally fraught type of situation. (https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/bj3jvz/this-is-what-its-like-to-get-a-yale-school-of-art-mfa-degree and https://artillerymag.com/24755/ "At the Yale School of Painting and Printmaking there is a pit. They called it a pit. There were discussions in the pit and they were twice a year, about you, and mandatory. Some people cried in the pit. They wept because the artist-professors said they held low opinions of the art they had made and—not infrequently, and not only by implication, of them as people—of their intelligence, bravery, craft and work ethic. Since the entire school was watching, along with dozens of students from sculpture and photo, this was very public weeping. Most did not weep. One student drank heavily the whole time, one told me to play “Get Off Of My Cloud” if it got bad, one painted the most famous teacher being raped by animals and showed it to him, one never had a good crit and is magnificently well off. It was considered important to have allies when you went into the pit. You would invite your friends—but they weren’t allowed to talk. The professors would talk, and you would talk and you were always outnumbered. It is no accident that of the three art schools at Yale it was the School of Painting—the most primitive—that enacted the end-of-term critique in its most theatrical, least merciful, and purest form. There are no skills regularly taught in modern art schools—the Pit Crit and its cousins in schools all over the world are the primary ritual of the modern academy: place the artist in the center of a concentric circle whose outermost ring is whatever they felt like making and whose middle ring is their elders, and tell them that they suck." --Zak Smith

If you want intense critiquing environment, that I wouldn't know. I just know that the folks hang out a ton outside of classes and do stuff together. But if you are looking for the legendary pit crit brutality of the Yale program, Pratt is the opposite from what I gather through the grapevine.

Actually one of our old classmates is right there for Pratt paintings. And she loves it! It's a fairly laid back program with lots of wonderful people who are supportive. And yes, a few of them do make it in the NYC art world too. I also would love more information about the classes there as well as about the environs which I could not find in the website. https://www.amyungrichtart.com/

Yeah, sorry I don't know Chinese very well. I do speak a lot more French! ? LoL :). I'm also trying to learn Arabic

I don't know whether pay-to-play is necessarily the case all the time here. Having taken multiple classes at SVA since last summer, I found the classes (of which I plan to take a lot more) here to be very insightful and utterly helpful. Apart from a few courses at the University of Utah art department, I found the challenges and critical help through SVA as well as the networking to be invaluable within my own art practice. Plus I don't have really any Utah art friends here except maybe two or three and all of my RL friends in the art world were made through SVA. Here is an example of our networking- https://ifounducollective.com/

I would like some actual stats. What is the economic status of the families whose children attend top notch art MFA programs in the United States? I couldn't find anything on this topic.

China isn't completely horrid but it is a country fraught with many issues, particularly with internet censorship and detention camps- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55794071. That's the huge issue with late stage capitalism throughout the world. It's pretty much the parallel issues as in the United States (stares at the immigrant detainee camps). I have no pride in Western culture ? and to be honest, I don't believe in patriotism at all. And yes, the economic system here has no qualms earning money form the Chinese market in order to thrive. To keep on topic however, Chinese contemporary art is pretty much growing and there is a large number of talented folks from there. One of my favorite photographers lately has been- https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/chinese-photographer-ronghui-chen-displacement-1202691136/ who has been documenting the polarities within Chinese society atm.

I heard that NYU Steinhardt is pretty different from Parsons... I would love to hear about Pratt (we have a few folks from the U of U there atm).

I agree with that but it has to be a two way street as well. Students have a responsibilities to keep in touch with professors and vice versa. Granted there are some programs where that was an issue (stares at Columbia from a few years ago) due to professors focusing on art careers. But it's a trade-off. Star faculty doesn't mean that the experience would be worth it. But in the art world, more often than not the name of the institution does count for something. Your general art gallerist isn't a curator or art critic. They are going to see where you went to and say wow. It's a business foremost. And I have seen that way too often in the contemporary art world where gallerists are rarely involved in art critical theory.

I would rather that my tuition go towards making that the facility is top notch rather than having amenities tbh. Not much use having endless free coffee if I am not making the proper connections into the art world.

Also despite the Trump dictatorial era, we don't have extensive internet censorship here... so the freedom to explore all types of subjects is liberating too. Indeed... however despite the appeal of having a diverse cohort, one must be careful to remember that we have to not tolerate intolerance which is becoming huge in our culture today.

Also the growing ascendancy of China is quite evident in the art auction and collectors market during the pandemic era. Art fairs are flourishing in China as well. Napoleon was correct about China being the sleeping tiger which awakens and this is very true in today's contemporary art field.

My experience with the SVA residency has been pretty positive but then again you have to hustle to make it in the art world. I suspect a lot of art MFA students desire to have things handed to them on a silver platter and we want fancy studios etc. etc. I have zero interest in privilege whenever I go to my MFA program. My idea is that I should be able to make art on the run. Art while being homeless. Art while being happy. Art while in a residency (and some residencies are even more barebones than a cubicle)... Art while being in an airplane. I think often we are used to having an art education based on the fact that we are afforded the tools given by professors. One has to hustle to make the connections, to take the initative to meet up with professors (they will not come over to you), to be an occasional enterprising soul out there. This is the stark reality I am facing as I am working and founding a curatorial space here in Salt Lake City. I do not get any support from the local Utah community (apart from a few nods) and I have learned to help others thrive (as a curator) and still have a viable art practice with the minimal amount of funding and resources possible. Maybe I am cynical but dealing with the stark support system for the visual arts in the USA this is more commonplace than ever. Maybe SVA seems like a pretty stark place but I have seen quite a few folks do rather well from their BFA program (my gallery represents a few graduates from there) as well as their MFA program.

I am a photography BFA major and you can see my work at www.albertabdulbarrwang.art. But I am also very conceptually driven and not commercial at all in my interests (keeping in line with my neo-Marxist beliefs).

Yes but also SVA has turned out some of the best contemporary art figures as well. We have countless examples such as Johan Grimonprez. Every single art school is for profit in the USA. There is no such thing as a non-profit art school at the MFA level that I know of. Even if you are funded by scholarships and loans and financial aid, the school profits in some way.

I just saw this and I was like damn.... I love thicc impasto! ? https://www.amandadoranart.com/2018-2019

Apart from funding, I honestly would love to be in that type of cultural environment despite funding. As the oddball Asian-American Muslim dude around SLC, to be hanging out for two years with Asian influences would be nice. Even my taking a Buddhist art class this semester doesn't make up for the lack of exposure to Asian contemporary ideas and styles. And I want to look at everything. When I enter my MFA in 2023, I want to have a clean slate and start fresh with a reset button.

As a small insight, I noticed that SVA MFA cohorts are with a huge fraction of Asian students (not Asian-Americans) which suggests that China and the East have a strong economic power. I suspect (no clue) that many of them have no issue paying for their SVA MFA programs without any scholarships or funding (or probably minimal). Also as future artists we cannot ignore the power of the Chinese art market. Despite their human rights violations and cultural issues, many of the young hot collectors are hungering for all types of Western art styles and tbh, I feel strongly that working an art practice that accomodates their interests and tastes ought to be a good factor for contemporary works.

By the way, I feel it's key to take some breaks from just doing application related stuff. Here is a wonderful group show (which anyone can enter) at https://www.shrine.nyc/group-show This gives us an international cross-section of various visual styles too... what's hip and cool. And tbh, it's all over the map which I loveeeeee!

I love SVA but my residencies were self-funding. Also I would be interested in this too as well because SVA is a strong contender on my list. I really miss NYC.

Also UCLA is a huge mystery. I don't think anyone knows what the stats there are like. A few may argue that UCLA could surpass Yale in terms of prestige for certain things.

Also I have been an alumni at the SVA residency last year and this year so if you want to know more about the faculty and culture there I can provide some insight.