-----------

Congratulations to everyone. It's been fun!!! Bye bye all. ?

HI 123123435!!!!! Man... Reading your post hit me kinda hard. Nahhh... I doubt you feel okay, and it's okay to not feel okay. Being rejected sucks at any age. Here's my story: I only applied to one university, this semester. I did my interview and it SUCKED. I was SO sick with a fever and high on cough medicine that I barely remember it. After that I never heard anything back except for an email yesterday of them saying that they needed some financial aid supplement and tax returns or something. For WHAT??? But I got nothing from the department, whatsoever. AT LEAST YOU GOT PUT ON A WAITING LIST. That's awesome and an accomplishment! They just fuckin FORGOT about me, lol! My situation sounds like it sucks, amirite? But these things happen, tho. Listen... You and I have a couple things in common, yeah? I'm older as well, like YOU. I'm 44 years old, a middle age artist, and I'm going to apply for an MFA again for next year because I want to teach kids how to create art at the collegiate or HS level and I feel that my Chicano Art and Culture is something that benefits society and would be an asset to any art department. You can't give up just because of your age, you've got your OWN good things to share that will make us a better society, especially for the kids and the old people! You gotta know that. If you apply this fall 2021 for next year, I've got a good feeling that the third times gonna be the charm for you. Just keep your head up, stay positive, and never stop making art. Make a drawing a day. Take a sketch pad with you everywhere. Do good things for people and bring others up! Oh, and... MAKE A LOT OF ART, AND START NOW. It's gonna happen for you homie, I just KNOW it!

Go to the school that's farthest from where you live and is known for partying. Meet beautiful people and hang where the kool kids rule! Have fun, get away from everything familiar, and make fantastic art that everyone likes and can identify with. If that's in Chicagaz-0, hit that up. If it's in Yew Nork, do dat den.. Bam...

I appreciate you. Very nice words, thank you. Glad to hear you're getting some art out here in Cali-Land. Painting is a great practice. I think you will enjoy it very much!

Hi ####. Art History is awesome. When I was in community college I took so many Art History classes that I accidentally earned an Associates Degree for it. My mother is an Art Historian, it's practically all we discuss. I totally see your point of view, and trust me, you're preaching to the choir with me, my friend. I've worked union with the IATSE Union since 2004, and both of my parents were labor organizers for the UFW and Registered Nurses, grandfather was an Ironworker. So I'm with you. It just doesn't sit right with me that you are anonymous and taking a stand. If someone takes a stand, everyone should know who they are, otherwise you're just another avatar in a sea of opinions on the interwebz. And that bugs me out because as an artist, it's my responsibility to be a public figure when I am making revolutionary art. If not, I'm just another tired Banksy clone. People need real people. Where would Anarchism be without the real Emma Goldman or Peter Kropotkin? Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating. In fact, I'm all about you and what you are sharing. It's just better if we let people know exactly who we are. It's easier to rally around a person and a cause than it is to care about a nameless avatars opinion. You feel me Ashley? You do you, tho. I'm did not apply to Columbia. I only applied to the one university I thought would work for me. Union till the day I die. Good luck with your campaign! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs5_gB582IM

I can see that you are passionate about this issue by the way you have spammed this same thing over so many other threads from Teaching to Psychology to SIPA MPA... etc... etc... etc... You put a lot of people on blast and given out names and personal information, as well as an entire higher education system. Do we have YOUR name and personal info? Mine is right there in my avatar. My name is [redacted -t], and I went to California State University Sacramento. I'm from San Diego Califas. All I know about YOU is that you claim to be a PHD Student at Colombia. Can you share some personal information about yourself, since you are calling so many other people out by name and giving out their contact information? I feel like that's a fair request.

HI! I've been away from the board, and pretty much everything for a couple weeks. I got SUPER sick and literally thought I was going to die. I thought I had COVID, but my doctor confirmed that I did not. I did have COVID last year, and thought I had it again. Nah, just a gnarly flu that came and went, over and over. One day I was sick, the next felt okay, then sick again, which is weird because almost no one had the flu this year. Anyway, I'm doing well now. Hope to get the COVID vaccine in April. Just wanted to let people know I haven't heard anything from USC, and at this late stage in the game, I really don't expect to. So unless I get some magic acceptance letter from USC, I won't be coming back to the boards after today. It's important that no matter what, we are artists, and that is everything. I know that getting into the school we want is SUCH a big deal, but don't let it discourage you if you don't. Artists suffer, its part of who we are. I never meet artists who do this to get rich, or even upper middle class. We do this because of an extreme love of humanity, desire to see social justice for all marginalized people in our lifetimes, and because creation is in our BLOOD and muscles and bones. My father, as an artist, never gave much art advice. He mainly led by example and DOING. As an artist, myself, I think that his best advice, (and he reiterated this often), was "produce produce produce." Dad was also a former United States Marine, and the life advice he took from the Marine Corps that he utilized every day was, "Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome," and he also offered this advice often. I found in my life that these two simple sets of life choices have elevated me into situations that I never would have achieved if I had just stood aside and hoped that someone else would make things happen for me, or if I was feeling entitled and selfish. I wanted to share some sculpture I've got going on right now. I'm working on a 14' foot steel public art sculpture of an eagle and pillar, from the Chicano perspective in art, for installation early this summer. I finally got some of the steel for it a couple days ago. It's been lagging because of COVID and steel distribution, by MONTHS! I was supposed to be done with it by now, actually by last November. But the grant is still alive and still going and I feel lucky to have good backers and art attorney representation. Fam, you are all wonderful people, and real artists are truly rare. I have seen so much of your art on this board, and can safely say that you all deserve to go to the schools you desire.

Smoking a cigar.

FUCKING-A, MAN! I love this, and I love you for saying it. And from an older applicant with my own teenage daughter (hopefully applying to grad in a few years), it is great to see. KEEP EACH OTHER POSITIVE!

HEY ALL YOU CRAZY ART KIDS!!! I just wanted to give a shout-out to the USC interviewees, this week. My interview is tomorrow, I believe there are moar on the 12th. Keep your heads up, no matter what happens, and do your best to elevate those up around you. I've seen some pretty weak minded comments on this thread regarding how some people view higher education, and others being annoying and know-it-alls about the art world. Fuck all that off, ya know? Don't listen. Live your own life and create your own experiences. Keep it positive and don't ever entertain someone's negativity or lameness or arrogance. Have FUN pursuing your art education, no matter where you go to skool! So good wishes to @Strawberrycat to @lizavetar96 and @sunnydelightt. Can't wait to see all your posts about how well your interviews went.

Fasho! Good luck!

When I was going to Sacramento State there was a professor who had graduated from UC Davis with a biology PhD and also an art degree. She lectured on the exact question you are asking. I would contact her with your question. Her name is Professor Anna Davidson. Anna is awesome. She would give you a good answer for sure. "Anna Davidson is a visual artist and scientist. Concerned with our changing environment, her work fuses art, climate and biology. Starting expeditionary in nature, her work manifests in sculpture, video, sound, performance and bioart. She completed her MFA in Visual Arts (2016) following the completion of her PhD in plant ecophysiology (2014), both from the University of California, Davis. She currently splits her time making art, teaching art and conducting scientific research at UC Davis studying tree physiological responses to climate change. Currently, she teaches art at Sierra Nevada University and California State University, Sacramento. She has also taught at the San Francisco Art Institute, and UC Davis. Davidson has numerous scientific and artistic publications, exhibited internationally and attended several residencies including the Arctic Circle Residency in Svalbard, Norway, Djerassi in Woodside, California, Tropical Lab in Singapore and most recently an Artist at Sea residency on Woods Hole’s Atlantis oceanographic research vessel to the Lost City hydrothermal vent system. She is the founder of the Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous at UC Davis, in affiliation with Leonardo, the International Society of Art, Science and Technology." anna.davidson@csus.edu

It's the Chicano way. We are very open to everything. We like to be around each other and other people and laughing. Chicanos are very social and very funny, and we have the best FOOD! There are a LOT of Russian People here in Sacramento. The elderly russian ladies like to pick the wild berries by the rivers in the spring and make sweets out of them. One of my good buddies is Russian. He is from Siberia and his name is Vasili Savchenko. He's a really nice person, except he's kind of a nerd. ? But yeah. I love sharing Chicano Park and our culture with others. Let me know!

I just spoke on the phone to a friend of mine that graduated from UCLA and Harvard, and she's got some good insight. I'll dm you my email if you want some interesting info, but I don't really want to put it on boards or a site. Thank you for saying that about my art. I enjoy yours as well. If you're coming to California, let me know when. I'm in between San Diego and Sacramento fairly often, and that's where most of my public art is. My studio is in Sacramento if you want to cruise by and see some metal working/welding when you're out here. I just bought a bunch of stainless steel I'm using for this public art commission. I'll be working on that for the next couple of months. If you're going to be in san diego I could give you a tour of Chicano Park, under the Coronado Bay Bridge in Varrio Logan. I've got murals and bronzework there amongst all the other art and it is a beautiful Chicano/Latino neighborhood. I don't do social media or Facestagram or Instabook or any of that. Just email me when you are coming out here. Bring a camera and take some of your beautiful pictures here in the Golden State! I shoot with a Canon 5dx, 5dMK4, and a Pentax film 50mm. I got a 24 - 105 4.0 and 50mm 1.4 for the Canons. ? Chicano Park!!! https://www.google.com/search?q=chicano+park&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiZk_3A_pLvAhVaCjQIHRSVCJkQ_AUoAXoECCEQAw

I wish I would have looked at tuition cost at USC a while back. MAN, USC IS EXPENSIVE. I've been trying hard to scope out funding sources for an MFA in Fine Art, there, but I'm not finding much either on the net or on the phone. I'm going to bring this up at my interview next week and see what they've got going on. It's absolutely impossible for me to justify dropping 250 stacks on an art degree from anywhere, especially when I'm doing well already. Does anyone know anything about Graduate funding at USC that I'm not aware of??? I'm a Chicano artist and really want to work on a degree with 2 of these great professors in specific at USC that just seem perfect and on the same page with me, it's why I only applied there. I want to teach art and be a good influence for Chicano kids to look up to who have disadvantages like I did because of where we come from. But the cost, seriously. I can't go a quarter of a million dollars into debt to work a career that basically amounts to minimum wage in California. I'll die in debt! I really hope that USC has a solution, otherwise I'm just going to have to apply at other schools in November. Any ideas or good info? Please don't say Fastweb. Meanwhile, enjoy this song. I really like it. It's both depressing and uplifting.

Call... Them...

Awesome! Congratulations. I hope we all get chosen. ? Got a link to your art?

Thank you! I've got an RFQ site for my "art crew," collective, so it's not comprehensive like my application portfolio. But you can tell which artwork is mine because I'm in the photos. I also sent in a few links from my YouTube which I also composed the music on. I'm happy to share my art. Look forward to checking yours out. EDIT: I edited out my links. Thought maybe I should just pm them.

Congratulations, same, but for the 8th. Do you have a site with your portfolio? Would love to share.

No need to apologize, but I appreciate it. Do the people who interview you really lurk these forums? If so, HI GUYS! Yes, I was at the orientation. My father was a Chicano Artist and brought me up in that world. None of my brothers and sisters became artists but my brother Kiko, but he died back in 2007, so I'm the only one now. The others are all academics like Attorneys and Psychologists with one musician who never went to school. For me, Chicano Artwork is everything, and bringing that to the community is the apex of my approach. How can I make this happen is always the question. One of the best things I've done is to get to know people on personal levels and putting any sort of consideration with regards to my education out of the discussion. My education is not demonstrable, but my art is the story and is approachable and quantifiable because I live it and it is my whole world. I've mostly avoided gallery work and trying to rub elbows with popular people, and gone more for public artwork and working within the community, for the community, and by the community. The idea that I will ever make a living off of gallery shows and selling personal artwork has never occured to me. For me, I am an audiovisual engineer and photographer and event organizer, and that is how I make my living. Artwork is how I bring the most important things to the people, with the people, and how I can demonstrate the respect I have for disenfranchised communities. So, I only do a few large public artworks every year. Does that mean that I DON"T EVER do gallery shows? No, I'll do gallery stuff. But I do it knowing that there is much more to art than putting a rectangle on the wall and encouraging people to look at it for 3 seconds. Art is a lifestyle. Art is a way to view the world, to right wrongs, or to at least highlight them in a way that elevates others and encourages community organization. It's not about caring about what people and organizations are going to like your work because of what school you went to. No one cares about that in the real world. People care about what you are producing, and why, and of course your aesthetics. I won't try to talk you out of your opinion of what went down at USC way back in 2015, but I can't speak to it either because I don't have any intimate knowledge of it beyond peoples internet opinions, and I'm not really interested in that. What I AM interested in is working with a small unit of professional artists and faculty and doing some bad-ass art and activism in Southern California that is going to bring the community up, bring the school and faculty up, and bring ME up. And I guarantee that if you get into USC, that will be your only concern as well. If you want to check out some of my stuff then I'll post a link. Some of it is of others art who I work with in my art collective. You can tell what art is mine because I am in the photographs. https://sites.google.com/view/wowportfolio2021/home Do you have a link you your art?

Magic Mountain: https://www.sixflags.com/magicmountain Do I think that USC is a big deal? You bet your ass I do. I ONLY applied at USC for an MFA. I only applied there because of two professors in specific that jive with what I want to accomplish, Nao Bustamante, and Edgar Arceneaux. There are others who I like at USC, but I've respected them for a while. Because of my experience in the arts and life, I feel that those are the two professors best suited for me to work with. It is also in L.A., where I have not got a lot of experience in and think I need to to round out my art direction. Rankings are meaningless, period. It's about the faculty and staff and facilities. It's also about being in Los Angeles, right near San Diego, Mexico, and San Francisco in CALIFORNIA. But ultimately it's about you and what you are going to bring to the table. If someone thinks that a university sucks, well, make it BETTER, or don't go there. But they shouldn't be saying nasty things about what they saw on the internet that they had nothing to do with. Don't listen to these negative people. As an artist, it's not good for you. You gotta ask yourself why you want to attend a specific school and go there and kick ass and do the best you can. I went to Sacramento State even thought I got into UC Santa Cruz, San Jose State, and other so-called "prestigious" schools, and I brought something to the community and student body and did my best to make it a good place to be. Why? Because Sacramento has been huge for Chicano Culture and art for decades, and I had access to great artists within the community. I also had that in San Diego, but now I've got that in Sacramento, and hopefully in L.A. this fall. Did some US News website rank it up with Stanford? NOPE! But I did my best and did well, despite someone's opinion about prestige. My niece goes to Harvard, supposedly the best school in the world. But what use is the "best school in the world" if you do nothing with it? Well, It's of no use at all. Same as with going to a school not viewed as prestigious. If I go to a normal university and do awesome things, then hey, the university was a good university. Avoid negativity. Listen to yourself, listen to your heart and what you want to accomplish. If you are doing what you need to do then you will bring success to yourself and to others around you.

Wanted to let peeps know that I got an interview with USC-University of Southern California Roski for March the 8th. I hope you did too. Best wishes!

Glad to hear you heard from USC. USC is a huge deal to get considered for, whether or not you get in. I also got the email this morning from Ms. Hosik for an interview on the 8th. The panel are some serious artists, but I hope you don't feel terribly stressed, they are people like you and me. I've never interviewed for anything academic, but I feel like the best thing to be is yourself. You can't go wrong with being exactly and authentically who you are. It's not always about the program and what it can give you, it's about what YOU are going to bring to the table to help the overall design. In an MFA program we will be working with a MUCH smaller group of individuals as a team, and it's all gotta all be for the team. Still, it's kinda fun to be a little nervous, like when you were little and your parents announced you were going to Magic Mountain. Best wishes to you and I hope the outcome goes your way!

HI!