Childofcalamity

Hi Michaelwebster and Losemygrip, Thanks for the feedback. I think there is a lot of value in this discussion (even though its something that can be hard to hear). I think I'm going to limit where I'm applying to a handful of programs that seem geared towards a representational approach. Namely: NYAA PAFA U of Indiana NY Studio School If I don't get in anywhere or I do and it still doesn't feel "right", then I'll probably move upstate for a year, bury myself in a small studio somewhere and start over. I think I'm beginning to realize that I work best with my back up against a wall, anyway. Thanks again,

Hi Losemygrip, Thanks for the feedback. I'll work on getting more images of some other work I've done up online but I have a feeling you will probably say the same thing. I agree with your comment about there not being a clear conceptual grounding. I guess I wasn't focusing on that. My teachers, all of whom are professional figurative artists in or around NYC, like my work. Of the examples I've provided, they generally see them as being quite strong. Most of my teachers, however, did not go to grad school, and almost all of them doubt its validity in the first place. I,however, tend not to feel the same way -most of the time at least : ) I'm curious about your comment about not being ready for grad school. Let me give you a brief history of my decision to become an artist and hopefully you can pinpoint some misconceptions I might have about art and grad school. I attended a very liberal, very progressive undergraduate program. I absolutely loved it. The painting program was very much committed to the avante garde. It was as much a program devoted to contemporary philosophy as it was to physical act of painting. I didn't, however, take any art classes as an undergraduate ( I had several close friends who were in it though). I studied literature and writing instead. It wasn't until after I graduated, that I decided that painting was something I wanted to pursue seriously. And just as all things I've decided that I wanted to pursue seriously, I knew that I would have to start with the basics and a looot of hard work. My line of thought went something like this: I understand that a lot of important contemporary artists are not working in a representational style, I know that many people dismiss figurative oil painting as being anachronistic, even backwards. But I also know that this is a relatively new concept, existing for only a hundred years or so (you could say it goes as far back to 1839 w Herschel and the invention of photography, but I think photography didn't really start to effect painting until Cezanne with his multi-point perspectives). At any rate, historically speaking, this idea of art existing on a purely conceptual level is a pretty new idea. and that if I looked back a little further, I would see that artists had been studying techniques in representational painting for literally, thousands of years. They had been honing their craft (notice how I say craft and not art) for far far longer. And i thought to myself, hey, this could be a good place to start; I'll try to understand and train myself in this history of knowledge and hopefully it will provide me with a basic foundation that I can then build off of (or destroy) when I begin to form a clearer idea of myself and my art and the surroundings I exist within. I thought to myself, were would Braque, Picasso, Matisse, de Kooning, even Robert Irwin for pete's sake, be without their academic training? Would we still have the beautiful "Woman I" if de Kooning hadn't studied value, basic shapes, and line quality? So thats why I've spent the last two years working on my technical skills. I felt that if I could understand the fundamental issues of working on a 2D surface, understand how different shapes and colors effect the human eye, I would have a nice foundation for exploring my own, very personal issues. But if I pretended to be an artist, fully formed, I would only be fooling myself into thinking I understood the medium I had decided to work with. Please understand me, there are days where I shutter at the thought of painting another still life or nude model. But that doesn't mean I have to question the value in learning what those before me have also learned. So thats kind of where I'm at. My art is not conceptually grounded (yet). It's simply trying to be visually and technically competent. I assumed, maybe incorrectly, that I would be able to explore the more personal, larger issues, the issues that hopefully transform one from being simply a painter into an artist, once I got into grad school. I'm beginning to think that assumption was wrong. Are there any programs out there looking for students with a decent technical foundation who would really like to explore/ push themselves on a conceptual level? And if there isn't, then what's the next step for an artist like myself (and I know there are a lot of artists like me out there)? Sorry if that turned into a rant there. But I'm very curious to know what you think about all of this. Thanks in advance, childofcalamity

Hi all, So I've been studying figurative painting for the last two years but have recently been doing a ton of monoprints (an oil painting done on a piece of plexiglass that is then hand printed on a piece of paper), and I have a feeling that my portfolio is mostly going to be monoprints. Here is a link to just a few recent prints plus one oil painting: http://www.flickr.com/photos/68719267@N08/6244516012/in/photostream/lightbox/ Link note: Please excuse the very crappy photos of my pieces. I'm in the middle of finding someone to take professional photos of my work. Hopefully these will just give you a "sense" of what they are like. I would like to continue to do mono prints for my grad work in addition to oil painting; what departmant(s) do you think I should be applying to? I'm assuming it should still be painting, though technically these are prints. I haven't considered really applying for printmaking programs because I've never studied other forms of printmaking. Do you'll have any suggestions on departments/ programs I should be applying to? RIght now I'm looking at: University of Indiana, PAFA Tulane (Free ride in NOLA!) Also, all comments on my work are welcome, of course. Thanks! Childofcalamity

OK wow, this was all really great to hear. Consider me very naive, but this is my first time going through the application process, and for some reason I thought it was more about you checking out the schools then the other way around. I'm glad to know that you get to show them some of your work. Some quick questions: How many pieces do you guys bring with you? Do you bring your full 15-20 pieces that you will use in your portfolio or just a handful seeing that time can be a bit cramped? I'm also assuming you should feel pretty fluent talking about your work, do you guys have prepared things you want to say about your work? questions you want to ask the reps? thanks in advance

Cool. Thanks Losemygrip

Has anyone heard anything about their MFA programs? I've been looking through their faculty, and they seem to have a nice variety of work.

Lawrencegl, How much work did you submit for the mica online review? Also, can you use the same work you submit for the online review for your application? The website has this line: Please note that a separate application and portfolio must be uploaded by January 15th, 2012 for application review. I'm confused if that "separate" is referring to solely the application or also referring to the portfolio as well. I'm going to be in NYC on Oct 29th! See you there!

Hi Cat, It was nice to read your post as I think it pretty much sums up the type of art I would like to create and the dilemma I'm also facing in finding the right programs. Indiana at Bloomington looks to be my top school right now as well. I live/ study in NYC right now and know a few people who have graduated from NY Academy and have heard mixed things the program. One of them is a great draftsman, two of them are pretty terrible draftsman, and I don't think any of the art they are making art that seems particularly engaging. I'm not trying to knock the program, just give you one impression I've had about a few of its alumni. losemygrip, do you considering her answer of "wanting to teach at a college level" a strong enough reason? I ask because that would be a big part of my reasoning too. Also, does anyone know about the program at Tulane? It doesn't seem to be a particularly great school (maybe even not a good school?) but each student gets a full ride plus 14k stipend a year plus you are living in NEW ORLEANS! Is this in itself a ridiculous reason to consider it knowing that the main reason one is going to school is to get the degree to teach?

Hi Mark, Nice work. I particularly like your urn piece which I think is a fantastic idea and (from the photos) looks to be well executed. there also seems to be a touch of humor running through you work which is always nice when engaging with conceptual art. I'm a figurative painter and doubt I can offer you great advice on what mfa's are more geared towards the theoretical/ conceptual end of art making, but I would say; UCLA Columbia Yale Bard Hunter SAIC These are all very selective though, so it would be a good idea to have some fall back schools on your list. home this helps. .

Hi Kyapata, From what I've heard, you want your portfolio to be somewhat focused or "themed" (though I hesitate to use that word). I don't think this means that everything has to be a "series" but you want all your pieces to be striving for the same emotional response/ asking the same/similar questions. As for the fact that you studied engineering, I've heard that this is can be viewed as both a positive and negative point for schools. I know several people who have told me that studying something other than art in undergrad is good because it shows that you are a well rounded individual and that deciding to pursue another field of study for graduate work really shows that you are committed. I imagine that if your work somehow reflects your engineering background schools will find this at least compelling- allowing you stick out a bit, which is pretty much the point right? I've also heard that studying something else in undergrad may not be a good thing because schools assume you are not as well versed in the how your art fits into the contemporary art world etc etc. As for what you should be doing right now, I'd say: keeping working/ selecting your pieces for your portfolio. figure out who is going to write your recommendations, your artist statement, and start figuring out/ narrowing down which schools you'd like to go to. Don't just apply to top tier schools. Throw in some safety schools as well. hope this helps.

gentlebreeze and Pjm, thanks for the heads up about the portfolio day at Parsons. It's something that I will put on my calender. Silverhalide, right now, seeing as this is my first year applying, I'm going to be applying pretty widely to a wide variety of schools. Most of my work is figurative or at least figurative based. Sangram Majumdar is one of my favorite contemporary artists. He teaches at the Maryland Institute College of Art, which I think I will apply to simply because I would loooove to work with him. He also went to University of Indiana where Eva Mansdorf teaches, who I also admire a lot. I will be applying there as well. As far as recommendations go, would you guys recommend having only professional artist write them over people who are not artists but know you better? I know a few Lit professors from undergrad who I'm sure would write me a great recommendation but I doubt they would be speaking about my body of work. Maybe I should go with a combo of both? Thanks again

Hi Everyone, I've been lurking on this forum for a couple of months now, following some interesting threads, and have decided that its time that I just dive in and introduce myself. I graduated from Bard College in 2008 with a degree in literature. I never took an art class as an undergrad and only decided to pursue art seriously after graduating. This will be my first year applying to grad programs. I'd love to discuss my art, what type of art I'd like to study, what programs would suit me best etc, but I figure I'll save that topic for an upcoming post. For right now, I'd like to ask; What should I be doing right now? Is there some sort of 'checklist' you'll create for yourself while applying? I live in NYC and feel that there must be some really great resources I can take advantage to help me become better informed about schools/ narrow down the search. Are there any grad program fairs/open houses I should be putting on my calender? Thanks in advance. It's forums like these that make me really love the internet. Childofcalamity

Hi Imogen, you might want to check out Bard's Center for Curatorial Studies program. I've heard good things about it and actually have a friend who's just starting off there now. Hope this is helpful