ol'spice

too "BLEEP" good for them ok, I got carried away...

shhhBAAMMMM... Just got slapped in the face rejected today... MICA

we are never too old... Unless you allow yourself to believe that. I'm 47, the work I submitted as my portfolio to grad school is ONE year old. I started from scratch @ 46 years old! I purged everything I did for almost 20 years and threw myself 105% into the new work, going for broke. I was prepared to deal with the possibility of it not working out at all. I got lucky, it worked out for the best. I love my new phase and the way I approach my art making. One day I want to make sure to inspire and enlighten students (saw many of them during my undergrad years) that expect their work to fall into place while in school or upon graduation. Every artist is different and as long as they believe that that's their calling, it's a matter of putting the time into the work and eventually things will start to click into place. Besides, isn't the journey "trying to get there" the more interesting part of the whole thing?

Couldn't agree more... And one class I took at my undergrad taught me a great lesson about what to expect in grad school: It was an intermediate sculpture class (I was a painting major)... It was the only studio class that I saw myself rubbing shoulders with many graduate students and it was the course that taught me the most about process and working hard... I was breezing through the undergrad studio classes (while working full-time), but when I faced the first critique on that class, it hit me in the head like a baseball bat. I learned about process and about beating on the idea "until you could squeeze every possibility out of it" and after that I realized I was in full control of everything I did with my art as long as I followed my newly discovered work ethic...

Really? So do they have that much space available? I'm puzzled by how could they possibly do that... I've heard about the great facilities, but since the certificate students get every perk full time grads get, including private studio and access to the same faculty, I'd imagine they'd have to "weed some folks out"...

You are welcome, and it completely changed the way I was looking at it... I'm glad I emailed them! Now I'm totally confused again (but that's a problem I'm not complaining about at all)... Yes, the $$$$, well, but if I can fund it (even by digging on loans) I still think at the end of the day, it would be the best investment I can make in my lifetime.

yes, just read in the catalog that came with the letter that there is no guaranteed admission to the MFA based on the completion of the certificate... Also the credits earned cannot be counted towards an MFA at SAIC...

Once you get the letter offering you the Post Bacc, you have to reply ASAP (via telephone, email or letter) to let them know you would be interested... They will be scheduling interviews between now and April 1st (in-person or telephone interviews).

Even though the images above look like paper studies, I still see plenty of beauty on the painting surfaces, on the raw traces left by the brushes, and the movement suggested by the forms and composition of the bottom one... Also who said that every work of art MUST be thought provoking? Is that a new law or guideline? Yes, I'm a cave man...

Here is how (an undergrad level student still) would attempt at answering that: Well, from personal experience, having "shed" the representational work I did for 18 years (not all of it unsuccessful) and "jumping onto the moving belt of abstract expressionism" (Milton Resnick), I think and hope that what makes good abstract expressionism work is a combination of things: the process behind it, the explanation of the process and the way the pieces look at the end... My paintings look rather simplistic (once finished) but I beat the c_ _ _ out of them for weeks at a time, months and I believe in the future perhaps If I end up having permanent studio space, I'm sure I'll have pieces sitting around getting the same treatment for over a year. My paintings aren't easy to make (personally) and It's hard to make someone that has already made up his/her mind that they don't care about that kind of work to understand it. But I also don't expect to have the entire world as my audience, so I accept things as they are. Technology definitely helps. I've started painting attention to the images that get more visits (google analytics) but I'm constantly reminding myself that as long as I trust my intuition and my work ethic, I'll end up with decent looking pieces at the end...

not sure if you were asking me that, but yes, I got a "rejection letter" from SAIC but with an offer to their Post Bacc Certificate (and I got a graduate program packet, box thing as well... I'm keeping my three professors that wrote letters of recommendation on my behalf informed and shot an email to them immediately and this is what one of them replied to me: " hey ol'spice The SAIC has made the same offer to several of my students in the past, the ones that have taken them up on it were not dissapointed. The MFA program there is a 2 year program so the extra year is just turning it to a 3 year program which is often a better way to go because 2 years goes by so very fast. Best your teacher" now I'm totally reconsidering everything... The letter stated that I'd be assigned studio space among the graduate students...

I actually didn't apply at SFAI because I was there in October for the grad portfolio event (which they hosted) and I got this weird feeling that they were pushing their low residency program... Nothing against that, but I was looking forward to relocating, to actually being in touch with folks like me (not just online) and I could use the studio space to paint... On another note, I wish I had applied to ONE low residency program, just in case...

On another note, RISD has gone way out of their way emailing me back and forth and sending me letter mail in addressing an issue with my FAFSA... This has kept me with my hopes up, but I know it's probably just procedural stuff...

Received my SAIC rejection today (letter mail) with the offer to join their One Year Post-Bacc program... Well, I'm really not sure about that, so at this point will wait till the end of all notifications (still 7 to go) to make a decision...Oh well, win some, loose some. Congratulations to all the folks getting acceptances, looks like it's all happening right now...

perhaps I should not reply to this post because I'm bias to this type of work... I find it interesting though that people are fast at attacking this one realm of art making practice (abstract expressionism) that is revisited by artists and aspiring MFA candidates, just like art history is recycled day in and day out all the time by all sorts of artists (sculptors, installation, video, bla bla)... I get just as bored seeing one more installation or another video piece, when I walk in a museum or gallery. And until I read the artist's statement, I probably wouldn't go near the work. A painting like the ones shown above elicits some kind of feeling on human beings that I particularly can't fully explain (yet) but regardless or how boring it may look to some of the people here, it seems to have a place, purpose and even a commercial bottom line... I'm doing work like that and I've been picked up by a company that is using my images and paying me well for that. Well I can sit down and try to constantly question why am I still doing that kind of work, but the conclusion is always the same: I love doing them, they come out of the depths of my heart and on top of all that, there is a demand for them! And I agree that reading the person's statement may cause some folks to think differently about why Columbia accepted this type of work. On another note, I havent' heard back from them yet...

congratulations!... I feel the same and one of my recent post in my facebook status was "I'm the happiest person on the planet right now" (after the first three responses I got so far)...

Yeap... I just logged in (after seeing your post) and my application status says the same... I emailed the graduate dept. asking if they can tell me what's up (whether I'm really missing anything).

I came across an interesting article (perhaps it was posted by someone in this forum?) that was questioning art students going for MFA degrees since they don't have the same guarantees a lawyer or a medical doctor have once they finish their degrees... The article put MFA degree in the same category as those other "professional degrees". Personally, I want an MFA more than anything in the world not because I want a career at the end: I've come to terms with my art practice and I really want to be in that environment to further the investigations I've began this past year or so. I'm 47, so I'm giving myself the greatest gift of my life. If I were 20+ something instead, no work experience, I would not be contemplating an MFA so soon in my life. I know there are exceptions, but I'd wait for the work to mature I bit more before jumping into grad school... Good luck, I hope everything works out for the best for you....

Sorry, I have a general question: is funding letters only for folks that actually been accepted?

Same boat, berto... I'm dirt poor, but with two interviews scheduled, one acceptance, I'm already happy with the fact that I'm "graduate material" and if I have to wait another year, then fine by me... But I'm hoping the school I end up at will help match me with funds; I want to avoid taking out too much in student loans; and I'm preparing myself to accept the fact that I might have to work part-time...

Hi thanks! Now I'm really confused since I've just gotten a call from Washington University in St. Louis and I was accepted there! (they suggested I fly there for an open house March 3)... I'm totally broke, but I'm completely humbled by this whole thing all of a sudden. I just know I will do well on the interview part, so I'd prefer to be there in person, 'smelling' the folks interviewing me ... I'm in california, so most schools I applied outside of my state are very far and expensive to fly to...

congratulations to all of you that are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.. I was really really anxious, not hearing back from anybody, but today I received an email from MICA... I'll be interviewed at least!

Finished recently: Air Guitar - Dave Hickey Travels in Hyper Reality - Umberto Eco Seeing is Forgetting... - (the book on Robert Irwin)

hang in there.... There are way more in "this club" (the ones not being considered) than people getting interviews and offers... So at the end of the day, be true to your work as an artist (if you really believe it's your calling) and keep your head and your hopes up. I'm starting to worry too, and making small conversation with one of my professors recently, he reiterated: "You should be getting several good offers!"... That's comforting, specially since he is the top faculty at the undergrad where I finished my BA... I can only hope he is right!

probing a stack of philosophy books... Started by reading on a specific artist I was curious about and then one thing led to another, now I'm in deep mud but loving the reading and I can already see that it will help me with my art practice BIG TIME....