MICA

[litho]

Hey all,

This forum has been very very helpful throughout this treacherous process.

I was wondering if you all might have any information about MICA's Mount Royal program. Is it as strong as MICA's other programs. Is it as well regarded in the the greater art community?

Also does anyone know how long the PNCA waiting list is?

Thanks so much. Good luck to everyone!

I agree with one post a while ago that stated that we should all just start our own graduate school!

My status for school is as follows:

Accepted:

MICA Mount Royal

Waiting list:

PNCA

Rejected:

UCLA

U Penn Design

Carnegie Mellon

CCA

[vieveview]

I'm wondering the same thing about mount royal... Unexpectedly waitlisted.

[littlenova]

Are you kidding? MICA is amazing. Very elite.

It is true that Mt. Royal is not as established as maybe some of the other programs there like Painting or Sculpture...but, I honestly feel after touring the campus and seeing the facilities and meeting the professors...You get to work with sooo many people there. You work with all sorts of faculty and lots of people sit in on your critiques from other departments and you are given the same resources as those in some of the more competitive programs. MICA is a community.

I can definitely say that from your list of schools you applied to, if you are working across disciplines, it is right up there if not exceeding Carnegie Mellon or UCLA---based on the success of alumni and exhibition records, etc.

You might be feeling what I felt, which is...this apprehension because you didn't get into other programs that maybe MICA is somehow less of a program. Not so. I was waitlisted at VCU, but MICA was always my first choice. When I went to my residency with Rineke Dijkstra, most everyone recommended I apply to MICA, Yale, SAIC and Columbia. Kid you not...

They have been around a long time. Trust...

Edited March 23, 2010 by littlenova

[brianmc]

Mt. Royal is great. Hoffberger and Rhinehart have huge reputations, but they are more diehard painting and sculpture. Mt. Royal is set up to be more open. Call it cross-disciplinary, interdisciplinary, general fine arts, whatever you want. There will be people painting, sculpting, collaging, making videos, installations, doing performance, all depending on who enrolls. You are in the same building as Hoffberger. Actually it's a recent addition to MICA's campus and it houses independent studios for senior undergrads too. It's a huge community of competent creative people. There is a building right across the street where local artists rent studio space, and there are a few theatre groups performing in the neighborhood and bars that have perfomances and resemble art galleries as much as bars. It's a pretty exciting neighborhood rejuvenation that's going on there. Don't be too alarmed if you see a boarded up building or two. That's just Baltimore. Urban flight desecrated the city in the late 20th Century, but a renaissance is taking place neighborhood by neighborhood and the Station North Arts and Entertainment District as it has been deemed looks like it might be the next spot to explode if the recession ever ends. Don't get me wrong, MICA was fun 11 years ago when I was an undergrad, but that area is a hotbed for people wanting to live a creative life now. If you can afford MICA, I would definitely do it. Baltimore is a great town for producing independent voices from Edgar Allen Poe to John Waters. It's in the water, although I still wouldn't swim in that water. You can do anything in Baltimore. It will embrace everything from folk-art, to high-art, to low-brow grossness and you might even see it all under the same roof on the same night from time to time. There is also a decent music scene from original acts to cover bands. You can find someone playing live seven nights a week. Just don't expect the home team to win many baseball games:(

[brianmc]

And one more note about MICA. They have a huge fundraising effort to get money for the general fund and spare no expense at trying to get the best faculty and best facilities available. They make it possible for NYC artists and artists from other east coast locations to have full-time status by teaching an AM and a PM course on one day and another AM course the following morning followed by a few office hours and then back on the train to their studio with all the perks of being a full-time faculty member. They put them up for the night in one of the houses that the school owns in the neighborhood. It is very clear when you are enrolled there that they are not satisfied being number three or four on U.S. News' list. They want to be #1. They are constantly expanding the facilities and upgrading the tools and technology. They definitely deserve their standing at the top.

[littlenova]

@brianmc: Your posts made me smile...I am even more psyched to go now. You know so much about Baltimore, too. I might PM you later if I have more questions---if that is okay.

Edited March 28, 2010 by littlenova

[brianmc]

I'd be glad to help in any way that I can. I lived in Baltimore for 8 years. Unfortunately a lot of the cool stuff in that neighborhood has started happening since I left in early 2006. I hope to move back to the city in the near future and plan on moving to Station North so I can hopefully network and get some opportunities to put work up. Ask me anything.

[litho]

I'd be glad to help in any way that I can. I lived in Baltimore for 8 years. Unfortunately a lot of the cool stuff in that neighborhood has started happening since I left in early 2006. I hope to move back to the city in the near future and plan on moving to Station North so I can hopefully network and get some opportunities to put work up. Ask me anything.

Thank you brianmc and littlenova for all of your insight and encouragement!

I am going on Thursday to MICA to visit for the first time I am very excited to see MICA in full its splendor. Do either of you have any advise for things to do while I am there? I will only be there for three days but I am eager to take as much in as I possibly can!

Thanks again!

[heyoo]

@brianmc wow I'm really excited to go there now. You should be a spokesman person for mica lol.

@litho I felt the same way about the school, until I saw what they were offering. Also the faculty sounds amazing, during the interview process I've already made my decision.

[heyoo]

Do you guys know anything abot financial stuff for mica. I'm really bad at this. Am I too late to apply for any financial aid

[littlenova]

@Litho: The drive in can be a bit alarming if you haven't seen the surrounding neighborhood yet. I thought I was driving through Cracktown at first...But, it's not a big deal after a while. lol...Brianmc probably knows the area better than I do---I actually live in DC and am new to the Bmore area myself. If you want advice about what to see in DC, though...There's alot going on now. PM me....hahhaha

Have a great trip visiting! I think the awesome campus, faculty and opportunities will make it a clear choice.

@Heyoo: You should have received an award letter with your fellowship on it when they sent you the acceptance packet. If you haven't, I would call the Graduate Admissions office. If you need more aid, you can fill out the FAFSA and after MICA receives it, you can apply for loans or whatever to pay the balance.

But, yeah...you should have already been given aid by now.

Edited March 30, 2010 by littlenova

[brianmc]

Haha. Depending which route you take to the Institute, you can definitely go through what looks like Cracktown. Baltimore definitely has more than it's share of big city problems for a mid-sized city with the nickname "Smalltimore." But it's not too bad. I never had a problem in eight years and I passed out on the sidewalk drunk, in the middle of the night, at least once that I remember. (I'm not proud of that. I just got so tired of crawling:) I lived in Bushwick, Brooklyn NY (East Williamsburg [my ass]) for six months and got violently mugged. I never lived in that crumby of a neighborhood in B-more though. I'm actually looking into buying a small apartment building on the edge of the Station North Arts District where it starts to get sketchy, but I've learned not to walk around alone at night, at least I think I have. Stay tuned for my post "Tenants wanted "walking distance" to MICA."

Anywho, things to do for three days while visiting MICA aside from the MICA tour:

Check out The Windup Space (http://www.thewindupspace.com) and Metro Gallery (http://themetrogallery.net). Both are close to MICA's grad studios on North Ave. Both are bars that double as arts venues. They have live music most nights so there will probably be a cover charge. Be forewarned, I think they both have 1AM licenses, so they close an hour earlier than most bars which can kind of rain on the fun when you are having it and the lights go up way to early. Take a cab back from this area. Don't stroll far from the bar after dark. It gets sketchy fast, it's sort of block to block. (410) 685-1212. It's good to have it in your phone. But you can probably hail one, the train station is nearby and there are a lot of cabs.

Run through the Baltimore Museum of Art (http://www.artbma.org) and check out the Cone Collection, if you like Matisse. They have a small Contemporary wing that is more Modern and pretty mid-century painting heavy, but they have what I consider to be the best Hans Hoffman I have seen. They also have a few decent pieces in the Old Masters section and some great primitive art and such.

The American Visionary Arts Museum is cool. A great collection of folk and outsider art. (http://www.avam.org)

The Walters Art Museum is also great for older art and artifacts. (http://thewalters.org)

The Maryland Science Center is supposed to be cool, but I've never gone for some reason. (http://www.mdsci.org)

The National Aquarium is great if you want to see fish out of their natural habitat. (http://www.aqua.org) I think it's really cheap on Friday's after 5PM, but I don't know if they still do that promotion.

There are a bunch of small live theaters. Everyman Theatre, Theatre Project, Center Stage, Load of Fun Theater (literally across the street from MICA's grad building.) Google or grab a City Paper when you hit town to see what is playing. City Paper is a good source for finding what is going on around town.

The weather is supposed to be great this weekend so you could ride the Water Taxi and see how many of the discounted cocktail coupons you can use before getting "sea sick." (http://www.thewatertaxi.com/schedule.html)

The Charles Theatre has a mix of art house and main stream movies that are on the artsy side. Also close to MICA. (http://www.thecharles.com)

Check out the Paper Moon Diner to see where people eat in the middle of the night. Although they are changing their hours this summer and no longer going to be 24 hrs. I don't know where the bartenders will go after work after that. (http://www.papermoondiner24.com)

The list of cool bars you could go to is endless. Baltimore is a real drinking town, as are most cities where people don't have to drive to get everywhere. Some worth noting are:

The Horse You Came in On in Fells Point, where Edgar Allen Poe allegedly may have had his last drink (http://www.thehorsebaltimore.com)

Fells Point is one of the oldest areas of Baltimore that didn't burn in the Fire of 1904. So there are some really cool old smelly bars along cobblestone streets all around there. It's a cool place to stroll around for a bit.

The Brewer's Art, in Mt. Vernon makes their own in-house Belgian style beers. (http://www.thebrewersart.com) The basement is the cool spot to drink, but they have incredible fine dining upstairs too.

Mt. Vernon is also Baltimore's unofficial Gayborhood and probably the most interesting and eclectic part of Baltimore. The intersection of Charles and Eager St. is the hub of that. That is where you will find The Hippo and Grand Central Station.

The Club Charles, is where John Waters is known to sometimes go when in town as well as MICA students. (http://www.theclubcharles.com) It's the original cool bar in the Station North Arts District.

Canton Square (2900-3000 O'Donnel St.)and Federal Hill (Cross St. and South Charles St.) are big bar hopping areas with lots of offerings, but brace yourself for what New Yorkers would call the Bridge and Tunnel crowd: fraternity and sorority crowd that moved to Baltimore from Jersey and Long Island to go to college. You might have a "situation" there if those kind of people annoy you. Most of them aren't too bad though. It's kind of like observing primates at the zoo, only with the added benefit of drinking beer.

The Mt. Royal Tavern on Mt. Royal Ave. right along MICA's main campus usually has an interesting cast of characters too. It is worth stopping in for a drink, just to check out the Sistine Chapel Ceiling replica that some guy painted for free beer. It looks just like Michelangelo's before it was cleaned.

The Inner Harbor is where most of the chains and tourist traps are located. You can find a Hard Rock Cafe, ESPNzone and a Howl at the Moon down there.

I'm a vegetarian so I'm the worst when it comes to recommending places to eat. Baltimore is big on crabs, crab cakes, crab dip, crab soup and anything else they can put crab meat in.

If there is anything specific that you would like to know, send me a msg. or just post it and I'll try to remember to check here. Baltimore is a fun town, or at the very least a town that you can make fun in. It's getting more expensive all the time, especially if you get close to the water, but it's still pretty reasonable and can be down right cheap once you learn where to go and who has Natty Boh in a can. I hope you have a great time. I think you'll like MICA.

Public transportation in B-more is pretty much limited to cabs, but it is safe to walk around in the daytime.

Edited April 1, 2010 by brianmc

[kristlynnej]

Any idea if going to their post-baccalaureate for a year is worth the money? Does it significantly help your chance chance of getting into Hoffberger later? I'm not sure whether this offer is at all selective or if they just give it to everyone they reject for the Painting MFA. It could be a money mill. They gave me a small scholarship but I need to know if it would be worthwhile, or if I should go with a different, less prestigious program where they've offered MFA acceptance. Anything would help, thanks.

Haha. Depending which route you take to the Institute, you can definitely go through what looks like Cracktown. Baltimore definitely has more than it's share of big city problems for a mid-sized city with the nickname "Smalltimore." But it's not too bad. I never had a problem in eight years and I passed out on the sidewalk drunk, in the middle of the night, at least once that I remember. (I'm not proud of that. I just got so tired of crawling:) I lived in Bushwick, Brooklyn NY (East Williamsburg [my ass]) for six months and got violently mugged. I never lived in that crumby of a neighborhood in B-more though. I'm actually looking into buying a small apartment building on the edge of the Station North Arts District where it starts to get sketchy, but I've learned not to walk around alone at night, at least I think I have. Stay tuned for my post "Tenants wanted "walking distance" to MICA."

Anywho, things to do for three days while visiting MICA aside from the MICA tour:

Check out The Windup Space (http://www.thewindupspace.com) and Metro Gallery (http://themetrogallery.net). Both are close to MICA's grad studios on North Ave. Both are bars that double as arts venues. They have live music most nights so there will probably be a cover charge. Be forewarned, I think they both have 1AM licenses, so they close an hour earlier than most bars which can kind of rain on the fun when you are having it and the lights go up way to early. Take a cab back from this area. Don't stroll far from the bar after dark. It gets sketchy fast, it's sort of block to block. (410) 685-1212. It's good to have it in your phone. But you can probably hail one, the train station is nearby and there are a lot of cabs.

Run through the Baltimore Museum of Art (http://www.artbma.org) and check out the Cone Collection, if you like Matisse. They have a small Contemporary wing that is more Modern and pretty mid-century painting heavy, but they have what I consider to be the best Hans Hoffman I have seen. They also have a few decent pieces in the Old Masters section and some great primitive art and such.

The American Visionary Arts Museum is cool. A great collection of folk and outsider art. (http://www.avam.org)

The Walters Art Museum is also great for older art and artifacts. (http://thewalters.org)

The Maryland Science Center is supposed to be cool, but I've never gone for some reason. (http://www.mdsci.org)

The National Aquarium is great if you want to see fish out of their natural habitat. (http://www.aqua.org) I think it's really cheap on Friday's after 5PM, but I don't know if they still do that promotion.

There are a bunch of small live theaters. Everyman Theatre, Theatre Project, Center Stage, Load of Fun Theater (literally across the street from MICA's grad building.) Google or grab a City Paper when you hit town to see what is playing. City Paper is a good source for finding what is going on around town.

The weather is supposed to be great this weekend so you could ride the Water Taxi and see how many of the discounted cocktail coupons you can use before getting "sea sick." (http://www.thewatertaxi.com/schedule.html)

The Charles Theatre has a mix of art house and main stream movies that are on the artsy side. Also close to MICA. (http://www.thecharles.com)

Check out the Paper Moon Diner to see where people eat in the middle of the night. Although they are changing their hours this summer and no longer going to be 24 hrs. I don't know where the bartenders will go after work after that. (http://www.papermoondiner24.com)

The list of cool bars you could go to is endless. Baltimore is a real drinking town, as are most cities where people don't have to drive to get everywhere. Some worth noting are:

The Horse You Came in On in Fells Point, where Edgar Allen Poe allegedly may have had his last drink (http://www.thehorsebaltimore.com)

Fells Point is one of the oldest areas of Baltimore that didn't burn in the Fire of 1904. So there are some really cool old smelly bars along cobblestone streets all around there. It's a cool place to stroll around for a bit.

The Brewer's Art, in Mt. Vernon makes their own in-house Belgian style beers. (http://www.thebrewersart.com) The basement is the cool spot to drink, but they have incredible fine dining upstairs too.

Mt. Vernon is also Baltimore's unofficial Gayborhood and probably the most interesting and eclectic part of Baltimore. The intersection of Charles and Eager St. is the hub of that. That is where you will find The Hippo and Grand Central Station.

The Club Charles, is where John Waters is known to sometimes go when in town as well as MICA students. (http://www.theclubcharles.com) It's the original cool bar in the Station North Arts District.

Canton Square (2900-3000 O'Donnel St.)and Federal Hill (Cross St. and South Charles St.) are big bar hopping areas with lots of offerings, but brace yourself for what New Yorkers would call the Bridge and Tunnel crowd: fraternity and sorority crowd that moved to Baltimore from Jersey and Long Island to go to college. You might have a "situation" there if those kind of people annoy you. Most of them aren't too bad though. It's kind of like observing primates at the zoo, only with the added benefit of drinking beer.

The Mt. Royal Tavern on Mt. Royal Ave. right along MICA's main campus usually has an interesting cast of characters too. It is worth stopping in for a drink, just to check out the Sistine Chapel Ceiling replica that some guy painted for free beer. It looks just like Michelangelo's before it was cleaned.

The Inner Harbor is where most of the chains and tourist traps are located. You can find a Hard Rock Cafe, ESPNzone and a Howl at the Moon down there.

I'm a vegetarian so I'm the worst when it comes to recommending places to eat. Baltimore is big on crabs, crab cakes, crab dip, crab soup and anything else they can put crab meat in.

If there is anything specific that you would like to know, send me a msg. or just post it and I'll try to remember to check here. Baltimore is a fun town, or at the very least a town that you can make fun in. It's getting more expensive all the time, especially if you get close to the water, but it's still pretty reasonable and can be down right cheap once you learn where to go and who has Natty Boh in a can. I hope you have a great time. I think you'll like MICA.

Public transportation in B-more is pretty much limited to cabs, but it is safe to walk around in the daytime.

[brianmc]

Any idea if going to their post-baccalaureate for a year is worth the money? Does it significantly help your chance chance of getting into Hoffberger later? I'm not sure whether this offer is at all selective or if they just give it to everyone they reject for the Painting MFA. It could be a money mill. They gave me a small scholarship but I need to know if it would be worthwhile, or if I should go with a different, less prestigious program where they've offered MFA acceptance. Anything would help, thanks.

No. I really don't think it is worth the money, especially if the tuition for that is anywhere near what MICA's regular tuition is. There is no guarantee of anything. I would enroll in another program if there is one that you think would be rewarding, or work solo and apply again next year if you have your heart set on Hoffberger. It's just way too much money to not receive credits toward your goal. You could rent a killer studio for a couple of years for 30K. Look into residencies if you need the interaction with other artists. Some cost money, but nowhere near what MICA costs. I'm personally watching Hoffberger to see who is going to take over. They have still not found a new director to replace Grace Hartigan as far as I know. They have had an interim director since she passed in 2008. They seem to be holding out for someone special. I hope they get somebody really great. I'd love to go there if I could get in. See if you can track down some people who have attended post-bac programs and see what their opinion is. Did they tell you who the director of the post-bac program is that you would be working with?

[litho]

Thank you Caffeinated and Littlenova for your words or encouragement and recommendations. I spent Thursday through Sunday wandering around Baltimore. i was incredibly impressed with MICA's facilities, the philosophy of Mount Royal and I fell deeply in love with Baltimore. I felt, for the most part, just as safe as I do here in Portland and people were a whole lot more willing to connect and have a conversation. There are so many brilliantly creative projects coming into fruition there.

So... thank you all for your words.

I put the down payment down yesterday and now I am looking forward to the move come August!

[littlenova]

Yahoo! That is so great to hear. Best of luck there. I am in the summer program, but I'm sure our paths will cross.

[brianmc]

That's awesome. Welcome to Charm City!!! I think you'll find it extremely stimulating.

[grimmie]

Thank you Caffeinated and Littlenova for your words or encouragement and recommendations. I spent Thursday through Sunday wandering around Baltimore. i was incredibly impressed with MICA's facilities, the philosophy of Mount Royal and I fell deeply in love with Baltimore. I felt, for the most part, just as safe as I do here in Portland and people were a whole lot more willing to connect and have a conversation. There are so many brilliantly creative projects coming into fruition there.

So... thank you all for your words.

I put the down payment down yesterday and now I am looking forward to the move come August!

Wow great tips and advices here. I just got my deposit in for Mount Royal today! Hey fellow studiomate!

[brianmc]

Maybe you guys can give me a tour next year. I'm thinking about applying to MICA. Probably Hoffberger, because I primarily paint, but I'd be totally down for Mt. Royal if they felt that is where I belonged since my work relies very heavily on image making and not so much on pure painterly issues. How does the application process work? Will they consider you for Mt. Royal if you apply to Hoffberger and they don't think you belong with the "purists" or do you have to make separate applications? I know the boundaries are kind of loose between programs sometimes. When I went to MICA as an undergrad there was a student in Hoffberger who was making 3D doll like creatures.

[littlenova]

@brianmc: Very loose between programs...At that level, everything is conceptual...You can actually apply to both and see where the dice falls. I applied to both the full-time and summer programs for Photo/Intermedia and I was accepted to both. The interviews were independent of each other.

I liked some of the paintings you did at MICA...The Garden painting was nice. It reminded me a bit of Jose Bedia (a great painter who ventures into sculpture) Maybe it's the thick and thin of the line work---almost like primitive drawing---that gets my attention. It seems like you went in an entirely new direction, though, with your most recent work.

Edited April 8, 2010 by littlenova

[brianmc]

Wow, I was not familiar with Jose Bedia. I really like his work. Thanks for pointing him out. I really need to come up with a limited palette that works for my new work and go back and rework a lot of the pieces. Limiting color will allow me to focus more on value and make the work a lot more dramatic. And I feel quite strongly that I need to find some way to reintroduce the importance of line, but my experiments are coming up short. I'm using a squeeze bottle to superimpose line back over the surface, and it looks great in areas, but becomes too superficial in others, so I think I'm going to need to find the right combo of line making techniques. I do love the speed of the fluid line it creates. I was criticized for combining styles by some faculty at MICA, which is what led some of them to tell me to look at David Salle, who has never really been one of my influences. If you look at my work at MICA chronologically, you see it get very boring and homogenous. That was the result of attempting to make a singular style. It wasn't so much that I purposely used multiple styles, than I was using different techniques in the same painting, leaving some things as drawn outlines and other things rendered. I liked the effect. I felt it allowed you to consider the images solely, and find symbolic meaning in them and then relate them to the other images. It slowed down the reading of the narrative a little. I ended up creating vignettes to isolate the differences which led to multiple panels, before I started to get boring. I really enjoyed the work I made at MICA my first year and the faculty I was working with. My new work is quite different from the work I did at MICA, but not as different as the jump I made from the work I was doing before MICA. It's that work trying to creep in and meld with the things I was doing at MICA that has resulted in what I am doing now. That earliest work was trying to make style work as metaphor. I have a couple of stories that I HAVE TO get out of me before I can discover the true freedom that I'm searching for as a painter. I can see where I want to arrive in my head, but I don't have the map for how to get there. It's a matter of getting lost and looking for something familiar to get you going in the right direction again. I'm trying to figure out how to put together everything I've done, discovered, learned, and invented so far, without feeling like I've left anything important out. It seems impossible, because every time I pick up a paint brush (or a squeeze bottle) everything keeps expanding. Painting is like the universe. I don't think one person can ever fathom it.

It feels so good just write about this stuff. I'm so sad that I didn't get into school. I really want to be around other people who think about this stuff. Isolation can be good, but not all of the time.

P.S. Garden was the second painting I did at MICA.

[littlenova]

I PMed you with more "geeking out" over painting. lol.

[brianmc]

I put an offer on a small apt. building (3 apts.) on the 1700 block of Guilford Avenue last week and they accepted it. I have no idea what is up with the current tenants or how long their leases are, but I'll probably try to rent to MICA students when the apartments open up. I'm so excited that I'm going to be moving back to the city hopefully this summer. Now I'm just praying that all of the inspections and what not go ok.