MFA 2021 Freak Out Forum

[rororiroor]

2 minutes ago, SocialKonstruct said:

Asking to be specific. Columbia University or Columbia College? One is in NYC and the other in IL.

Oops lol. Anyone hear from Columbia University in NYC for photo?

[BCS]

Just received UT Knoxville rejection via snail mail, so if anyone is waiting to hear from them, I think you will soon. I sort of assumed, but always a bummer. Not much hope for UGA, thinking good thoughts for UNCG and my safety school.

[ks1313]

23 minutes ago, BCS said:

Just received UT Knoxville rejection via snail mail, so if anyone is waiting to hear from them, I think you will soon. I sort of assumed, but always a bummer. Not much hope for UGA, thinking good thoughts for UNCG and my safety school.

Yep, I just got mine for utk yesterday evening. Supposedly they only had like 1-2 spots open within the painting program this year. Also, they started interviewing at the end of Jan. so it was expected, still sucks though. Btw, I applied to a handful of programs in the southeast as well (accetped into ETSU and WCU), where else did you apply?

[NoraEllie]

2 hours ago, SocialKonstruct said:

It could be a matter of perspective. Let's imagine a scenario here. If you were a curator for the Whitney Biennial would you be more likely to select from Columbia or RISD or someone from University of North Texas.

Granted, six figure debt is bad but if you were in law school or medical school that debt would be much larger :o.

But the thing is if you’re in medical, dental or law school you’re promised a definite job. For artist it’s all about the hustle and working non stop to get where we want. 

[theundoing]

3 hours ago, SocialKonstruct said:

It could be a matter of perspective. Let's imagine a scenario here. If you were a curator for the Whitney Biennial would you be more likely to select from Columbia or RISD or someone from University of North Texas.

Granted, six figure debt is bad but if you were in law school or medical school that debt would be much larger :o.

Yeah, but you don't have to go to Columbia to get a shot at a Whitney curator visiting your studio. In the 2019 biennial Columbia only had 4 artists at the biennial vs. 3 for Bard. RISD had zero while Hunter had one. And assuming for the sake of argument you were given zero financial aid. Hunter would cost $42,000, and Bard would cost $70,100 while Columbia and RISD would cost $128,000 and $110,000, respectively. Personally, I think the market will change a lot in the next 10 years and we will see more successful artists from outside of Columbia and RISD as people start to decide that the cost just isn't worth the fractional boost in the industry.  Yale will stay Yale though lol

Edited February 27, 2021 by theundoing

[zoopsia]

4 hours ago, CSElli said:

I just finished my Hunter interview... and it went great! Andrea Blum and Tom Weaver asked thought provoking questions and were great listeners. I was required to screen share five images and walk them through the work. They had great follow-up questions and while they were on a time crunch, they were very polite about it. I asked almost all the same questions as I did in my MICA interview and they responded very positively. Even letting me know that if enough students are interested in a new program (like inviting alumni back for artist talks) then they are open to it. The interview was short (20 minutes) but the time felt valuable to me. I feel inspired and I may even start a new painting today!
If anyone has a Hunter interview coming up, I hope you have a similar experience! 

That's great! I applied to Hunter too, but for sculpture/installation work. I am still waiting to hear from them. Did you hear from them this last week? When I interviewed at Parsons, I had only two or three days notice before the interview, but it was very exciting and they were also very positive and good listeners. I guess I'm anxious to hear from more schools. It feels like it's taking so long!

[artist wannabe]

So I got into SAIC painting. They called today.

[lizavetar96]

Just got an interview from USC! Excited but so damn nervous. 
(I feel like the bulk of the interviews are scheduled for the 8th of March)

according to the email: The review committee includes Edgar Arceneaux, Thomas Mueller, Ruben Ochoa, Jennifer West and Keith Mayerson, along with Nao Bustamante. 

[CSElli]

14 minutes ago, zoopsia said:

That's great! I applied to Hunter too, but for sculpture/installation work. I am still waiting to hear from them. Did you hear from them this last week? When I interviewed at Parsons, I had only two or three days notice before the interview, but it was very exciting and they were also very positive and good listeners. I guess I'm anxious to hear from more schools. It feels like it's taking so long!

Yes, I received an email last Wednesday. I think all the interviews today were for the painting department (but I could be wrong). I understand what you mean though. I’m still waiting to hear back from a couple of schools and it’s so nerve-wracking! I wish you the best of luck! 

[zoopsia]

7 minutes ago, CSElli said:

Yes, I received an email last Wednesday. I think all the interviews today were for the painting department (but I could be wrong). I understand what you mean though. I’m still waiting to hear back from a couple of schools and it’s so nerve-wracking! I wish you the best of luck! 

Hey thanks. Good luck to you too!

[theundoing]

4 hours ago, CSElli said:

I just finished my Hunter interview... and it went great! Andrea Blum and Tom Weaver asked thought provoking questions and were great listeners. I was required to screen share five images and walk them through the work. They had great follow-up questions and while they were on a time crunch, they were very polite about it. I asked almost all the same questions as I did in my MICA interview and they responded very positively. Even letting me know that if enough students are interested in a new program (like inviting alumni back for artist talks) then they are open to it. The interview was short (20 minutes) but the time felt valuable to me. I feel inspired and I may even start a new painting today!
If anyone has a Hunter interview coming up, I hope you have a similar experience! 

I also had mine today with them. When I looked up Weaver's work I was worried (as it is so different from mine) but I thought it went well. I hope we both get offers!

[SocialKonstruct]

2 hours ago, theundoing said:

Yeah, but you don't have to go to Columbia to get a shot at a Whitney curator visiting your studio. In the 2019 biennial Columbia only had 4 artists at the biennial vs. 3 for Bard. RISD had zero while Hunter had one. And assuming for the sake of argument you were given zero financial aid. Hunter would cost $42,000, and Bard would cost $70,100 while Columbia and RISD would cost $128,000 and $110,000, respectively. Personally, I think the market will change a lot in the next 10 years and we will see more successful artists from outside of Columbia and RISD as people start to decide that the cost just isn't worth the fractional boost in the industry.  Yale will stay Yale though lol

Maybe but I wish that I could be more optimistic about this. I don't think that often Whitney curators will be travelling much outside of New England, LA, NYC, Chicago, SF areas. I am curious about the shifting market. Do you think that the market will change that much? It didn't change at all when the market collapsed back in 2008 and definitely not during the 1990's either. Instead, the power players got more money.

I wish that I could be more optimistic about the contemporary art world becoming more democratic but as I get older, I am much more cynical. One can pick up any issue of Artforum and it's still mostly NYC/LA. Rarely you will see shows reviewed from Texas and definitely not Utah where I live.

The question is that we tend to think that artists make their own success but that's not the case. Art always exists in a financial and sociological context and as long as the art reviewers and publishers and curators and museum directors (major ones of course) remain mostly in NYC/LA/Chicago/San Fran then I really don't see too many artists outside of those spheres crashing into the major art fairs and biennials.

In fact, you tend to see more folks who live in obscure places moving to NYC or LA to make it big. It's only when you are a blue chip artist that you have any leverage to control more of your own destiny. Until then, it's a huge unlikely shot.

[SocialKonstruct]

38 minutes ago, artist wannabe said:

So I got into SAIC painting. They called today.

Woot!

[theundoing]

6 minutes ago, SocialKonstruct said:

Maybe but I wish that I could be more optimistic about this. I don't think that often Whitney curators will be travelling much outside of New England, LA, NYC, Chicago, SF areas. I am curious about the shifting market. Do you think that the market will change that much? It didn't change at all when the market collapsed back in 2008 and definitely not during the 1990's either. Instead, the power players got more money.

I wish that I could be more optimistic about the contemporary art world becoming more democratic but as I get older, I am much more cynical. One can pick up any issue of Artforum and it's still mostly NYC/LA. Rarely you will see shows reviewed from Texas and definitely not Utah where I live.

The question is that we tend to think that artists make their own success but that's not the case. Art always exists in a financial and sociological context and as long as the art reviewers and publishers and curators and museum directors (major ones of course) remain mostly in NYC/LA/Chicago/San Fran then I really don't see too many artists outside of those spheres crashing into the major art fairs and biennials.

In fact, you tend to see more folks who live in obscure places moving to NYC or LA to make it big. It's only when you are a blue chip artist that you have any leverage to control more of your own destiny. Until then, it's a huge unlikely shot.

I think that I probably meant to say "yeah AND" vs "yeah BUT" as I do agree with you about geography. I was attempting to express that within the east and west coast big cities there are so many options for MFA that I wont be surprised if the big player schools shift a bit. I really agree with you that, sadly, artists are not in charge of their own success. I'm with you on wishing I could be more optimistic!

[SocialKonstruct]

1 hour ago, theundoing said:

I think that I probably meant to say "yeah AND" vs "yeah BUT" as I do agree with you about geography. I was attempting to express that within the east and west coast big cities there are so many options for MFA that I wont be surprised if the big player schools shift a bit. I really agree with you that, sadly, artists are not in charge of their own success. I'm with you on wishing I could be more optimistic!

That's accounting for my curatorial experiment which I started last year. Doing a contemporary and CUTTING-EDGE gallery here in Salt Lake City, Utah. To be honest, we aren't getting any recognition here in Utah (and we are very diverse on our roster with trans to Asian-American) and even though I sent press releases to Artforum and NYC art journals, no takes to review our shows.

DEFINITELY geography is huge. You can peep that https://www.officespaceslc.com/ could be a LA or NYC space but it's not. If our address didn't show Utah, I don't think anyone could tell a single difference whether we would be in Utah or NYC. The problem is GEOGRAPHY. We just aren't in NYC/LA so we ain't gettin' no love here ya know?

[Hugo2021]

6 minutes ago, SocialKonstruct said:

That's accounting for my curatorial experiment which I started last year. Doing a contemporary and CUTTING-EDGE gallery here in Salt Lake City, Utah. To be honest, we aren't getting any recognition here in Utah (and we are very diverse on our roster with trans to Asian-American) and even though I sent press releases to Artforum and NYC art journals, no takes to review our shows.

DEFINITELY geography is huge. You can peep that https://www.officespaceslc.com/ could be a LA or NYC space but it's not. If our address didn't show Utah, I don't think anyone could tell a single difference whether we would be in Utah or NYC. The problem is GEOGRAPHY. We just aren't in NYC/LA so we ain't gettin' no love here ya know?

It’s a hard time to market art anywhere, let alone in places off the beaten path. I feel that struggle. Looking at your website, I wonder if there’s a way you could better thread together the artists whose work you’re showing/give yourself some more legitimacy (in terms of how you present yourself/branding/optics)? Couldn’t part of the appeal be that you’re in a different place? Rather than comparing to galleries long established, which feels like a lofty goal.

[SocialKonstruct]

18 minutes ago, Hugo2021 said:

It’s a hard time to market art anywhere, let alone in places off the beaten path. I feel that struggle. Looking at your website, I wonder if there’s a way you could better thread together the artists whose work you’re showing/give yourself some more legitimacy (in terms of how you present yourself/branding/optics)? Couldn’t part of the appeal be that you’re in a different place? Rather than comparing to galleries long established, which feels like a lofty goal.

I have tried and considering that our staff are all undergrad students, we are surprised that we are getting as far as we can.  Our team just curated a group show up in Paradice Palase in NYC for early April so that's a start. And we are trying hard to get into art fairs too

But we have a diverse roster so right now group shows are pretty much the only way we are going to thread disparate artists together.

[SocialKonstruct]

4 hours ago, theundoing said:

Yeah, but you don't have to go to Columbia to get a shot at a Whitney curator visiting your studio. In the 2019 biennial Columbia only had 4 artists at the biennial vs. 3 for Bard. RISD had zero while Hunter had one. And assuming for the sake of argument you were given zero financial aid. Hunter would cost $42,000, and Bard would cost $70,100 while Columbia and RISD would cost $128,000 and $110,000, respectively. Personally, I think the market will change a lot in the next 10 years and we will see more successful artists from outside of Columbia and RISD as people start to decide that the cost just isn't worth the fractional boost in the industry.  Yale will stay Yale though lol

Yep and goes to prove that Yale is still the heavyweight champ here :). But their program is very theory based and I really dig that. I love critical theory and honestly I even took a graduate level English critical theory class just to get readyyyyyyyy

[SocialKonstruct]

6 hours ago, NoraEllie said:

But the thing is if you’re in medical, dental or law school you’re promised a definite job. For artist it’s all about the hustle and working non stop to get where we want. 

Actually the medical and dental and law fields are ensured either :). One would be surprised at how often folks with MD or JD don't get jobs either :o. https://www.lawcrossing.com/article/5774/Unemployed-Law-Graduate-Continues-Hunger-Strike/

The problem is pretty much unless you are the top 1 percent of super rich folks you ain't surviving at the bottom.

[NoraEllie]

30 minutes ago, SocialKonstruct said:

Actually the medical and dental and law fields are ensured either :). One would be surprised at how often folks with MD or JD don't get jobs either :o. https://www.lawcrossing.com/article/5774/Unemployed-Law-Graduate-Continues-Hunger-Strike/

The problem is pretty much unless you are the top 1 percent of super rich folks you ain't surviving at the bottom.

With law it’s tough bc you have to graduate from a top law school like Emory or Georgetown, etc. but for medical I doubt it because we have had a HUGE decrease in MD’s because everyone is going into PA school (large decrease in primary care physicians which is internal medicine). Many people in medicine now want to specialize and a crap ton are going into anesthesia which pays around 500K a year and is a definite job. Medicine and dental give you definite jobs for sure no matter what university you graduate from but law I can definitely see where individuals have a hard time. 
My fiancé is in dental school and he’ll be starting residency soon but the problem is that while he’s gonna be chilling working 3 days a week making almost 300K a year I’ll be hustling my ass off creating art and trying to get myself out there as much as I can. It’s SO hard and I feel like artists are so under appreciated but in our time are slowly coming to appreciation. These art schools need to chill with their tuition because that’s almost as high as what a NP or a PA comes out of grad school with and both bringing home about 150K a year. I just cannot fathom to get an MFA that costs me to go into debt over 100K (heck even 70K) because your success comes through your hustle and hard work, not the school. 

Edited February 28, 2021 by NoraEllie

[NoraEllie]

For those who applied to hunter? Would you mind sharing your websites? Is there something certain they are looking for? I should have applied but didn’t have enough information on them. This sounds like an amazing school with a lot of opportunities and their tuition is almost NOTHING. 

Edited February 28, 2021 by NoraEllie

[erinwhomst]

Just now, NoraEllie said:

For those who applied to hunter? Would you mind sharing your websites? Is there something certain they are looking for? I should have applied but didn’t have enough information on them. This sounds like an amazing school with a lot of opportunities and their tuition is almost NOTHING. 

I would also love to see your websites/work! I wish you all the best in your interviews/future offers. I applied to Hunter last year and got rejected, so I tried again this year with a stronger portfolio and statement but haven't heard back - which doesn't bode well if they're already doing interviews for the painting department. So far I've gotten 5 rejections, and haven't heard back from the other 7, so I'm feeling a little discouraged after spending so much time/effort/money to apply.

[SocialKonstruct]

12 minutes ago, NoraEllie said:

With law it’s tough bc you have to graduate from a top law school like Emory or Georgetown, etc. but for medical I doubt it because we have had a HUGE decrease in MD’s because everyone is going into PA school (large decrease in primary care physicians which is internal medicine). Many people in medicine now want to specialize and a crap ton are going into anesthesia which pays around 500K a year and is a definite job. Medicine and dental give you definite jobs for sure no matter what university you graduate from but law I can definitely see where individuals have a hard time. 
My fiancé is in dental school and he’ll be starting residency soon but the problem is that while he’s gonna be chilling working 3 days a week making almost 300K a year I’ll be hustling my ass off creating art and trying to get myself out there as much as I can. It’s SO hard and I feel like artists are so under appreciated but in our time are slowly coming to appreciation. These art schools need to chill with their tuition because that’s almost as high as what a NP or a PA comes out of grad school with and both bringing home about 150K a year. I just cannot fathom to get an MFA that costs me to go into debt over 100K (heck even 70K) because your success comes through your hustle and hard work, not the school. 

And that's a tradeoff too. As a former epidemiologist I can DEFINITELY tell you that I won't ever miss working for a corporation ever again. Or government either.

As an artist, I have happiness and freedom. Money ain't gonna buy that ya know?

[SocialKonstruct]

2 minutes ago, erinwhomst said:

I would also love to see your websites/work! I wish you all the best in your interviews/future offers. I applied to Hunter last year and got rejected, so I tried again this year with a stronger portfolio and statement but haven't heard back - which doesn't bode well if they're already doing interviews for the painting department. So far I've gotten 5 rejections, and haven't heard back from the other 7, so I'm feeling a little discouraged after spending so much time/effort/money to apply.

I would be interested in seeing your work

[NoraEllie]

4 minutes ago, SocialKonstruct said:

And that's a tradeoff too. As a former epidemiologist I can DEFINITELY tell you that I won't ever miss working for a corporation ever again. Or government either.

As an artist, I have happiness and freedom. Money ain't gonna buy that ya know?

And that’s exactly why I love doing art. I completely agree with you!