Finding the right program.

[brianmc]

Hey everyone,

Everyone hear knows how exhausting it is to research schools and try to find somewhere that you might fit in and even thrive. I thought maybe we could share information to help one another possibly find the programs where we should apply, where there are faculty that might think and/or work like us.

I'll start. I'm an image maker. I work from my imagination, not life. I am interested in formal concerns as well as narrative and social commentary. I am interested in studying printmaking in grad school, but I am also a painter. The medium isn't as important to me as the images I am making. I could work by drawing with a stick in the dirt if I had to. My biggest influences/favorite work are the late figurative work of Philip Guston, later figurative work of Carrol Dunham (I know he teaches at Yale or somewhere I can't afford to go), Max Beckman's triptychs. I also enjoy Lari Pittman's work more for the narrative than the way of working (love it, but I'm a little more loosie goosie), I like Goya's social commentative works, and things like Daumier's Third Class Carriage are always creeping out of my sub-conscious.

From all of the digging I've done I've found a guy named Michael Miller at SAIC whose work I like and feel I would like to study with, but I'm sort of on a state school budget. I'll apply there just incase, but does anyone have any ideas? Have you come across anyone in your travels, visits, research, or know of any schools where my work might fit. Thanks in advance.

Oh yeah. My work looks like this...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianmcart/

Brian Mc

[caserole]

Hey,

Cool prints!

I don't know much about printmaking but I've heard MassArt (I went for undergrad) has a really amazing printshop.

I'm researching sculpture programs now and I'm looking at UT-Knoxville because they offer amazing funding. I saw them listed on someone's top print programs list...

C

Hey everyone,

Everyone hear knows how exhausting it is to research schools and try to find somewhere that you might fit in and even thrive. I thought maybe we could share information to help one another possibly find the programs where we should apply, where there are faculty that might think and/or work like us.

I'll start. I'm an image maker. I work from my imagination, not life. I am interested in formal concerns as well as narrative and social commentary. I am interested in studying printmaking in grad school, but I am also a painter. The medium isn't as important to me as the images I am making. I could work by drawing with a stick in the dirt if I had to. My biggest influences/favorite work are the late figurative work of Philip Guston, later figurative work of Carrol Dunham (I know he teaches at Yale or somewhere I can't afford to go), Max Beckman's triptychs. I also enjoy Lari Pittman's work more for the narrative than the way of working (love it, but I'm a little more loosie goosie), I like Goya's social commentative works, and things like Daumier's Third Class Carriage are always creeping out of my sub-conscious.

From all of the digging I've done I've found a guy named Michael Miller at SAIC whose work I like and feel I would like to study with, but I'm sort of on a state school budget. I'll apply there just incase, but does anyone have any ideas? Have you come across anyone in your travels, visits, research, or know of any schools where my work might fit. Thanks in advance.

Oh yeah. My work looks like this...

http://www.flickr.co...tos/brianmcart/

Brian Mc

[Eraserhead]

Brian, you might want to look into Ohio University. I actually spent a year in the printmaking MFA program there and it didn't work out for me, but looking at your work I think you'd fit in much better than I did. The print faculty tends more towards image making and they have pretty decent facilities and Takach presses. But print grads don't get individual studios the first year, which was horrible for me because I was more interested in installation. However, if you want access to good litho stones to draw on or are going to spend most of your time printing, then the collective grad print studios would be perfect. I can't give an absolutely stellar endorsement of the program since things got pretty complicated for me there and I'm still not sure what to make of it, but check it out and if you want to know more I'd be glad to try to answer any questions. Oh, they also give pretty good funding, stipends for GAs and TAs, and you'll likely get to (or be required to) teach your own classes in 2nd and 3rd year, plus travel grants are available for SGC and things like that.

As for me, I wonder if anyone could recommend a good state program (or one that offers VERY generous funding) in either printmaking or painting/drawing or something totally interdisciplinary? I'm looking for a place that offers teaching experience as that's what I really want to be doing in the future. I'm not interested in making editions or really in printmaking at all except possibly some screenprints or digital prints, but my BFA is in print and I'd be happy to TEACH printmaking. That's just not where my work is at right now.

thanks and best of luck to everyone!

J

[caraa]

U Wisconsin Madison has a really strong printmaking program. I visited UW last year and they seemed like they had great faculty, sense of community, and facilities. I definitely recommend you check it out.

[I Paint Faces]

I foudn this Alternate Rankings thread really helpful

Also, I looked through TONS of websites focusing on student and faculty work. I really think that you can get a good starting vibe about a school from looking at their catalogues or websites at the type of work people are producing. I found that getting a book that listed graduate MFA programs wa a good starting point because it helped me find lesser known schools that still had great programs. Good luck! My work is completely different than yours so I don't have specific recommendations, but I think looking intensely at multiple programs is a great idea, and you'll know where you fit. In fact, I was suprised once I got my acceptances (after lots of rejections) that I really felt that I could fit in two different places equally well and had a really difficult time deciding 9I didn't visit anywhere until after I got my letters back). I would also say that once you do hear back lots of programs will work with you to get you the funding you need to attend their program. In the end one school offered me thousands of dollars more than they had previously, and it really pushed me to decide on their program and moving across country. So just know financial packages aren't always set in stone, so don't feel like you necessarily have to aviod applying to a school you really love.

[mary Johnson]

hey brianmc: check out the The University at Buffalo. (state university) I am an MFA student there currently and it is very interdisciplinary. Adele Henderson (graduate program director) is in charge of the printmaking area and she is wonderful and very open to people exploring other methods of printmaking or using it in their work- not necessarily focusing on editioning, et.. If you get a TA position (they give away about 6 a year) you teach your own classes, get a tuition remission and get a stipend which I think is $14,000. I am not sure about the exact amt.

good luck!

[I Paint Faces]

That's good to know about financial aid packages. I wanted to go to SAIC so bad as an undergrad, partly because the city seemed awesome, but I was overcome with this amazing vibe when I walked into their printshop on the group tour I was on. I think I will visit there again. It's been 14 years ago now. It was just so expensive even back then. I still ended up going to a private art college, but was fortunate to receive enough scholarship money to bring the remainder of tuition under the subsidized loan amount that I was eligible to borrow each year. I think I'm in the same boat now. I'm willing to borrow money, but a lot of it will have to go toward living expenses. I don't see the point in going if I have to work a lot at a job while in school. We all know it's a lot more than sitting in a lecture and writing some papers like other majors. You get out of it what you put into it.

How did you go about getting better financial aid from the schools you were really interested in. I've heard the saying, "the squeaky wheel gets the oil," but I've never been very good at asking for more?

I felt really awkward about it at first, but I was just honest. I said I really love your program, but I'm really worried about the cost right now and adding debt to my undergraduate loans" then they said they had no more funding, which was perfectly understandable (I was talking to a faculty member by the way, I think that's better than talking to someone in the financial aid office, because the faculty know your work, might have met you, and can determine how much they really want you there). I then replied "well thank you, that's completely understandable, I just want you to know your program is great and I really love x, y, and z about it, and if I don't come I want you to know it was due to the financial situation not anything else." This program was also aware that I had gotten into other schools and that I was choosing between them, so they knew there was a good possibility that I might pass them up for a better financial situation, which is actually what I had decided to do in my head, but at 11:30 that night I got a call saying that they in fact found more money and could offer me full tuition and a stipend. It changed my whole mind around one last time. Basically I feel that it can't hurt if you are polite and honest while asking. I tlaked to all of my schools before making a decision and was perfectly candid about what other schools I was deciding between and that i really just wanted to get as much information as I could to make a decision that was best for me. At a third school I actually emailed the financial aid office asking about money and they were nice, but just said not at this time. I think talking to faculty was helpful particularly since I had just visited the school and it's a small program so they knew who I was.

Hope that was all helpful!