Hartford Art School MFA Photo?

[seefortyone]

Has anyone gone through this program or have any information for the low-residency photo mfa? Its a young program with some hot shot faculty and alumni. thoughts?

[mwh]

Hey seefortyone - 

 

I haven't gone through the program myself, but I know a couple of people who have. 

 

It's a limited residency program - if I understand correctly, you meet for six weeks out of the year, and are otherwise in the field working on projects and assignments and checking in via Skype/email. 

 

Excellent faculty and visiting lecturers as you've mentioned, and some great names have recently come out of the program. 

 

So, my admittedly secondhand impressions -

 

It can be the perfect fit, IF what you're looking for is low-residency. If you're looking for a classroom community and supportive learning environment to foster your growth as an artist, this might not be it. If you're looking for some time to dedicate to working on your art and want (limited) access to some great faculty, it could be the ticket. 

 

One of the alum I know absolutely loved the program, in part because it meant he could still work and have his home life while going to school. Another expressed regrets and wished that maybe he had gone for a non limited-res program. It depends on what your needs are. 

Edited February 6, 2015 by mwh

[evd]

The Hartford MFA program is designed for documentary/photojournalism oriented photographers, since traditional academic programs would be inconvenient to those who have to travel a lot. Because of this a lot of the work that comes out of the school tends to be very same-y. The Mossless book that came out last year which consisted almost entirely of very similar film-based straight-forward documentary work had an advertisement for the Hartford MFA program. Look at that book and decide whether or not you want to align yourself with that mode of photography.