Helloooo MFA Painters 2010

[james]

Awsome we can all talk here. Great to know Im not alone. Ill tell my story, as reading about other peoples experiences has been really enlightening.

I was rejected last year from Yale, UCLA, and wait listed at U Texas Austin (later rejected). I hear it was a tough year w/ lots of apps and I really didnt do my homework just picked a few names off the top ranked list and threw my name in the hat. I am 26, an oil painter, and I have been out of school for four years. I have a few shows under my belt (solo and group), including one that (luckily) sold out last fall.

I realize now how much effort goes into applying. Spending hours just trying to figure out where! I may wait another year to apply because my portfolio really hasnt changed since last year. I wonder if I apply more thoughtfully with the same work maybe... in a less competitive year...and applying to schools more appropriate for my work... I could get in? Or wait a year, improve my portfolio, make my apps really killer, and hopefully get funding. Thoughts?

Also still searching for more schools I like. Anyone have any programs to sugest (or eliminate) for a representational oil painter? Currently on my list: Cranbrook, UT Austin, MICA, MCAD, Montclair State, PNCA, New York Academy of Art. Any knowledge of the reputation of the last three? Anyone wanna share work?

[chrjang]

If you're looking for a representational school, look into indiana university bloomington, boston university, pafa, and university of new hampshire.

[ggozzzi]

my boyfriend graduated from nyaa last year and they have really good programs for representational/figurative painting. visit their website http://www.nyaa.org

[brianmc]

I would second the Indiana University and NY Academy for representational painting. I have seen former classmates of mine's work online who attended each of those schools and their work looks great. Also, they are both teaching at the college level. The one that ended up at NYAA also was interviewing with Boston University, so that may be a good one too.

I went to MICA as an undergrad and had Timothy App for a class. He is currently the head of Hoffberger at MICA. He's a geometric abstractionist and seemed pretty closed to other things. Full disclosure: he was teaching an abstract painting class when I had him. (I think he bumped up my B+ to an A because I went and got him a coffee the last week of class.) But he never seemed to get too excited about anything else. He seems like an pretty intelligent guy, but he can come off as snide and might be discouraging. But I never had a crit with him for my personal work. On the other hand, for anyone doing abstraction, I've overheard him giving crits to fellow students and he's really into that. He admired my blank canvases for how nicely built they were more than my narrative work. My work floats somewhere on the fence between abstraction and representation. I pretty much paint straight from my imagination using little reference so my work ends up being pretty ham-fisted and cartoony. But that's what I get excited about. I love Phillip Guston and Carrol Dunham.

If anyone wants to look at my work go to www.myspace.com/brianmcartist

If you know of a school that might be good for me, I'd love some input on this seemingly endless research.

Best of luck to everyone.