Andrew & Laura Conley on mon 18 aug 97
I would appreciate advice from those of you who have AND have not
attended graduate school in ceramics.
I am considering applying to graduate school for an MFA in Ceramics. I
know what graduate school is like in science (I have an MS in molecular
biology and realize now that I picked the wrong field) but I don't
understand much of what it is in ceramics.
I have become addicted to pottery/ceramics during the last 2 years, now
enjoying it 40-50 hrs/wk at a nearby community college and am ready to
broaden my studio experiences and deepen my artistic expression. Most
of my work has involved modifying thrown pieces. Also, I have used my
chemistry background to help with learning to modify and formulate
glazes. I started to sell some work at a gallery, but after a few
months it closed. I have spoken with the instructor at my school, and
he thinks that a BFA program would make more sense. I feel like my
maturity, previous educational background, and depth of interest in this
field would be better "encouraged" in a graduate setting.
All the comments posted recently regarding advice from professors and
making a living at pottery have been quite helpful. Fortunately, I must
only cover my expenses, so "starving" would be okay.
I would appreciate all your advice and have listed a few specific
questions below. Please respond to me directly, and I will summarize
the comments for the discussion list. lconley@dcds.edu
1) How do the students interact with the faculty? Must the students'
work be directly influenced by the faculty's? Should I choose a program
where I would enjoy this?
2) What is a Fine Arts thesis? What writing accompanies the collection
of work?
3) Is it essentially mandatory that one must apply several years before
being admitted to a good program?
4) Are national galleries more accessible after formal education
compared to the route of broader exposure through art fairs?
5) One person suggested that I try to pursue post-graduate work to
obtain access to excellent facilities and wonderful colleagues/mentors.
How does this work?
Thank you very much for all your help!
Laura Conley
lconley@dcds.edu
Louis Katz on wed 20 aug 97
Dear Laura,
Let me place my perspective first. I started at the University of
Michigan School of Engineering in 1974 transfered to their school of art,
and then went to the Kansas City Art Institute. After a short stint in a
studio I went to graduate School intending to get a job teaching. I
started Grad School at Illinois State in Normal. This was not a good
choice. I ended up at Montana State in Bozeman.
There are things that MFA programs expect of their students regardless of
requirements for admission. It will be hard to get through graduate
school without some experience in other art mediums, and a fair bit of
Art history. If the degree itself is not what you are after so that you
can get a teaching job, and you are not expecting an assistantship, I
would suspect that you might get more from advanced undergraduate
ceramics courses than from grad. courses. BTW some institutions will
offer you an assistantship in one area if you are a degree candidate in
another.
Even if you were accepted to an MFA program you probably would be expect
to take some Undergraduate courses as you probably lack some expected
knowlege. A BFA program that has lots of students will offer you lots of
people to learn from. You can always (almost) develop a real Graduate
Student-like relationship with your instructor by making appointments to
talk about your work during office hours, asking them for suggested
reading materials, and going to conferences and exhibitions and
discussing them with your instructors.
I suspect that most galleries judge artists by their slides and resumes
and that degrees do not play a big role in the decision, although I am
sure this varies.
Go to good schools. Go to exhibitions, conferences and workshops.I hope
this helps.
Louis
Louis Katz
Texas A&M University Corpus Campus
lkatz@falcon.tamucc.edu
NEW WEBSITE:http://maclab.tamucc.edu/lkatz/lkatz/index.html
Patrick & Lynn Hilferty on wed 20 aug 97
I'll answer as it pertains to my limited experience:
>1) How do the students interact with the faculty? Must the students'
>work be directly influenced by the faculty's? Should I choose a program
>where I would enjoy this?
SJSU encouraged interdisiplinary communications with faculty outside my
chosen medium(s) and by the end, my committee was made up of Paul Steiger
(painting), Jacqueline Thurston (painting and drawing/photography) and Stan
Welsh (ceramics). I also talked with Consuelo Underwood (textiles) and
Robin Lasser (photography). This contrasts with other schools I've gone to
where communications with faculty were based on medium. I know that the
work I'm doing owes a debt to Stan.
Should you pick a program in order to be directly influenced by the
faculty? Well that's what happens. The question remains as the to the shape
that influence should take. At one school I went to, the faculty member
stated that it was their job to break the graduate student down, then build
him or her back up again. I quit that school at the end of my first
semester there.
As far as what criterion you should base your program choice on, you need
to know who you are, what do you think you want and need, and not be afraid
to reassess the school you end up at if it proves to be an unsatisfactory
experience.
>2) What is a Fine Arts thesis? What writing accompanies the collection
>of work?
The thesis was my show. The documentation consisted of slides and prints of
the work presented, artist's statement, disscussion of influences,
background, and technical issues. I've my thesis statement on my web page
The address is at the bottom. Your thesis (and mileage) may vary.
>3) Is it essentially mandatory that one must apply several years before
>being admitted to a good program?
Probably not, though it feels that way. I got tired of trying to guess what
schools were looking for, so I made appointments with instructors to talk
about the programs and brought my slides. I gauged my chances on the
response the slides got.
>4) Are national galleries more accessible after formal education
>compared to the route of broader exposure through art fairs?
At the recent panel discussion, "Collecting the work of emerging artists",
that took place at the San Francisco Art Institute, one of the gallery
owners stated that it was her opinion that artists wouldn't come into their
own making original work until at least five years after grad school. This
seemed to imply that the gallery owner wouldn't look at you until you were
five years out of grad school. On the other hand, I don't think that Tom
Rippon had an MFA when he started out, so, again, your mileage may vary.
>5) One person suggested that I try to pursue post-graduate work to
>obtain access to excellent facilities and wonderful colleagues/mentors.
> How does this work?
Definitely one of the classic rationalisations for going to grad school.
Again, make some appointments and go visit the programs. Circulate. At San
Francisco State, people with degrees could enroll under what was called
"unclassified graduate" status. This allowed them to take classes and use
the studios while building up their portfolio. It also allowed them the
time to figure out what it was they wanted to do next in school, and gave
the faculty a chance to get to know them. Maybe that's an option for you at
the school of your choice.
Welcome to the exciting world of advanced degrees in art. Hope this helps.
Good luck.
Patrick
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Patrick Hilferty
Belmont, CA 94002
E-Mail:
Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~philferty/
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