Donn Buchfinck on sat 24 aug 02
To begin with, I think it is best to understand what graduate school does,
the positives and negatives.
On the positive side it helps a person make better work, I hope.
For me it became about developing a language to articulate my work in, in the
medium of clay and the verbal one as well.
On the negative side, a person can get sucked into the dancing angles and
emperors clothes arena.
As you said you have seen a lot of artists in galleries from Alfred, well
let's be clear about this. Alfred had a leg up on most programs, what I mean
is that it has been around a long time, and they have a support group that
supports its own, it's exponential. So the people who got out of Alfred vote
for the people who got out of Alfred who jury in the people from Alfred, who
get the residencies at places run buy alums of Alfred, you get the picture.
That place has a lot of momentum. At times it is a good idea to join the
dominant pack. I will come back to Alfred later.
You mentioned you would be taking time away from your own work, I think that
idea will be the major problem you will have to overcome. Graduate school is
about you, the artist. It is why it is imperative one has a good/positive
working relationship with the main instructor at the program. This will
serve you for the rest of your career. It means nothing if you do great
things in graduate school, but your teacher doesn't like/respect/ or is
threatened by you. Trust me it happens, it is a human world out there.
You have to ask yourself, what type of life do I wish to lead? go back to
being a potter, or make art for the galleries. Work with the muck or play
music for the gods.
I do not wish to debate this last sentence with uptight potters, it has to do
with the attitude you will run into at MFA programs. They are fine art
driven, and you will be asked to deal with theory, to defend your work.
Sometimes exposing the mystery is not so good.
They say it takes 10 years to develop ones self after grad school, I am in my
7th year now, and I can see some truth in it, but they also told me that the
work you do in grad school is similar to what you will be dealing with for
the rest of your art career.
Do you want to teach, let me tell you that teaching takes a certain kind of
animal, and they will not let the really talented ones in to teach. It is a
fuzzy feel good world out in academia. Buy this I mean it seems you have to
make the student feel good about themselves and then at the end of the class
you have to have a student evaluation taken. My opinion about this is that
throughout my educational career I had some teachers who where not so kind,
and they were demanding, but they were the best, they got me ready for what I
would be coming up against in life. I had one of the best ceramics teachers
of the 20th century, and I saw what it takes to BE an artist. Was he a nice
person, was he kind, fair? Not really, but he showed me what it takes, not in
how to treat people but in how to approach myself and the medium I am dealing
with.
And with college teaching the infighting and political maneuvering, is energy
better spent in the studio but wasted on worthless jockeying for power.
So have I really confused you yet, graduate schools is a good thing, but have
no illusions, in the end you will still be in your studio trying to figure
out a way to make a living and find personal expression. But probably being
more frustrated because people do not respect your great new way to see a non
working teapot or oil and vinegar cruet set.
I think it is a good analogy to think of grad school as an island, a place
you will take a beak during a long swim, it lets you see where you have come
from and it lets you see where you are going.
As to where to go, you have to go and visit the schools, Alfred is not for
everyone, nor do they take the most talented ones either, when you go to
Alfred you are in the ceramics program, but maybe you would like to go to a
program that has mobility to other mediums.
In the end, look at what the people are doing now coming out of grad schools
at the schools you are interested in. That is a true barometer of how
successful a program is, not the fact that the instructors are on the cover
of ceramics monthly. Does the program create viable articulate artists. Or
frustrated teacher wannabes??
Take some time off and go and take some summer courses, Alfred has a summer
program, go to haystack, or Anderson ranch, maybe workshops.
In the end you get what you give in that environment. And it will take you
farther and faster than being on your own, but there are pitfalls, some
people become dependant on that group environment, and find it hard to find
equilibrium being isolated and alone in their studios once more. Some people
use the analogy of, you are creating a well that you will draw from for the
rest of your career, but too often the artist falls into that well and the
teacher starts filling it up burying you, it takes years to dig oneself out
of that pit, 10 years I'm told. 3 more years for me, I can't wait.
Good luck,
Donn Buchfinck
San Francisco
Kansas City Art Institute BFA 1990
Penn State University MFA 1995
Donn Buchfinck on sat 24 aug 02
To begin with, I think it is best to understand what graduate school does,
the positives and negatives.
On the positive side it helps a person make better work, I hope.
For me it became about developing a language to articulate my work in, in the
medium of clay and the verbal one as well.
On the negative side, a person can get sucked into the dancing angles and
emperors clothes arena.
As you said you have seen a lot of artists in galleries from Alfred, well
let's be clear about this. Alfred had a leg up on most programs, what I mean
is that it has been around a long time, and they have a support group that
supports its own, it's exponential. So the people who got out of Alfred vote
for the people who got out of Alfred who jury in the people from Alfred, who
get the residencies at places run buy alums of Alfred, you get the picture.
That place has a lot of momentum. At times it is a good idea to join the
dominant pack. I will come back to Alfred later.
You mentioned you would be taking time away from your own work, I think that
idea will be the major problem you will have to overcome. Graduate school is
about you, the artist. It is why it is imperative one has a good/positive
working relationship with the main instructor at the program. This will
serve you for the rest of your career. It means nothing if you do great
things in graduate school, but your teacher doesn't like/respect/ or is
threatened by you. Trust me it happens, it is a human world out there.
You have to ask yourself, what type of life do I wish to lead? go back to
being a potter, or make art for the galleries. Work with the muck or play
music for the gods.
I do not wish to debate this last sentence with uptight potters, it has to
do with the attitude you will run into at MFA programs. They are fine art
driven, and you will be asked to deal with theory, to defend your work.
Sometimes exposing the mystery is not so good.
They say it takes 10 years to develop ones self after grad school, I am in my
7th year now, and I can see some truth in it, but they also told me that the
work you do in grad school is similar to what you will be dealing with for
the rest of your art career.
Do you want to teach, let me tell you that teaching takes a certain kind of
animal, and they will not let the really talented ones in to teach. It is a
fuzzy feel good world out in academia. Buy this I mean it seems you have to
make the student feel good about themselves and then at the end of the class
you have to have a student evaluation taken. My opinion about this is that
throughout my educational career I had some teachers who where not so kind,
and they were demanding, but they were the best, they got me ready for what I
would be coming up against in life. I had one of the best ceramics teachers
of the 20th century, and I saw what it takes to BE an artist. Was he a nice
person, was he kind, fair? Not really, but he showed me what it takes, not in
how to treat people but in how to approach myself and the medium I am dealing
with.
And with college teaching the infighting and political maneuvering, is energy
better spent in the studio but wasted on worthless jockeying for power.
So have I really confused you yet, graduate schools is a good thing, but have
no illusions, in the end you will still be in your studio trying to figure
out a way to make a living and find personal expression. But probably being
more frustrated because people do not respect your great new way to see a non
working teapot or oil and vinegar cruet set.
I think it is a good analogy to think of grad school as an island, a place
you will take a beak during a long swim, it lets you see where you have come
from and it lets you see where you are going.
As to where to go, you have to go and visit the schools, Alfred is not for
everyone, nor do they take the most talented ones either, when you go to
Alfred you are in the ceramics program, but maybe you would like to go to a
program that has mobility to other mediums.
In the end, look at what the people are doing now coming out of grad schools
at the schools you are interested in. That is a true barometer of how
successful a program is, not the fact that the instructors are on the cover
of ceramics monthly. Does the program create viable articulate artists. Or
frustrated teacher wannabes??
Take some time off and go and take some summer courses, Alfred has a summer
program, go to haystack, or Anderson ranch, maybe workshops.
In the end you get what you give in that environment. And it will take you
farther and faster than being on your own, but there are pitfalls, some
people become dependant on that group environment, and find it hard to find
equilibrium being isolated and alone in their studios once more. Some people
use the analogy of, you are creating a well that you will draw from for the
rest of your career, but too often the artist falls into that well and the
teacher starts filling it up burying you, it takes years to dig oneself out
of that pit, 10 years I'm told. 3 more years for me, I can't wait.
Good luck,
Donn Buchfinck
San Francisco
Kansas City Art Institute BFA 1990
Penn State University MFA 1995
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