U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: alt process at the university level

Re: alt process at the university level




I've been following this thread with interest because it reminds me of my youth -- that is, my search (more years ago than bears mention) for a good liberal arts college/university that had a good art program. At the time, there didn't seem to be one: Some colleges did have relatively strong art programs, but they were mediocre in the humanities. And vice versa.

My choice at the time was 2 years at "college," then transfer to art school. Some years later, a number of "good" colleges did get good art programs (or reputedly good, I didn't test them) so that problem seemed solved...

However, I suspect that photography is so much more specialized than "art," and "alt photography" even more specialized, that to get a serious amount and in depth -- well, you can get some outstanding teachers but (for instance) can Chris Anderson/ Sam Wang/ Carmen Lizardo, et al, teach an entire college program ? Plus you need all those pesky math, science and language credits to graduate.

My hunch would be that, generally speaking -- and judging by response so far -- choosing a university (or "college") for the alt teacher could be as good a reason as any other (the football team, the co-ed dorms, the climate, whatever), but it wouldn't be complete, either for photography or "liberal arts."

I'll add that I had a couple of spectacular professors in the liberal arts at college, in part because I could pick and choose without worrying about credits for graduation, but when I went to art school, the "liberal arts" (as degree-granting institutions, they all had some) were definitely mediocre.

But I'd bet anyway it's safer to choose a school for the alt teacher than for a "regular" photography teacher... because the one teaching "alt" is more likely to be teaching process than style, and process lasts longer.

J.