YAPAR@aol.com
Date: 08/29/00-01:00:13 AM Z
To all who are now in, or thinking of ever being in an MFA program.
>From Ivan Olsen, MFA, Pratt Institute ,(Brooklyn) NYC , 1996.
Been there done that, so now what? And yes I did take Judy Seigel
Non Silver class. Where I had fun and learned a lot,and among other things
maid a 20x24 gum prints.
An MFA does NOT help you by itself make you any money.
And it can cost you $60,000, or more depending on which school you go to.
An example of how hard it is to get a college level teaching job after
all the blood, sweat, and tears (LITERALLY) to get your MFA.
For all the teaching jobs listed through College Art Association, and
Chronicle of Higher Education at: http://chronicale.com/jobs
There are 25 to 100 qualified applicants who apply for each listing.
And the minimum requirement is usually 2 years college level teaching
experience , and a national exhibition record.
They also want you to teach foundation classes in drawing.
And be able to teach Digital Photography and Photoshop.
SO MY RECOMMENDATION IS:
Start out with a realistic awareness of
what your
job opportunities are after you have an MFA.
Whale in graduate school study for and pass the National Teachers
exam for K through 12 grades. And Learn all the Multi Media computer
skills you can,and start designing your own web sight (now) that you can
use as part of your portfolio when you graduate.
And start submitting your ART to National Exhibition shows now,
don't wait till you get your MFA.
And a last note, an MFA is a master of fine ART, not a degree in any one
techniques or medium. OR if the school is worth your time and money it
better be that way. Their goal should be to help you become the best
ARTIST you can be, and not the best photographer, printmaker, painter, etc.
I started grad school as a photographer not as an ARTIST and I wanted
do my thesis show in stright B+W photography.
I finished grad school as an artist who uses photography, computer,
papermaking, installations and other stuff.
In grad school I went from straight B+W, to Color Street, and then onto
doing my thesis show in "Life Size Figure Color Photograms" 5x6 ft
using no cameras, on enlarger, and on film.
Where I used only color enlarging paper, developed normally,
after I had painting my subjects with filtered
flashlights.
Ivan Olsen MFA at: yapar@aol.com
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