From: Christina Z. Anderson (zphoto@montana.net)
Date: 10/17/01-07:21:49 AM Z
Shannon,
Top five according to US News and World Report (can you trust em?) are
Yale, RISD, Rochester Institute of Technology, Chicago College of Art and
Design and University of NM. There are others: Cranbrook, Art Center in
Pasadena, Cal Arts, Claremont, Massachusetts College of Art, a couple
downtown NY, and then San Fran Art Institute. And then state universities
and such. I think the U in Austin is quite big in alt process, right? Jack
Fulton on this list teaches at the San Fran one, Gary Miller on this list
went to Academy of Art in San Fran, Sam Wang teaches at Clemson, correct?
Judy taught at Pratt in NY.
My beef with photo depts in general is they don't require as much art
history as they should so teachers and students aren't as knowledgeable
about the creative context in which photography exists. I hope to get that a
requirement for our photo major in our dept. as we undergo a curriculum
change. But who knows--I am only a hire and fire, alias adjunct!
As for lack of creativity/threatenedness/etc in teachers: that I
think is due primarily to the way the U's work: the more students you have,
the more money the U profits, the more work the teacher has, the less time
the teacher has to produce, no money for sabbaticals, etc.etc. However, it
is a question of managing time well: if I want to print, I have to go in
the lab on the weekends, fri night, sat day, and sun day, because during the
week I can't. Then there's the thing called husband and family. I find,
too, that managing one's energy is key: if you give it out all week to
inspire students (esp. the apathetic ones!), man, the weekend comes and
there are times I don't want to look at a photograph. Teaching has been an
incredible opportunity for me to experience, and I have learned way more
than students, but my primary love is creating and luckily I have lots of
energy (but not so much time) to do so. That said, it is as rewarding for
me to have inspired a student in a memorable (for life) way. My
experimental class this semester (during which I am doing
mordancage/sabbatier/lith/polaroid manipulations/distressed negatives/
handcoloring/liquid emulsion/etc etc) is actually producing better work than
I expect out of them.
I still am mulling over John Sarkowski's comment that most
photographers only have a 10 year period in which they produce their most
excellent work, or something to that effect. If this in fact is true
quantifiably, can it be that the teachers in your dept. have already said
what they needed to say? Man will this open a can of worms...I hope
Sarkowski is wrong, believe me, and I in NO way say I agree with him.
Chris
> I am thinking of applying to an MFA program in photography this
> winter, and I wonder if anybody on this list has any suggestions
> about where to apply. I am going to apply to some schools in Texas,
> but I am open to suggestions about other places, particularly schools
> where people are doing some alt-process work. At present at U of H I
> am the only one doing this; the emphasis in our program is on big
> color prints.
>
> I am also wondering about what I want to do long-term. It seems that
> some of the teachers in our dept at U of H are not flourishing as
> artists in academia. We never see any of their work, and I think
> maybe some of them have not produced much since their MFA show. They
> seem stuck in whatever art school ideology was prevalent when they
> were graduate students and haven't moved much beyond that. They
> don't seem to read much about contemporary art. They also seem
> sometimes threatened by their own students' creativity and a bit
> envious of it. If this is what happens to you when you get a job
> teaching at the college level, I don't want it! But surely it's not
> necessary to become a fossil. I know some people on this list teach
> art, and I wonder what your experience is about this.
>
> --shannon
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