From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 08/22/02-09:19:12 PM Z
On Thu, 22 Aug 2002 photo@lesliebauer.com wrote:
> Highly recommend getting an MFA.
I highly agree -- one of the 3, 4, or 5 best things I've done in life. And
frankly, it occurs to me to ask -- if you've been thinking of going for an
MFA, who tells you it's not worth it? Anyone who has one? Or someone who
doesn't?
To elaborate the point -- I started grad school simply because I didn't
know & had never known another photographer, and photography is a VERY
communal exercise. I don't mean you work together or even about the same
thing, I mean the information you need & want about sources, services &
materials is so complex, and can be so specialized & hard to track down
that odds of finding it as a sole isolated practitioner, however savvy &
talented, are small.
Even pro photographers on this list can lack a key piece of information
outside their specialty. I often get a call -- or make a call -- seeking a
certain item or service. How does one meet such photographers? Hang out at
the Empire State Building? Or go to school where there are professors who
know a LOT, and a cohort learning and sharing. Today my best friends are
those I met in that environment or indirectly through it.
I'll add that as much as I loved teaching, the one better thing was being
a student: the professor's JOB is to feed you, and YOUR job is to do your
art. Ah, bliss.
Judy
>
> On Wed, 21 Aug 2002 21:40:22 -0700
> Jack Fulton <jfulton@itsa.ucsf.edu> wrote:
> >
> > > I've been wondering about that MFA thing. I wonder if
> > the people on this
> > > list who have one feel that it has been helpful to them
> > at all. Obviously,
> > > nowadays if you want to teach full-time at the college
> > level, it's a
> > > necessity; but is it helpful in any other way?
> >
> > Yes. Unfortunately many who obtain the degree want to
> > teach. I cannot speak
> > for all of them but in many situations it seems they want
> > a job, security,
> > money. Since my job is at a Fine Arts only institution,
> > my desire for them
> > is to become artists and make photographs. There are
> > multiple people in the
> > teaching field who made and still make minimal pieces of
> > art. Much of their
> > success was through circumlocution. Okay, good smart talk
> > in class regarding
> > a minimal output does not a photographer/artist make in
> > my eyes.
> > All these instructors/teachers/profess-errs who've been
> > mentioned on this
> > list perhaps do NOT make much art but know what they like
> > .. right? No
> > wonder they're adamant in crits .. because they are angry
> > at themselves!
> >
> > However, what I've seen in MFA's is camaraderie, working
> > with one's peers at
> > an equal level, sharing a common goal, holding and being
> > supported regarding
> > one's ideals or idealistic concepts about what art is and
> > what it takes to
> > make it and maintain it. I might also add the critique to
> > this. Where else
> > does on get such evaluation of one's art production. The
> > external world of
> > gallery, museum and publication is far more difficult to
> > navigate when the
> > above qualities are not present. So, yes, an MFA today,
> > does mean something
> > but I shall maintain is has much to do with the school
> > one attends and the
> > group of people they are with.
> > But, in the long run, you have to be serious and it
> > surely helps if you work
> > hard at being intelligent . . and don't lie.
> > Jack
> >
>
>
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