SAIC and Northern Illinois

Friday was a day of news for most of my grad school apps. Great news! I was accepted to the MFA program at SAIC through the ceramics department and I was also accepted to Northern Illinois for Printmaking. Still waiting on Tyler, but I think I am definitely leaning towards these two schools. I will be visiting Northern Illinois soon to get a feel for the program. Decisions, decisions...

Now, as promised, I will have some posts in the next few days about the work I saw in Chicago while I was there. First I will talk about my visit to SAIC. I was able to meet with the department chair Katherine Ross, and she gave me a tour of the Columbus Drive building which houses the Sculpture, Ceramics and Printmedia studios. I also had a chance to see what the current grads are working on and meet the other ceramics professor who usually works with grads, William O'Brien. Many of the grads are doing work that involves performance either with clay or in the creation of the clay objects. There is a good blend of different approaches to the medium. The facilities there are unbelievable! They are currently in the process of getting a ceramic decal printer, which if they are able to get would be great for me! They have a large room with workspace, ventilation, and all of the tools and materials needed for making plaster molds. They have casting slip available, plus multiple blungers you can use to make your own. And a great mold drainage system. They have a new Blauuw kiln, which is computer controlled and can be monitored and controlled remotely via laptop. She said that it is so efficient that it can pretty much be fired 3 times in the time it takes to do one firing with the other kilns. They also have an awesome sculpture shop with pretty much any tool or piece of equipment you could probably need. These are just a few of the highlights, as the building had even more than I have mentioned.

The program itself allows a great deal of freedom. There are biweekly meetings with your graduate project advisor, and critiques each semester with the fall being disciplinary and the winter being interdisciplinary. Aside from that, unless you are in art history class, there really aren't class meetings. I also wouldn't have to work with clay, although I would still be able to use all the materials and studio. My classes could be in print, sound, metal casting, etc., as long as I am creating my work. It would definitely be a great experience to be able to work so freely and be in the city with all of the great art and opportunities.

Stay tuned, I will post some images from exhibitions I saw (even some Jeff Koons for all you Edinboro people!)