rolling my own MFA

rolling my own MFA

Researching MFA Programs

If I was going to throw around a term like "MFA" in my Roll Your Own MFA approach, I needed to begin by better understanding master’s programs.

There are a lot of them. I started with US News and World Report best MFA programs. (In one of my past non-art lives, USNews was the standard starting point for research when I worked on post-baccalaureate program creation at the University of Washington.) USNews also summarizes what an MFA program is: “An MFA helps artists gain confidence and mastery in an art form, whether it is painting or dancing.” Of course I put the top 100+ programs into a spreadsheet for analysis, but I'll skip over that here.

I started by focusing on what individual MFA programs claimed they would achieve. I looked at individual MFA programs, the College of Art’s Guidelines for the MFA Degree in Art and Design and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design Degree and Faculty Policies. 

From the various sources, I focused on the described outcomes for the program.

From the National Association of Schools of Art and Design MFA standards PDF:

The Master of Fine Arts degree is earned through a rigorous program of education and training. It requires at least two years of full-time graduate study and a minimum of sixty (60) semester hours or ninety (90) quarter hours, at least double the usual amount for the degrees, Master of Arts or Master of Science.

To graduate with an M.F.A., students must:

Demonstrate professional competence in one or more aspects of the creation and presentation of works of art and design, dance, or theatre.

Produce creative and academic work that shows the ability to integrate knowledge and skills in their field and other areas of inquiry and research.

Complete graduate-level studies associated with their discipline in areas such as history, critical analysis, aesthetics, methodologies, and related humanities, sciences, and social sciences.

Produce a major final project demonstrating mastery in their field or area of specialization.

From Carnegie Mellon:

The MFA program at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Art is an interdisciplinary, experimental, research-based program that provides its students with a challenging and supportive context in which to expand and develop their work and thinking as artists. As one of the top-ranked graduate programs in the country, we view art making as a vital social, critical, and intellectual pursuit. With four core faculty members committed to a cohort of 18 graduate students, and an additional 16 tenure and tenure-track professors within the school, the MFA program fosters intensive intellectual relationships with each of our masters candidates. Graduate students are encouraged to employ a comparative and intersectional approach to critical and cultural theories, and to allow this inquiry to inform and expand their notion of what it means to be an artist and to make art within our contemporary condition.

From Pratt:

Pratt’s MFA Fine Arts degree supports interdisciplinary practice. Many students remain committed to the area of interest that they identified upon entering the program—whether painting and drawing, printmaking, sculpture or integrated practices—however, they are free to explore other forms and approaches as their work evolves. Faculty and students build close relationships through structured studio visits, seminars, and informal conversations. These relationships create a vital community and supportive network that endures long after graduation.

From critical analysis to furthering and refining material knowledge, you'll engage in an intense studio experience, strengthening your skills and broadening your knowledge of historical, social, and critical issues through seminars, group critiques, and peer interactions.

From UCLA:

The Painting and Drawing Area at UCLA encourages innovation and experimentation while also addressing the history of the longest-standing practice in the visual arts. Within this area of study, students are encouraged to examine and explore all the creative possibilities offered by painting, drawing, and printmaking, while developing a critical and personal relationship to the discipline. Students are further encouraged to broaden their perceptual awareness through observation, translation, and invention of images, and to develop their critical skills through discussion of the historical and contemporary precedents for their work, assigned readings, group critique and visits to local museums and galleries. Excellent facilities and renowned faculty, both tenured and visiting, combine to create a rich and rewarding atmosphere for artistic production.

Summarizing Outcomes

I looked at more program descriptions, but this is enough to convey the general idea and recurring themes.

I took away that a self-defined program should include:

  • Skill building: exploration; broadening skillsets and approaches
  • Skill building: developing and deepening mastery of techniques
  • Broadening cultural and artistic perspective
  • Developing an informed artistic authenticity and an original voice
  • Intellectual development / pursuing studies in my domain
  • Community engagement, including critiques and communication / engaging in discussion about mine and others’ work, its execution, and its meaning
  • A final thesis exhibition

All of these things are important, but I think I need additional skills for an ongoing practice and professional relationship with my art. This might include

  • Sustainable studio practices
  • Working habits for nurturing and capturing emerging ideas
  • Managing an online presence
  • Managing exhibitions
  • Practice developing theses / themes

And key to achieving a level of mastery, I think, is having one or more mentors: folks who have themselves achieved mastery in my domain, who get to know my current work and understand where I am trying to go, and offer insights and advice for achieving goals.

  • Mentoring

High Level View of Studies

To start thinking about these outcomes in terms of a program, I need:

  • Input to and teaching of new skills, new methods, new ways of thinking 
  • Lots of hands-on practice 
  • Habits and skill for focusing attention and consciously developing my artistic practice, as a whole
  • Studying the larger context for my work: art movements, artists, cultural constructs
  • Finding ways to immerse in community: surround myself with other artists who are interested in artistic challenges
  • Practicums where I am “doing real world things”
  • Developing a final thesis (and maybe, developing mini-theses along the way)
  • Seeking one more more mentors
  • Seeking artistic community for critiques and discussion

Structure

I’ll need to figure out a schedule, and assignments. I’ll need to create beginning and end targets - when i start, when I finish, what it is that I have to deliver. Learning objectives, and ideally some way to evaluate whether I’ve learned what I set out to learn. 

Part of the challenge will be managing schedule, deadlines, and boundaries. In a real MFA program, you are spending tens of thousands of dollars and have an automatic badge to hold up to the world to say “stop!, see?, I am in an MFA program and this is my reason for needing to be singlemindedly focused”. Doing this on my own will be harder and will take development of discipline. And also some flexibility: as I am trying new things and starting a new adventure, it will be important not to label things as “failure” but instead to embrace the opportunity to adapt and change my approach.

Questions

So, it sounds like it’s going to be a lot of work and it’s hard to know exactly what it would provide…  how would it compare to a “real” MFA?

  • I think it will be at least two years. Depending on where I end up at the end of the first year, I think I’ll know. But also I hope a lot of it establishes deeper, ongoing practice that will live with me for my entire life as an artist
  • I am breaking down areas of study into five primary tracks:
    • Skill building: honing my ability to execute my craft
    • Artistic practice: creating my work and establishing sustainable, ongoing practice: in the studio, planning, discovery
    • Community: absorbing knowledge, insights, tips, .. hearing other voices, understanding how artists work… surrounding myself with artists
    • Practicums (I looked it up, this is an acceptable plural; “practica” sounds awkward): 
    • History and social context
  • I am creating an annual plan for pursuing classes and self-study in each of those areas, with maybe about a dozen topics or “classes” each quarter

What am I going to get out of it?

  • I know I’m going to learn a lot
  • It will give me a framework to think about how I manage my time, and my studio focus
  • It will teach me different ways to approach how I do what I do, and how I think about what I’m going to do next
  • I will learn a lot more about the art world relevant to the work I’m trying to make (something I haven’t in past made enough time for)
  • It’s a sort of hard problem to solve, and historically, I have been good at those

Are there things I can do that wouldn’t be part of a traditional MFA?

  • I’m not sure a traditional MFA would emphasize study and practicums on the business of art in addition to studio practice. But, I feel like that is equally vital to establishing a place for myself as an emerging artist

Is it the same as being a “self taught artist”?, or not, given my BFA and years associated with art in various ways?

  • I’m going to hold off on trying to answer this one for now. Within this program, I am pursuing education by others (classes and workshops, as well as books, etc.). I am not clear about specifically what the “self taught artist” moniker means.

If I “publish” a bunch of my learnings as blog posts, is that the same as delivering assignments?

  • Maybe?, I’m not completely clear. But I do know that If I set myself the challenge of distilling what I’m learning and trying to present it to the world in a coherent way, i will internalize my understanding more completely. So it seems like a good idea.

Getting Started

My first next steps are to both get started, and figure out how I’ll create a structure that will get me through two years and get me the outcomes I’m looking for. 

Getting started on taking classes right away acknowledges that I won’t try to get it absolutely right before I begin; I’ll begin, and evaluate how I’m doing, and adapt. 

Making a plan will also need to be something that I draft, and try, and revise. In my past lives working with software development teams, we would say “fail fast” - try something, figure out what’s not working, fix it, and repeat.

Partial bibliography:


#ryomfa

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