What is the best sculpture mfa program?

Answer 1

First, identify your goals that can be accomplished with an MFA in Sculpture as opposed to not having one. This is key! Some wish to teach, some want the identification with a program, some wish to develop one's work under the supervision of a master sculptor. What ever your motivation, look at the record of the MFA sculpture graduates, ask graduate coordinators/directors for a list (names) of recent graduates and what they are doing. Some institutions post websites of past graduates, others don't. get a list through email or letter of recent grads and "Google" them, common names are hard but this should tell you a tremendous amount. Equally important is the work of the faculty and current graduate students. Unless they are all graduating, you will be sharing facilities for one or two years with most of them. Faculty set the standards for the program, but the influences and cross-referring of ideas and thinking will come from fellow graduate students. If you wish to teach at the university level, develop a skill set (welding, carving, casting metal, wood working, mold making). It's "kewl" to stack magazines, but really? If I see another origami bird "installation" or record of how many times someone went to the bathroom (or saved it for posterity, physically or virtually), I may just add my own bodily waste to it. Most colleges and universities want someone who can teach some skills to the students who take classes. A good program will offer figure modeling, welding, metal casting, woodworking, mold making and hopefully stone carving. You may not include these in your art making, but most colleges need skilled sculptors, most are having trouble finding qualified, skilled artists who are willing to teach and are not making more money as skilled experts in their own studios or in industry. Look for people who make art about something, not just self referential bs about contemplating one's thumb or navel, too many dopers did that in the 1970's, its over. Don't just chase the latest art rag's articles and reviews. It is already 10+ years passe. if you see it on the internet it is at least 2 years old. In other words if you are all hot and bothered by it in print or internet it is yesterday's news. Art that imitates art is pretty boring, generally. Being an artist is not just a media event. There are several good, solid programs out there, but they are slowly being displaced by "kewl," flash in the pan, con artist faculty with no depth intellectually, philosophically, or linguistically are slowly destroying sound programs. Many young faculty have no skills and "damn is it easy to tell a student to look up origami on the internet." Educational programs have an obligation to teach you how to work though ideas and how to accomplish the creation of a physical object or place that serves to provide others with that insight. Lastly, if the faculty are more interested in what they are doing when you visit, watch out, you will be working in a void if you attend that school. it is great that they work, but they are paid to teach not to avoid students, even graduate students who should be pretty self motivated.