After adding 1000s of miles onto the Prius touring academic art facilities, I opted to stick closer to home to paint at UC Davis.
I am excited about my choice, but was attached to the other fictional futures as well. I am adjusting to their loss, filling their void with green hill, countryside, clean white walls, and a sea of bicycles.
It's hard to be objective about the decision. Each school was wonderful. Lots of strangers were generous with their opinions and their time. I peeked into studios, galleries, offices, and classrooms. I tried to come up with some matrix to compare studios vs. teachers vs. surrounding city vs. price.
In the end, it all seems a game of chance. A good game, since each school offers an improvement over my current tiny studio and semi-isolated work environment. So, here's to a couple years of prioritizing painting, and a victorious return to the metropolis with a trunk full of artworks to share. If all goes well, I may regain my bicycling legs as well.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
MFA Decision 2007 - UC Davis-bound
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Green vs. Green
This weekend's visit south left me hungry for the northern quiet - cool green space, crumbling cement and clean light. Bri and I visited central LA for the ArtWalk (neat!) and the campus at Long Beach to poke noses into some class critiques and bug more professors. After working in the studio for so many years, its hard to conjure up what school instruction means. It would've been easier to accept the mystery, if there was only one choice. But, now I am trying to figure out what to weigh, and how to weigh it. Davis's program is colored by the dappled light on cement from trees everywhere, and the generous studio space. The south is getting brighter. Reflected light off cement? the water? Its a blur of brilliant green lawn, classrooms filled with easels, and sound bytes from teachers. Facts are simmering, emotions scattered. It is hard to imagine leaving this landscape and the idiosyncratic culture of the Bay even for a couple years.
