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mfa's from utah, mn, athens oh, madison, cranbrook,

updated tue 30 aug 05

 

Earl Brunner on fri 26 aug 05

Utah Recommendations

I think, or have always figured Utah State in Logan, UT as the best in Utah, I think Neely is there.

Tony Ferguson wrote:Its that time of year again. Looking at MFA programs. Although I'm a wood fire guy, this is not a requisite for me--I would like to do something different. I am interested in soda, high fire gas and or electric cone 9/10. I am also looking to be run through the glaze ringer. Has anyone on the list been through any of these MFA programs recently:

1. Alfred

2. University of Minnesota

3. Athens Ohio

4. Madison

5. Cranbrook

6. Utah

Also, I can't remember where Pete Pinnel teaches?

Tony Ferguson




Tony Ferguson
...where the sky meets the lake...
Duluth, Minnesota
Artist, Educator, Web Meister
fergyart@yahoo.com
fergy@cpinternet.com
(218) 727-6339
http://www.aquariusartgallery.com
http://www.tonyferguson.net

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Earl Brunner
e-mail: brunv53@yahoo.com

Tony Ferguson on fri 26 aug 05

Utah Recommendations

Its that time of year again. Looking at MFA programs. Although I'm a wood fire guy, this is not a requisite for me--I would like to do something different. I am interested in soda, high fire gas and or electric cone 9/10. I am also looking to be run through the glaze ringer. Has anyone on the list been through any of these MFA programs recently:

1. Alfred

2. University of Minnesota

3. Athens Ohio

4. Madison

5. Cranbrook

6. Utah

Also, I can't remember where Pete Pinnel teaches?

Tony Ferguson




Tony Ferguson
...where the sky meets the lake...
Duluth, Minnesota
Artist, Educator, Web Meister
fergyart@yahoo.com
fergy@cpinternet.com
(218) 727-6339
http://www.aquariusartgallery.com
http://www.tonyferguson.net

---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we.

dannon rhudy on fri 26 aug 05

Utah Recommendations

Tony, Pete Pinnell teaches at Nebraska/Lincoln. His program
might be a great match for you - he is a technical wizard, and
knows a very great deal indeed about glazes. Others teach
there too, it's an excellent all-round program.

regards

Dannon Rhudy


----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Ferguson"
To:
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2005 6:59 PM
Subject: MFA's from Utah, MN, Athens OH, Madison, Cranbrook, Utah
Recommendations


> Its that time of year again. Looking at MFA programs. Although I'm a
wood fire guy, this is not a requisite for me--I would like to do something
different. I am interested in soda, high fire gas and or electric cone
9/10. I am also looking to be run through the glaze ringer. Has anyone on
the list been through any of these MFA programs recently:
>
> 1. Alfred
>
> 2. University of Minnesota
>
> 3. Athens Ohio
>
> 4. Madison
>
> 5. Cranbrook
>
> 6. Utah
>
> Also, I can't remember where Pete Pinnel teaches?
>
> Tony Ferguson
>
>
>
>
> Tony Ferguson
> ...where the sky meets the lake...
> Duluth, Minnesota
> Artist, Educator, Web Meister
> fergyart@yahoo.com
> fergy@cpinternet.com
> (218) 727-6339
> http://www.aquariusartgallery.com
> http://www.tonyferguson.net
>
> ---------------------------------
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we.
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
__
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
>

Lee Love on sat 27 aug 05

Utah Recommendations

Tony Ferguson wrote:

>Also, I can't remember where Pete Pinnel teaches?

Tony, this hits on how I have always chosen "where" to study.
Pick the "who" first. The teacher is more important than the place.

--
Lee Love
in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://seisokuro.blogspot.com/ My Photo Logs

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
--Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968)

Tony Ferguson on sat 27 aug 05

Utah Recommendations

Lee,

I would agree.

Tony

Lee Love wrote:
Tony Ferguson wrote:

>Also, I can't remember where Pete Pinnel teaches?

Tony, this hits on how I have always chosen "where" to study.
Pick the "who" first. The teacher is more important than the place.

--
Lee Love
in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://seisokuro.blogspot.com/ My Photo Logs

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
--Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968)

______________________________________________________________________________
Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org

You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/

Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.


Tony Ferguson
...where the sky meets the lake...
Duluth, Minnesota
Artist, Educator, Web Meister
fergyart@yahoo.com
fergy@cpinternet.com
(218) 727-6339
http://www.aquariusartgallery.com
http://www.tonyferguson.net
__________________________________________________
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Susan Fox Hirschmann on sat 27 aug 05

Utah Recommendations

In a message dated 8/26/2005 9:30:25 PM Eastern Standard Time,
fergyart@YAHOO.COM writes:
Also, I can't remember where Pete Pinnel teaches?


I think it is Nebraska....am I right?

Susan

Vince Pitelka on sat 27 aug 05

Utah Recommendations

> Tony, Pete Pinnell teaches at Nebraska/Lincoln. His program
> might be a great match for you - he is a technical wizard, and
> knows a very great deal indeed about glazes. Others teach
> there too, it's an excellent all-round program.

Pete teaches with Gail Kendall, a wonderful potter and teacher, and Eddie
Dominguez, a wonderful sculptor and teacher. The three of them make up one
of the very best ceramics undergraduate and graduate programs in the
country.
- Vince

Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/

John Neely on mon 29 aug 05

Utah Recommendations

Tony,

You've already had some good responses to your question, but since I
have direct ties to more than half of the schools you mention, I feel
like I should respond. I'm an alum of both Alfred and Ohio
Universities, I have a daughter in school at the University of
Minnesota, and I teach at Utah State University. I took leave from
USU for a year to teach at OU back in the late eighties, and since
that time OU has hired two USU alums, Brad Schwieger and Robert
"Boomer" Moore, both of whom are still there.

The best advice I can give is to suggest a road trip. This is
exactly what tell my BFA students. Go see the schools that get
mentioned on Clayart. Look at the facilities, talk with the faculty,
and talk with the current students. Every program is different and
constant change is the norm. If you are going to invest three years
of your life (or more) and thousands of dollars, you should make
every effort to figure out what you are getting in to.

It would be good, too, to examine your motives for attending grad
school. If you just want to be "run through the glaze ringer," there
are cheaper and more effective ways to do it. If you want access to
studio space and facilities, you needn't go through the rigor of an
MFA program. If you are looking for credentials, I'd think twice
about the whole enterprise, since a terminal degree is only the
minimum qualification for college teaching and most certainly not a
meal ticket. If, however, you're looking to become a better artist,
potter, sculptor, thing-maker, etc., then there are a number of
programs out there that could help you on your way, and it would
behoove you examine as many as possible.

Concerning admissions, I wouldn't say that "the politics are nasty,"
but the admissions process is complicated. At USU, we take only two
students a year. There will be at least twenty applicants for those
spots. We've turned away countless students - very well qualified
students - over the years because we just don't have the space.
Stipends for graduate TA's are abysmally small (we're not even
competitive with our peer institutions) so students we've accepted
have turned us down, too. Unlike many schools, we require either GRE
or MAT scores, a factor that has unmistakably impacted our applicant
pool. We also require a BFA, which has influenced some students to
come to USU for a second bachelors instead of applying to grad
school. If Bernard Pallisy or Picasso came back from the dead to
apply, we couldn't take them because they don't have the requisite
undergraduate preparation. Location has its impact, also. For every
skier or fly fisherman we attract, we probably lose three or four who
are scared away by cultural or political concerns. Somewhat like
SMU, which Linda mentioned, the whole art faculty has input into
graduate admissions, so a portfolio that appeals to painters or
photographers might surface rather than one that seems strong to me.
We get an inordinate number of woodfirers applying, which means that
people doing something else might have an advantage when we review
portfolios. We also look seriously at letters of intent and letters
of recommendation. This is another factor which is really hard to
quantify - there is lot of reading between the lines that must go on
in order to make any kind of meaningful evaluation.

In closing, let me throw out a few more suggestions:
Indiana University with Tim Mather
University of Iowa with Chuck Hindes and Bunny McBride
Penn State with Chris Staley and Liz Quackenbush
University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth with Jim Lawton
Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville with Paul Dresang and
Matt Wilt
East Carolina University with Seo Eo and Jim Tisnado
Bede Clark at University of Missouri at Columbia
Wichita State University in Kansas, where Ted Adler has just taken
over the reins from David Hiltner

I'd be remiss, too, if I didn't mention our sister institution in
Salt Lake City, the University of Utah with Brian Snapp and David
Pendell.

Give me a call if you have more questions about our program.

John

John Neely, Head
Department of Art
Utah State University
Logan, UT 84322-4000
435-797-3421


> Its that time of year again. Looking at MFA programs. Although
> I'm a wood fire guy, this is not a requisite for me--I would like
> to do something different. I am interested in soda, high fire gas
> and or electric cone 9/10. I am also looking to be run through the
> glaze ringer. Has anyone on the list been through any of these MFA
> programs recently:
>
> 1. Alfred
>
> 2. University of Minnesota
>
> 3. Athens Ohio
>
> 4. Madison
>
> 5. Cranbrook
>
> 6. Utah
>
> Also, I can't remember where Pete Pinnel teaches?
>
> Tony Ferguson