Posts from — September 2009

These are the job descriptions that were sent out internally to all the current MFA students this past summer. These positions are filled by students who live both on and off-campus. Each year similar positions will be created and funded by the MFA so that graduate students can gain valuable experience to complement their studies at the College.

Teaching Assistant for Art History “Critical Issues” course
The BFA Critical Issues course is being taught in the spring semester. You will be attending once-weekly lectures at school and will be required to explain, interpret, and contextualize the lectures and readings for a group of about 30 students. You will be supported by the BFA faculty in this endeavour. This is the main theory course that the BFAs take so they will be pretty “fresh” in their thinking and will require a patient, knowledgeable, and thorough TA in order to absorb the material presented to them. The three TAs are welcome to use the MFA Office should you wish to work together on your preparation for the course.

Research Assistant: BFA writing coach
This position is for someone who has excellent writing skills and the patience of an ox. You will be working as a writing tutor for the BFA Senior Synthesis course which requires all graduating seniors to produce a strong piece of written work before leaving MECA. At the moment, there are three faculty (TBA) from the BFA studio program who will be guiding the seniors through this course. You will take your cues from them in deciding what ways you may best support the students in completing their work. You may be asked to assist in an early research phase suggesting some source material for the students, or you may help them develop outlines for their papers, or you may only be editing and proofreading their work. These details will be worked out with your supervisors. I suspect that the more involved you can be as a kind of “mentor,” the more you will all enjoy working together. Likely, your conversations will be by email, but if you have phone conversations, check with Rebecca first so she can authorize any reimbursements that might be made to you.

Research Assistant, Web Mistress/Master
This position will fill an important outreach and information function for the MFA. Presently, the public site is updated sporadically and has enormous room to grow into a robust portal for the MFA program. The web master/mistress will be actively involved in helping the MFA put together a strategic plan for the site’s development  (adding video components, student and alumni profiles and galleries, testimonials, etc.) as well as making all contact with relevant parties in order to acquire and access information that will be put up on the site. Knowledge of WordPress is essential as is knowledge of other web platforms that will be useful in expanding the site’s capacities. As part of the outreach team, you will be liaising with the MFA Admissions Ambassador and the MFA In-House and Outreach Assistant.

Research Assistant, Curriculum Development Assistant
This is an exciting position which requires an intensely curious, well-informed, systematic researcher who is able to search, process, edit, and communicate information and images with ease. This position is designed to offer curricular support to faculty as they prepare, build, and sustain MFA course material for both off- and on-campus delivery. The exact nature of the position will be determined by Peter and Andrea as they work with the curriculum assistant to identify key areas for which they would like to develop teaching resources. All files, images, and links will need to be transferred via email and shared documents in a timely manner and in keeping with Andrea and Peter’s directives.

MFA Admissions “Ambassador” for prospective students
This position is designed to offer support to Rebecca and Rachel as they undertake recruiting and admissions duties during the 8-month extended “season” of MFA applications. Ideally, as an admissions ambassador, you will be asked to follow up on R+R’s initial conversations with prospective students in order to talk them through the program and give them insight into the inner workings of the MFA. You will be asked to develop a list of your colleagues and MFA alumni who will be willing to speak to prospective students, to “matchmake” these conversations so that prospective students are able to converse with students and alums who may share similar interests and/or media, and to arrange all of these conversations independently. You will be an important part of the outreach team and your front-line status will be invaluable for us to keep track of what questions are being asked repeatedly so that we can better address these needs in some manner. You will be working with the web master/mistress in sharing any information that will help them in developing the website. We will also welcome your input when the MFA Admissions Committee meets in February/March.

MFA In-House and Outreach Assistant
This position does double duty in the MFA Office working a few hours a week for the MFA Archives and a few hours for Rachel as the MFA Coordinator. You will work on the digital transfer of videos to DVD using the Archives’ special format, as well as undertaking other duties related to making the material in the archives more publicly accessible. You will work with the Web Mistress/Master on efforts to link MFA videos to YouTube which may then be accessed using the MFA public site. In the MFA Office you will work on cataloguing and managing archived curriculum resources that Rachel has on file, taking prospective students on building tours when scheduled, and carrying other duties as communicated to you by Rachel.

Reverse Pedagogy
The Model Satellite
Opens on Friday, September 25th
The project runs from September 26th – November 22nd

Paul Butler’s Reverse Pedagogy project heads to Sligo, Ireland for a project at The Model Satellite.

For their time in Sligo, the group of artists are occupying the Model Satellite space on Castle Street and will be submerging themselves and responding to local culture, including a tag rugby game with local team The Supermodels this evening, surf lessons in Strandhill, mountain climbs, and informal meetings with local arts and cultural groups

Read more about it on The Model Satellite blog.

Work of the Hand
CMCA | 162 Russell Avenue, Rockport, ME
Opens on Friday, October 9th
The exhibit runs October 10th through October 18th.

Personal Views:
Contemporary Portraiture In Philadelphia
Gallery 339 | 339 South 21st St. Philadelphia, PA
Sept. 16 – Nov. 14, 2009 | Opening Sept. 16th at 6pm

“Experiencing Freeport – Knowing our Town through Art” showcases artwork, by members of the Freeport Creative Arts, in downtown store windows through the end of the year. The artwork depicts, in some way, the environs or history of Freeport. This effort will highlight area interests and show that Freeport has much to offer outside the retail sector. The artwork focuses on a variety of local interests from the coastline and downtown to Freeport’s idyllic cottages and area parks. Information with each piece of artwork will point viewers to area interests and provide enough background to encourage viewers to learn more about the Freeport behind Main Street.”

An artists’ reception will take place on Friday, September 4, from 5 -6:30pm at Freeport Village Station.

WASHED UP
Multimedia installation by Reenie Charriére
Swarm Gallery | 560 Second Street  Oakland, CA 94607
August 7 – Sept. 13, 2009 | Opening on Friday, August 7, 6-8PM

Reenie will present a multimedia video installation in Swarm’s project space. Her recent works are triggered
by a fascination with urban spaces, especially abandoned or seemingly vacant ones including public waterways and shorelines. Her investigations zoom into the juxtapositions of natural and synthetic aggregations amassing in these ignored locations. As a mixed media artist she enjoys observing, gathering, documenting and transmogrifying these perceptions into sculptural installations. Her practice involves a physical exploration, balanced by playful manipulations of remnants from these sites intermingled with
unorthodox additions.

[View a video tour of the exhibition from KQED Arts Gallery Crawl series]