Alfred unlocked
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Yesterday Nurielle, Ali and I went to Alfred. It was overwhelming. The place reminds me a lot of UNB, in my hometown, but it’s a village, and the enormity and pervasiveness of ceramics felt a bit suffocating. It’s really a lot like Sheridan only five times as big – five times as many studio spaces, five times as many kilns, five times the facility for moulds and plaster – the glaze kitchen was only slightly better than Sheridans – and the library and museums, well, peerless. I connected with two of the four profs I met with – and really got a sense that were I younger and not attached and not committed to caring for my parents in their sunset years – it would be an amazing place to grow and flourish. But I live in the context of my life – and I don’t think it’s for me at this time, maybe at some point in the future.
I remain interested in the program at York – although we attended the opening at Loop Gallery today of the MFA grad students in visual arts, 2D, and it was pretty uninspiring. One of the things that one of the profs at Alfred told me was that I seem to have “gotten clay” and that really what I need is a well-rounded investigation into the other mediums of art and contemporary sculpture and how they intersect in history post world war one… that’s what I know already in my heart I want to grapple with – whether that’s on my own or in school. I’d love to have the luxury of working through the theory and history in seminar format with others. I don’t think I’d get that at Alfred – it’s very studio based. At York I would get that. Leaning towards York. At OCAD – I would get too much of that….
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