MFyAy: One Week: A Lease is Signed and the Parents Explore the City!

Last week I was in Boston with the primary goal of signing a lease on an apartment for this upcoming school year. Aside from that, my parents had never been to Boston before so it was a good chance to show them around and get them familiar with the MFA program. We had an appointment with the associate dean of the graduate school which was much needed considering I was pretty out of the loop in actually understanding what classes I would be taking as well as the overall structure of the MFA program.

First things first we had to knock down an apartment. With the help of a great realtor who happened to be a Museum School alum, we were signing a lease after three days of viewing a colorful variety of apartments ranging from the shamefully spacious to the crooked floored. Regrettably I was not able to take pictures of the one we ended up going with, but I did use my friend Google Maps to give you all an idea of where it is and what the building looks like:

Here is how a robot sees the complex from a moving van during pleasant weather

And this purple line signifies the distance from my apartment to the main campus via walking. Little does Google know that there is a secret trail that cuts through the park. Approximate time: 5 minutes on foot.

More to come on setting up the new space when I am actually a tenant (September 1st).

Our meeting with the associate dean was very informative. The MFA program is two or three years, most choosing three. Courses consist primarily of graduate studio art courses alongside two graduate level art history courses and two graduate level non-art courses, both taken on the Tufts campus. Aside from that, each semester MFA students enroll in a graduate seminar that seems to be theory based and a graduate critique course where the student brings in their own work to discuss. The average class size for all these courses is around twelve. There seems to be a relatively intense workload that all has to be managed alongside producing your own work, which in my mind is hands down the most important activity within a MFA program.

At the end of the week I was emailed my advisor along with instructions on how to contact her and what to expect. Class registration begins in August and as of now I am waiting to hear back from my advisor so we can begin talking about what classes to take. More on that to come as I hear about it.

Aside from the business elements of the trip, we had a great time exploring the city and being tourists. The weather was pretty depressing for most of the days, but the sun did come out for a teasing minute or two.

Here are some pictures taken on the trip and more to come about classes when I find out more myself!