Peqod :: Classes - Columbia University Catalog of Classes

The Artist-Mentor program allows a close and focused relationship to form between a core group of students and their two mentors. Two full weeks each semester is dedicated to intensive engagement with an invited Mentor Artist. This unique time allows for a robust and focused relationship to form between the MFA Candidates and the Mentor, and typically includes a variety of off-campus real-world artistic activities. The content of the week will vary according to the mentors’ expertise and the needs of the cohort, and may include studio visits, gallery and museum visits, meetings with art world professionals, assigned readings, workshops, individual and group critiques, and more. The content of the workshop will vary according to the Mentors’ area of interest, expertise, and the needs of the students.

What does it mean to be an artist and what are the possible meaningful and impactful forms of sound art practice in the 21st century? What are the overlaps with other disciplines, and how do we negotiate these borders that might be more important in some contexts than others? During Mentor Week we will individually and collectively examine our assumptions and notions of sound art. Our week will include studio visits, hands-on observation of sound art projects, trips to museums to observe the public engage art within them. We will have more relaxed time to contemplate ideas, consider new concepts, and engage in nuanced discussions on shows, films, readings, and conversations with guests. Without classes to attend, the sense of time is slowed down and new ways of thinking, feeling and being in the world can be born.

Mentor Week is a special moment in your MFA experience. We meet in a highly compressed time frame, yet the lens of our group will be focused on the question of how individual experiences take shape and form. Soundworks have many ways of impacting and influencing us. Studio visits, group critiques, and field trips may be accompanied by relevant readings reflecting on the conditions for art making in the past and at present.

R 10 a.m.-noon
Instructor: Naeem Mohaiemen
Wikipedia h-index: 8 Info
3 points

Details

SOAR AS5851

GROUP CRITIQUE II

W 5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
Instructor: Naeem Mohaiemen
Wikipedia h-index: 8 Info
3 points

Details

VIAR AV5851

ARTIST MENTORSHIP II

This required Visual Arts core MFA curriculum course, comprising two parts, allows MFA students to deeply engage with and learn directly from a wide variety of working artists who visit the program each year.

Lecture Series
The lecture component, taught by an adjunct faculty member with a background in art history and/or curatorial studies, consists of lectures and individual studio visits by visiting artists and critics over the course of the academic year. The series is programmed by a panel of graduate Visual Arts students under the professor's close guidance. Invitations are extended to artists whose practice reflects the interests, mediums, and working methods of MFA students and the program. Weekly readings assigned by the professor provide context for upcoming visitors. Other course assignments include researching and preparing introductions and discussion questions for each of the visitors. Undergraduate students enrolled in Visual Arts courses are encouraged to attend and graduate students in Columbia's Department of Art History are also invited. Following each class-period the conversation continues informally at a reception for the visitor. Studio visits with Visual Arts MFA students take place on or around the week of the artist or critic's lecture and are coordinated and assigned by lottery by the professor.

Artist Mentorship
The Artist-Mentor component allows a close and focused relationship to form between a core group of ten to fifteen students and their mentor. Students are assigned two mentors who they meet with each semester in two separate one-week workshops. The content of each workshop varies according to the Mentors’ areas of expertise and the needs of the students. Mentor weeks can include individual critiques, group critiques, studio visits, visits to galleries, other artist's studios, museums, special site visits, readings, and writing workshops. Here are a few descriptions from recent mentors:
• During Mentor Week we will individually and collectively examine our assumptions and notions about art. What shapes our needs and expectations as artists and the impact of what we do?
• Our week will include visits to exhibition spaces to observe how the public engages the art. Throughout, we will consider art's ability to have real life consequences and the public's desire to personally engage with and experience art without mediation.
• The week will be conducted in two parts, f