@Deborah Increasingly I think it’s not all that important to get an MFA (unless you plan to teach) and even then you can more or less do what you want if you are successful. When I graduated from art school I thought teaching would get in the way of my art making and that I had a social responsibility to work a little before I taught. The truth of the matter is that it’s hard to get a teaching job unless you land a job immediately after grad school, and that it like every other job gets in the way of art making. These next few years are going to be really tough, particularly for artists. It’s a really bad time to have a lot of art school debt. An MFA may not be worth it.

@Deborah Increasingly I think it’s not all that important to get an MFA (unless you plan to teach) and even then you can more or less do what you want if you are successful. When I graduated from art school I thought teaching would get in the way of my art making and that I had a social responsibility to work a little before I taught. The truth of the matter is that it’s hard to get a teaching job unless you land a job immediately after grad school, and that it like every other job gets in the way of art making. These next few years are going to be really tough, particularly for artists. It’s a really bad time to have a lot of art school debt. An MFA may not be worth it.

@Deborah Increasingly I think it’s not all that important to get an MFA (unless you plan to teach) and even then you can more or less do what you want if you are successful. When I graduated from art school I thought teaching would get in the way of my art making and that I had a social responsibility to work a little before I taught. The truth of the matter is that it’s hard to get a teaching job unless you land a job immediately after grad school, and that it like every other job gets in the way of art making. These next few years are going to be really tough, particularly for artists. It’s a really bad time to have a lot of art school debt. An MFA may not be worth it.

Paddy, I want to let you know that I resurrected SELLOUT. The times seemed to demand it. I think you’re right, that artists will have to innovate across a different axis. And Rebecca, the axis that artists will be innovating against is going to be really boring grownup decisionmaking: how do you make what you want without easy consumer credit? How (why?) do you pay for an MFA? How do you make art when you have to work more hours?

The artist’s lifestyle has become fairly standardized, and those default choices (like massive debt for an MFA) are predicated, I think, on economic excess and an increasingly professionalized market.

Paddy, I want to let you know that I resurrected SELLOUT. The times seemed to demand it. I think you’re right, that artists will have to innovate across a different axis. And Rebecca, the axis that artists will be innovating against is going to be really boring grownup decisionmaking: how do you make what you want without easy consumer credit? How (why?) do you pay for an MFA? How do you make art when you have to work more hours?

The artist’s lifestyle has become fairly standardized, and those default choices (like massive debt for an MFA) are predicated, I think, on economic excess and an increasingly professionalized market.

Paddy, I want to let you know that I resurrected SELLOUT. The times seemed to demand it. I think you’re right, that artists will have to innovate across a different axis. And Rebecca, the axis that artists will be innovating against is going to be really boring grownup decisionmaking: how do you make what you want without easy consumer credit? How (why?) do you pay for an MFA? How do you make art when you have to work more hours?

The artist’s lifestyle has become fairly standardized, and those default choices (like massive debt for an MFA) are predicated, I think, on economic excess and an increasingly professionalized market.