Back to School Day 2

The day started out with a breakfast reception for the Prior Degree students. And just like they said, I am not the only one my age to be doing this. The reception was held in the Sullivan Galleries, which is an open space in the Sullivan building. There are white walls with art installed, but to me, with a construction background, it looked like an office floor that was in the midst of being renovated. The floor is concrete. The first work on the right looked just like piles of carpet sample to me, without my glasses on. Turned out they were laser cut towels and other fabric elements in stacks. I obviously need to spend more time in the gallery.

The rest of the morning and a good portion of the afternoon were spent in a ballroom with presentations by the department heads. We were told repeatedly that SAIC is different from other art schools, and I'm excited about that. Not that I even have a clue what a "regular" art school is like.

With 3200 students, it's certainly not like being at Purdue with 30,000. No Big Ten football team or anything.


The last event that I attended was the presentation on critiques. Very interesting.

Back to School Day 1

Last fall I applied to the School of the Art Institute for the MFA program in Fiber and Materials. I did not get in. BUT, I was invited to take a semester as a Prior Degree student. They said it would make me a better candidate for Grad School, and they said they thought I had something to contribute to the community and vice versa.

Today was the first day of orientation. One of the other prior degree students found his way to me and introduced himself. He's there for photography, but he knows Marianne Fon's daughter Mary, and he's interested in quilting.  AND he insisted we should put our arms around each other during the group picture. So that was very  nice!

Then, a group of 20 of us gathered in the Sharp Building, for our official orientation. I DID make friends and people sat with me at lunch. (OK, we did all go back to the same room, but several of them waited for me and walked back to the auditorium with me. )

After several speakers, there was a vendor fare. I can join a health club for cheap and I got some free markers and a coupon for 30% off at Utrecht. I love coupons.

Here's a picture of my ID, you may have seen the picture before. It's my professional portrait. I"m going to use it, like Ann Landers, until I'm 80.