3DpaintDigital 05/25/2012 at 09:53am
I am planning on building my portfolio towards entering a MFA program. What are you getting your MFA in? Are you teaching while getting your MFA? How much time to you spend making art each day?

Artist_RhiCG 05/27/2012 at 02:44pm
My MFA is in figurative painting and yes I am teaching while completing it. I have completed 42 hours at 6 hours a semester, just 21 more to go. It has been really tough but I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. Mainly because I have finally reached the 'Directed Study' portion of the degree. I can now do my 'own' art and not continually paint what I have no interest in. I don't really call what I was doing toward the MFA, up to this point, creating art. Rather I was just completing assignments. But I spend appr. 20 hours a week except during those semesters when I have to take GS classes and those are much more time consuming than the painting....lots of reading and research.

RVArtist 05/30/2012 at 08:57am
Is your school paying for any of your tuition? I am building my portfolio to apply for my MIS. The county I teach in just reduced their tuition reimbursement from $1,000 a year to $500 a year.

3DpaintDigital 06/01/2012 at 09:48am
Yeah I can see the struggle in finding the time to complete the work. This school year I have been teaching 6 of 6 periods, coordinating a student club, and running an enrichment course after school. Next school year I am going to keep my preparation period and focus my time outside of teaching art into making art.

RVArtist you are lucky to have them give you anything at all, they will only pay for me to go to a conference every other year and the budget for that is low too.

Artist_RhiCG 07/01/2012 at 09:07pm
No, RVArtist, my school does not reimburse any of my tuition, which is why I'm up to my eyeballs in student loans. My classes are $2650 each and I take two per semester. That adds up to more than I can afford on my meager salary.

3DpaintDigital, its a great idea to focus more time on your own creativity. An artist must create or they become stagnant in their hearts. I have been through periods of time where I didn't create any art. It causes a void bordering on depression. I am happiest when creating art, I feel like I'm actually accomplishing something. I work in so many mediums that its impossible to get bored. So make room in your busy schedule to feed the artist within.......:)

3DpaintDigital 07/08/2012 at 02:51pm
Thanks for the encouragement and explanation on how you are handling the MFA.

plateaches 07/17/2012 at 05:34pm
@Artist_RhiCG- Are you going to a local school? Where I am at, there are no MFA programs that are close by and teacher-friendly. I have been considering MICA's distance program, but I (at the earliest) can't apply until after this school year. If you are doing a distance learning program, where is it? I haven't found anything other than MICA so far... Thanks for your help!

Artist_RhiCG 08/19/2012 at 07:27pm
You're welcome 3DpaintDigital.........:)

plateaches, I am obtaining my MFA online through the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. I'm in the same situation as you, in that there are no MFAs offered anywhere near me. You need to apply soon before all the classes you want/need for your first semester are full. Their URL is www.academyart.edu You have to apply and present some type of digital portfolio. I believe I just put mine in a pdf file and emailed them, not sure because I applied long before I began. I started in Jan. '09 and at the moment have 42 of the 63 hours needed to earn my MFA. Hope this helps, let me know if I can help further.

LiveColorfully 06/02/2014 at 03:29am
I just applied for a Masters of Arts in Art Education (Online Grad Program) at Boston University. It will take approx 18 months and cost 25,000. I think this is relatively "cheap" and "fast" for a master's program. It comes HIGHLY recommended!