Each summer, the Master of Fine Arts program at Maine College of Art invites guest artists, curators, and scholars to participate in the curriculum. This summer the MFA’s Moth Press is also releasing Mapping the Intelligence of Artistic Work; An Explorative Guide to Making, Thinking, and Writing by Anne West. Her lecture on July 18 will be followed by a booksigning.
Anne West is an educator, writer, and independent curator. She teaches in the Division of Graduate Studies at Rhode Island School of Design, where she supports students across disciplines in conceptualizing and writing their Master’s thesis. In this book West describes a technique she calls “mapping through writing” that encourages visual artists to ask strategic questions, approach problems, and catalyze creative thinking. The book is structured as a series of exercises and prompts that define the mapping process and introduce methods for artists to develop, articulate, and disseminate ideas.
Pre-order the book
Summer 2011 MFA Visiting Artists Lecture Series
All visiting artists deliver a free public lecture in Osher Hall at 6:30pm.
June 24: Allan McCollum
McCollum’s work focuses on the relationship between labor and art, with an emphasis on mass production.
June 27: Elllie Ga
Ellie Ga’s projects explore the limits of photographic documentation and span a variety of media, often incorporating her exploratory writing and culminating in performative lectures, videos and installations.
July 5: Juan Logan
Juan Logan’s paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, and videos address the interconnections of race, place, and power.
July 11: Sina Najafi
Sina Najafi is the Editor of Cabinet Magazine.
July 18: Anne West
Anne West is a writer, theorist, and independent curator. She teaches in the graduate program at RISD.
July 25: Lee Boroson
Lee Boroson’s airy sculptures give viewers the chance to experience the ineffable impossibilities of the world.
August 1: Hamish Fulton
Since the early 1970s Hamish Fulton has been labeled as a sculptor, photographer, conceptual artist andland artist. Fulton, however, characterises himself as a ‘walking artist’.
August 8: Lisi Raskin
Lisi Raskin handcrafts whimsical recreations of military command centers.
About the MFA at MECA
The Master of Fine Arts in Studio Arts at MECA is a fully accredited graduate program designed for artists whose emerging, mid-career and mature practices demand a flexible, responsive, and rigorous program of studio and academic courses. Our curriculum places equal value on studio practice, individual research, and critical analysis. The MFA program embraces a cross-disciplinary approach that encourages students to think across boundaries in order to integrate studio practice with material, conceptual, site-specific, and curatorial approaches.
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