Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | So Long Grad School!

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | So Long Grad School!

Over the last four weeks, I daydreamed about my final post for my contribution to Art21 Blog’s Open Enrollment column.  Since January, my final semester at San Francisco Art Institute …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | Holding Back the Tears

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | Holding Back the Tears

I’ve never been able to get past the touchy-feely over-share of the title of James Elkins’s 2001 book Pictures and Tears: A History of People Who Have Cried in Front …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | The ITP Class of 2011

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | The ITP Class of 2011

When I read Nicole Caruth’s write-up of Miriam Simun’s Lady Cheese Shop last week, I screamed, “she stole my blog post!” Simun was a fellow student of my program until …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | “Feet on the Ground, Head in the Clouds”

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | “Feet on the Ground, Head in the Clouds”

In the Deer Forest “Hi, my name is Peter. Do you want to find out why?” With these words, I became acquainted with Katja Tukiainen. In the back room at …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | Job Hunting and Evaluating on the Heels of Graduation

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | Job Hunting and Evaluating on the Heels of Graduation

This is not the first time on Open Enrollment that I have discussed my post-graduate school future. In January, I was already feeling the pressure as demonstrated in my post, …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | Nine Months Later, a Master’s Degree

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | Nine Months Later, a Master’s Degree

Last Friday, my invitation to graduation arrived in the mail. It seemed rather premature as I am but a fraction of the way through researching and writing my final dissertation, …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | The Art of Close Looking

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | The Art of Close Looking

I can go on my own to a museum or gallery or symposium, and I do, but going as a part of one of my classes makes me more appreciative …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | He’s Not Here Right Now

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | He’s Not Here Right Now

Hi Everyone! My name is Olivia and I’m Jeffrey’s imaginary studio assistant. Unfortunately, Jeffrey isn’t here right now because he’s running around the city preparing for his thesis exhibition, but …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | Desecrated Priorities

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | Desecrated Priorities

It’s the last two weeks of the semester and I should be focusing all my time and energy on finishing final projects and worrying about what to submit to the …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | Love Everyone’s Futures

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | Love Everyone’s Futures

The rain finally stopped this past Sunday so that 1001 chairs (or at least a good few hundred of them) could be set up outside Chinese embassies across the globe …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | In Poor Taste,* Lunch with Jani Leinonen

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | In Poor Taste,* Lunch with Jani Leinonen

I was waiting in line to buy a movie ticket when I heard the news: Jani Leinonen had been incarcerated. Conversations with my Finnish friends in the previous weeks had …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | Work after work after work…

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | Work after work after work…

On Friday, April 8th, two members from Temporary Services, Brett Bloom and Salem Collo-Julin, gave a presentation on their practice at Outpost for Contemporary Art here in Los Angeles. The …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | On the Precipice of Reality: This and That

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | On the Precipice of Reality: This and That

For this month’s post, I’ve mulled and pondered, thought and reflected, yet I could not come up with any sort of brilliant topic for my penultimate post. So I thought …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | On Access and Elitism

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | On Access and Elitism

I recently visited the Tate Britain with a friend who studies history but doesn’t care much for modern or contemporary art. Standing in front of David Hockney’s Great Pyramid at …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | The Importance of Being Sketchy

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | The Importance of Being Sketchy

I am freaking out! In one month, I’ll be installing my artwork at The Winery SF for San Francisco Art Institute’s MFA Thesis Exhibition. Last year at this time, my …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | Los Angeles: Nice Meeting You Again and Again

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | Los Angeles: Nice Meeting You Again and Again

This week began with Dean Rochelle Steiner of the USC Roski School of Fine Arts signing off on my thesis and me paying the publishing and binding fee. My thesis …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | BFA and MFA Shows: The New Collector’s Market?

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | BFA and MFA Shows: The New Collector’s Market?

Last Friday, I got off the subway and felt the crisp, eight o’clock Chicago evening air and saw something I was not expecting: a line around The School of the …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | I Do Art, Here’s My Card: A Trip to SXSW

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | I Do Art, Here’s My Card: A Trip to SXSW

I have a pretty set routine that very delicately balances work and school, sandwiching meals and sleep somewhere in the nooks and crannies of my schedule. So my friends and …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | What up, Internet? Saxophonist Throws Mad Wrenches in Capitalism’s Machinations

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | What up, Internet? Saxophonist Throws Mad Wrenches in Capitalism’s Machinations

I’m happy to report that I’m alive. I made it through my first conference presentation as part of The Now Museum Graduate Student Symposium last Sunday at the New Museum. …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | To Pick a Topic

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | To Pick a Topic

With the taught portion of my Courtauld MA degree in Art History concluded (the final exam completed last week), it’s now time to start thinking of dissertation topics and plunge …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | On Hierarchies: Thoughts after Sarah Thornton

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment | On Hierarchies: Thoughts after Sarah Thornton

Sarah Thornton, the author of Seven Days in the Art World — a book that made me book laugh, giggle, and weep — spoke last night at the Museum of …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: The BHQFU takes on the USA

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: The BHQFU takes on the USA

The Bruces are going on the road, out of the echo-chamber of New York, to take on America. It’s been hard for me to take a definitive stance on the …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: An Ordinary Day

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: An Ordinary Day

At 7:30 am, the alarm clock on my Nokia cell phone rouses me from sleep. In preparation of the minus double-digit weather, I layer like a Renaissance oil painting —two …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: Something to Talk About

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: Something to Talk About

There’s nothing quite like the graduate critique seminar – a visit to a classmate’s studio where ten to fifteen artists are hopefully hopped up on enough caffeine that they’ll engage …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: An Afternoon with Miina Äkkijyrkkä

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: An Afternoon with Miina Äkkijyrkkä

As if I am perched above on a watchtower, I am peering out the window of Café Java in the Lasipalatsi plaza with my friend and Finnish translator, Marjukka. The …

Open Enrollment

The What? The CUNY Graduate Center? Is that, like, part of NYU?

Open Enrollment

The What? The CUNY Graduate Center? Is that, like, part of NYU?

I’ve really been enjoying reading the posts from my fellow Open Enrollment bloggers over the last month, but Stefan’s post on his current experience at the Courtauld in London caught …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: Letters to a Young Art Historian?

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: Letters to a Young Art Historian?

November 2009, I was in the middle of a dark blue funk, something along the lines of a post-collegiate quarter-life crisis. Working a menial, low-paying job in museum retail and …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: Party’s Over!

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: Party’s Over!

The other day I was sitting in a confessional of a church and I asked the priest why most MFA programs were two years long. He replied, “my son, the …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: The What? Ah Yes, The Courtauld.

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: The What? Ah Yes, The Courtauld.

Whenever I tell someone I am studying for my Master’s at The Courtauld, I get one of two reactions. “The what?” is the first, spoken by those who aren’t in …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: From My Institution to Yours

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: From My Institution to Yours

In the spring of every year, the Master of Public Art Studies: Art/Curatorial Practices in the Public Sphere program at the University of Southern California, one of two graduate programs …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: The Considerable Goodness of Being Led Astray

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: The Considerable Goodness of Being Led Astray

I found my way into graduate school because I believed it would be something I would enjoy. On nights like this, when I look at my calendar and realize that …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: Master of the Healing Arts

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: Master of the Healing Arts

For many years, I was set on becoming a doctor of sorts. I had done an undergraduate thesis in experimental psychology, was doing research at a hospital, and on my …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: Artists Are Like Rats

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: Artists Are Like Rats

“We live in an age where the artist is forgotten. He is a researcher. I see myself that way.” — David Hockney Sometime in the afternoon on the second day …

Open Enrollment

Hello, Open Enrollment!

Open Enrollment

Hello, Open Enrollment!

It’s at moments such as these that I realize that I’m still really, really close to the beginning even though the development of dark, round, deep eye bags that require …

Open Enrollment

Introducing Open Enrollment’s Newest Writers

Open Enrollment

Introducing Open Enrollment’s Newest Writers

We are pleased to announce Open Enrollment’s incoming class for the Spring 2011 semester. Our newest correspondents will write from their outposts in Helsinki, London, Los Angeles, and NYC, where …

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: So My Last Semester Lies Ahead, Then What?

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment: So My Last Semester Lies Ahead, Then What?

While I chip away at my thesis and look toward my last semester at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), I have begun to think of my …