Lorraine Peltz

In 'I Made a Thing', a Professional Practice Experience course offering, you will engage in a wide variety of activities designed to help prepare you for life after SAIC. Course activities may include creating a website, preparing a CV, attending networking events with alumni, and writing of a project statement. The course emphasizes hands-on, real-world professional activities and opportunities for emerging studio artists.

This course will be broken into six units, each of which addresses a particular concern about what to do with studio work once it has been made. Each unit will typically contain a reading assignment, a writing assignment, and a project assignment. This course would be best suited for artists who are considering a career centered around an individually driven studio practice. Units include: I Made a Thing and I think I want to make more: how to develop a practical, long-term studio practice. I Made a Thing and I think it failed: how to embrace inevitable challenges and let your work be your teacher. I Made a Thing and I think I want people to look at it: how to cultivate a supportive creative community both physically and virtually. I Made a Thing and I think I want to use it to apply to/for stuff: how to get your work 'out there.' I Made a Thing and I think I want people to talk about it: how to engage your work with dialogue and criticism. I Made a Thing and I think I want someone to buy it: how to create your own art market.

In this course, students will explore and create their own definitions of success, starting with their preconceived notions of what it means to be a successful artist. We will break down outdated expectations and myths and will rebuild unique, personal, and fulfilling plans for a creative life. Through writing, mentoring, and research students will explore career paths and what it means to live the flexible and nuanced life of an artist.

We will investigate a number of topics and tools that support a career in the arts, including: mind-mapping, goal-setting, creating professional materials (CV, statement, bio), applying to professional opportunities such as grants and residencies, studio visits, and working with galleries. Course material will include artists¿ personal accounts of leading a creative life and tools they use to make projects more rich.

This course involves numerous written assignments; students must be prepared to write and edit their work. Students will choose from a vast menu of short projects in order to tailor their experience in the class to their career goals. Final assignments will include 1) a clear personal vision of success; 2) steps for achieving short and long-term goals, and 3) refined professional materials suitable for application.

This course is a multidisciplinary seminar that will present strategies for developing and sustaining your own studio practice and help prepare you for life after art school. It will provide practical instruction in getting started on and succeeding with your career after graduation and help you gain a critical understanding of your own artwork or creative endeavor and it's relationship to the larger cultural moment. The student will have the opportunity to create a cohesive body of work or curatorial project specific to each individual student's interest. Additionally, we will examine art historical precedents, contemporary ideas and practices in the art world, and the role of the artist in contemporary culture.

The textbook for the class is Art/Work-Everything You Need to Know (and Do) as you Pursue your Art Career, Heather Darcy Bhandari and Jonathan Melber, in addition to readings from current sources, such as Artforum, Art News, New York Times, etc.

The student will propose a project that he or she will complete over the course of the semester (which can include preparation for the BFA Exhibition.)The class will include readings and discussions, individual presentations, writing an artist's statement, resume, and cover letter, press release and exhibition announcements, project proposal, and discussions with visiting artists and curators, gallery and museum visits, and class critiques. We will explore graduate school considerations, traditional and alternative strategies for exhibiting and self-promotion, developing an online presence, creating a support system and community, and earning a living as an artist. You will be also presenting your endeavors through at least one PowerPoint presentation.

This course is a multidisciplinary seminar that will present strategies for developing and sustaining your own studio practice and help prepare you for life after art school. It will provide practical instruction in getting started on and succeeding with your career after graduation and help you gain a critical understanding of your own artwork or creative endeavor and it's relationship to the larger cultural moment. The student will have the opportunity to create a cohesive body of work or curatorial project specific to each individual student's interest. Additionally, we will examine art historical precedents, contemporary ideas and practices in the art world, and the role of the artist in contemporary culture.

The textbook for the class is Art/Work-Everything You Need to Know (and Do) as you Pursue your Art Career, Heather Darcy Bhandari and Jonathan Melber, in addition to readings from current sources, such as Artforum, Art News, New York Times, etc.

The student will propose a project that he or she will complete over the course of the semester (which can include preparation for the BFA Exhibition.)The class will include readings and discussions, individual presentations, writing an artist's statement, resume, and cover letter, press release and exhibition announcements, project proposal, and discussions with visiting artists and curators, gallery and museum visits, and class critiques. We will explore graduate school considerations, traditional and alternative strategies for exhibiting and self-promotion, developing an online presence, creating a support system and community, and earning a living as an artist. You will be also presenting your endeavors through at least one PowerPoint presentation.