In 2010, the Hartford Art School launched a unique MFA program in photography, distinguished from the traditions of Yale, Columbia, SVA and Cal Arts and other photography MFA canons. It stands apart through its limited-residency structure: summer-long intensive on-campus sessions, combined with travel components in the spring and fall in cities like Berlin and New York City. Students have access to a wide range of critics and lecturers throughout the year, including Alec Soth and Lisa Kereszi.

I emailed with founder Robert Lyons, and faculty members Jörg Colberg and Michael Vahrenwald to learn more about their philosophies on photography education, and what's moving them right now. We've also included some of our favorite photographs from the 2016 graduating class.

PostedOctober 21, 2016

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesArtists

TagsRobert Lyons, Jorg Colberg, Michael Vahrenwald, Hartford MFA, Matt Eich, MFA Photography Programs, Jenia Fridlyand, Nathaniel Grann, Lori Lynn Lynn, Peter Morse, Nicole Rosenthal, Aaron Hardiin, Sane Vils Axelsen, Cody Holcombe, Ricardo Tzichinovsky, Joshua David Watson

Twentieth century photography in California was born of departure. Beginning in the 1920s, pioneering photographers with familiar names - Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange, Edward Weston, Ansel Adams and others - abandoned the primacy of aesthetics inspired by Pictorialism for the straight objectivity of Modernism. Generations of West Coast-based artists who followed have sustained that practice, pushing the medium’s boundaries through myriad documentary and conceptual explorations to arrive at the current moment and photography’s unparalleled popularity. That sustained enthusiasm, paired with increased institutional activity such as the opening of the SFMOMA’s Pritzker Center for Photography and smart programming in commercial spaces like Jenkins Johnson Gallery and Fraenkel Gallery, and non-profit organizations like SF Camerawork and Rayko Photo Center affirms the medium’s overall vibrant health.

PostedJune 8, 2016

AuthorRoula Seikaly

CategoriesExhibitions, Artists

TagsMFA Photography Programs, West Coast Photography, New Photography, Exhibition Reviews

Posts like these are tricky. Every year, a growing number of MFA photo programs across the country churn out ripe, excited graduates, ready to seek their fortune in a rapidly evolving art market. Some will use their new relationships and refined smarts to stake claim on the art world, while tastemakers and opportunists alike try to predict who’s “hot,” much like taking bids on Etsy or Shake Shack’s recent public offerings. But what excites us most about this year’s ICP-Bard MFA graduates is their commitment to a range of photographic methods. Their work is hip yet thoughtful, and is consistent while rarely exuding a particularly "ICP-Bard" aesthetic. They continue to blur rigid categories, incorporating both process-heavy and straightforward documentary traditions, sometimes in the same series. Without further ado, we've culled together a selection of six standouts from ICP/Bard’s MFA class of 2015.

Hartford Art School's Unique Take On The Photography MFA: A Conversation with Robert Lyons, Michael Vahrenwald and Dr. Jörg Colberg

West Coast MFA Dispatch: Highlights from the Recent Graduates of Mills College, California College of the Arts, and San Francisco Art Institute

6 Promising MFA Photography Grads from ICP-Bard's class of 2015