The Crit Lab AltMFA 2021
November 11-14, 2021
Welcome to the AltMFA 2021!
The Crit Lab AltMFA is an intensive virtual conference focusing on visiting artist lectures, interactive collaborations, and artist-led group critique. This year we offer an additional set of critiques- one more than last year's program, to give artists the most contact with visiting faculty. Artist and critic will be paired for the most productive discussion for their work.
This year we are thrilled to offer our first Crit Lab AltMFA Fellowship. Fellowship includes full tuition for the November 11-14 event.
AltMFA 2021
Founder Patricia Miranda
Co-director Gaby Collins-Fernandez
Visiting Artist Lecturers
Ernesto Pujol, Julie Heffernan, Jason Stopa, Laura Splan, Hannah Chalew, Federico Troletti, Chris Kaczmarek, Melt: Loren Britton and Isabel Paehr
Visiting Critics:
Ernesto Pujol, Julie Heffernan, Laura Splan, Lucinda Bliss, Jonathan Van Dyke, Wells Chandler, Meena Hasan, Carly Glovinski, Chris Kaczmarek, Francine Weiss.
Tuition, Registration, and Fellowship info at link above. All participants must fill out the registration form. Visit the Faculty page to see bios of our visiting artists.
Scroll down for full schedule.
Building on the language and rigor of the Crit Lab, AltMFA expands this critical community of noteworthy contemporary art topics and discourses. AltMFA is designed for working artists at every level and background, with or without a degree, who are serious about their work; artists hungry for critique and lively, in-depth discussion.
The full experience is built to be intense, cumulative and immersive. The sustained contact of artists thinking and creating together over time generates unexpected connections where new ideas are born and flourish. This magic links us as a community and nurtures our individual practice.
AltMFA 2021 Schedule
All times are Eastern Standard. Note: exact times may vary slightly.
Thursday, Nov 11
6-8:30pm: Welcome Orientation and Introductions-
All registrants are invited!
Participating artists will meet and introduce themselves and their work.
Patricia Miranda + Gaby Collins-FernandezFriday, November 12
Morning: start 9am
9-10:15am: Patricia Miranda with Gaby Collins-Fernandez, Lecture+discussion
10:15- 12:45: Individual Critiques: Carly Glovinski, Jonathan VanDyke, Gaby Collins-Fernandez
Afternoon:
1:15-2:30: Laura Splan, Artist Lecture
2:30-5PM: Individual Critiques: Laura Splan, Gaby Collins-Fernandez
5-6:30pm: Hannah Chalew, Artist Lecture
Saturday, November 13
Morning: start 9am
9-10:15am: Federico Troletti, President of the Research Institute for Rock Engravings (Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici), Lecture, Valle Camonica. The ancestral magic of rock art engravings as an inspirational source for contemporary artists. introduction by Giulia Mazzolani, Director of RUC – Rural Residency for Contemporary Art.
10:15- 12:45: Individual Critiques: Julie Heffernan, Chris Kaczmarek, Lucinda Bliss
Afternoon:
1:15-2:30: Julie Heffernan, Artist Lecture
2-5PM: Chris Kaczmarek: Walking Collaboration
5-7:30PM: Individual Critiques: Lucinda Bliss, Jonathan VanDyke
Sunday November 14
Morning: start 9am
9-10:15am: Ernesto Pujol: Artist Lecture
10:15- 12:45: Individual Critiques Ernesto Pujol, Francine Weiss
Afternoon:
2-5PM: Melt: Loren Britton and Isabel Paehr: Collaborative Project
5-6:30PM: Jason Stopa: Artist Lecture
Presentation of Collaborative Projects and Celebration Cocktails!
*Note: Critics for Individual Critiques is subject to change.
Friday Saturday all registered for critiques receive one critique of their work and observe one critique of others. Sunday artists participate or observe one critique. All registrants can attend all lectures and collaborative projects for registered days. Recordings available until January 31, 2022.
Crit Lab AltMFA 2020
Founder Patricia Miranda & Co-Director Gaby Collins-Fernandez.
Faculty: Jonathan Van Dyke, Nicole Archer, Caroline Wells Chandler, Meena Hasan, Shervone Neckles, Lucinda Bliss, Amy Theiss Giese, Jason Stopa, Chris Kaczmarek, Andrea Kantrowitz, Angie Brew.
Meet the Faculty.
Scroll down for expanded Program details.
Schedule:
Thursday November 12, 6-8:30pm
Intro and welcome: Crit Lab Founder Patricia Miranda & AltMFA Co-director Gaby Collins-Fernandez.
Friday November 13
9am-10:15: Lecture: Grief and Mourning in Contemporary Art; Patricia Miranda
10:30am-1pm: Critique: Small group critiques: 4 artists led by Critics. All invited to observe.
Critics: Lucinda Bliss, Jason Stopa
Lunch 1-1:30pm
1:30-2:45pm Gaby Collins-Fernandez Baroque Folding in Contemporary Expressive Form
2:45-5:15pm: Critique: Small group critiques: 4 artists led by Critic. All invited to observe.
Critics: Gaby Collins-Fernandez, Amy Giese
5:15-6:30pm: End of day Simultaneous Drawing + Discussion
Saturday, November 14
9am-10:30: Keynote: Jonathan VanDyke Artist Talk
10:30- 1:00pm: Critique: Small group critiques: 4 artists led by Critic. All invited to observe.
Critic: Nicole Archer, Gaby Collins-Fernandez
Lunch 1:00-1:30pm
1:30-2:45pm: Lecture: Dr. Nicole Archer Pattern Recognition
2:45-4: Simultaneous Drawing with Dr. Andrea Kantrowitz & Dr. Angie Brew, Thinking Through Drawing founders
4- 6:30pm Critique: Small group critiques: 4 artists led by Critic. All invited to observe.
Critic: Jonathan Van Dyke, Meena Hasan, Amy Giese
6:45-7:30 End of day recap discussion group
Sunday, November 15
9-10:15am Shervone Neckles Artist Lecture
10:30am-12:30pm Chris Kaczmarek: Zoom Walking Project
12:45-2pm Meena Hasan:
Artist Lecture/Studio Visit discussion
Lunch 2-2:45pm
2:45-5:15pm. Caroline Wells Chandler Artist Talk and Simultaneous Drawing
5:30-7:30pm AltMFA Celebration / Zoom Drawing / Walking Presentations / Discussion / Cocktail Party!
The Sunday Walking Project and Drawing Collaborations will culminate in permanent digital artworks and catalogue authored by participants and led by Chris Kaczmarek, Caroline Wells Chandler, Andrea Kantrowitz and Angie Brew.
Scroll down for Program details.
AltMFA in the midst of a Pandemic
One of the primary reasons I developed AltMFA is to invite exceptional artists and thinkers to broaden the dialogue already happening in the Crit Lab.
In 2020, instead of a pandemic hiatus, artists reached out to emphasize how committed they are to their practice, and to communities like The Crit Lab which support this work—the safe, brave spaces in which we build meaning. In a tumultuous year, art has been a solace, a space where the uncertainty and loss can remain unfixed, unrepaired, and present in a zone of grey ambiguity that doesn’t require an answer. That can live in the questioning. A space of rumination, where grief can meditate on its own mourning.
In this space, we rethink priorities, habits, politics. Can art offer a call to action, a respite, a sense of pulsing fecundity when fear and anxiety are so heavy in the air? Can we find ways to share these questions in our artwork? The Crit Lab Alt MFA is a space for working artists to come together in radical optimism and rigorous dialogue, in an act of hope over destruction.
director, Patricia Miranda
Thursday November 12, 6-8:30pm
Intro and welcome
Crit Lab Founder Patricia Miranda & Alt MFA Co-director Gaby Collins-Fernandez
Gaby and Patricia will open the AltMFA program, with introductions and shared images from all participants, in a lively discussion format.
Friday November 13
9am-10:15 Lecture: Grief and Mourning in Contemporary Art; Patricia Miranda
image: Patricia Miranda, Seeing Red installation
10:30am-1pm Critique: Small group critiques: 4 artists led by Critic. All invited to observe.
Critics: Lucinda Bliss, Jason Stopa
Lunch 1-1:30pm
1:30-2:45pm Gaby Collins-Fernandez
Baroque Folding in Contemporary Expressive Form
an exploratory argument about the function of folding and repeated imagery in the Baroque, as well as its relevance to contemporary art. Originating in ideas in her own artwork and studio practice, Collins-Fernandez discusses a range of sources, from protein folding to pop music, Instagram trends, and current artworks, in relation to the logic of Baroque imagery and its dual emphasis on ecstatic expressiveness and historical lineage.
image: Gaby Collins-Fernandez
2:45-5:15pm Critique: Small group critiques: 4 artists led by Critic. All invited to observe.
Critics: Gaby Collins-Fernandez, Amy Giese, Patricia Miranda
5:15-6:30pm: End of day Simultaneous Drawing + Discussion
Saturday, November 14
9am-10:30 Keynote: Jonathan VanDyke
New York-based artist Jonathan VanDyke will provide an intimate look at his studio process, especially his hybrid approach to investigating the intersection of painting and performance. The lecture and discussion will include insights into the diverse range of art historical references he folds into his work, including Renaissance paintings of wounded Saints, 19th century American quilts, and expressionist painting. VanDyke will discuss the complexities of making paintings with collaborators, and the unusual ways in which he installs his work in exhibitions globally, including the recent survey Queer Abstraction at The Des Moines Art Center.
image: JVK How to Operate in a Dark Room
10:30- 1:00pm Critique: Small group critiques: 4 artists led by Critic. All invited to observe.
Critic: Nicole Archer, Gaby Collins-Fernandez
Lunch 1:00-1:30pm
1:30-2:45pm Lecture: Dr. Nicole Archer
Pattern Recognition considers a wide range of contemporary art practices that all pivot around the ways that "patterns" work to stabilize our notions of ourselves and others, while they also coincidentally work to queer, or jam, normative ideologies of gender and sexuality.
2:45-4 Simultaneous Drawing with Dr. Andrea Kantrowitz & Dr. Angie Brew, Thinking Through Drawing founders
4- 6:30pm Critique: Small group critiques: 4 artists led by Critic. All invited to observe.
Critic: Jonathan Van Dyke, Meena Hasan
6:45-7:30 End of day recap discussion group
Sunday, November 15
9-10:15am Shervone Neckles
Artist Lecture
Neckles will speak about her interdisciplinary practice which draws inspiration from the duality and transitional nature of her Afro-Caribbean American identity.
image: Shervone Neckles, Give and Take Installation
10:30am-12:30pm Chris Kaczmarek: Zoom Walking Project
12:45-2pm Meena Hasan:
Artist Lecture/Studio Visit discussion
image: Meena Hasan; from Tipu's Tent, spiral top, acrylic, Tyvek and Flashe on Okawara paper, 2020
Lunch 2-2:45pm
2:45-5:15pm. Caroline Wells Chandler
Artist Talk and Simultaneous Drawing
image: Caroline Wells Chandler
5:30-7:30pm AltMFA Celebration / Zoom Drawing / Walking Presentations / Discussion / Cocktail Party!
The Sunday Walking Project and Drawing Collaborations will culminate in permanent digital artworks and catalogue authored by participants and led by Chris Kaczmarek, Caroline Wells Chandler, Andrea Kantrowitz and Angie Brew.
Alt MFA circle image: Alexandra Rutsch Brock, detail