Chair: Danielle Dahline, MFA in Visual Art at VCFA; Faith Wilding, MFA in Visual Art at VCFA
Inaugurated in 1991 as the first low-residency MFA in Visual Art of its kind, Vermont College of Fine Arts has provided a blue-print for the development of many other low-residency programs that have since been founded nationally and internationally. The nature of this pedagogical model has allowed the program to re-think, re-invent, and respond to the currents of contemporary art while emphasizing individualized, non-hierarchical, student-initiated learning, thus challenging traditional educational norms.
We envision an informative, participatory discussion with a focus on members of our diverse community, including faculty, current students, alumni, artist teachers, and guest artists, who will examine the impact of this extraordinary learning and teaching process upon their studio practices, educational philosophies, and intellectual trajectories through the filter of the low-residency experience, and why this is a sustaining, accessible and important model for artists and educators, particularly in the current culture.
