DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/2ZJW-ZM33
Defense Date
2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Art Education
First Advisor
Sara Wilson McKay
Second Advisor
Ryan Patton
Third Advisor
Kurt Stemhagan
Fourth Advisor
Victor Chen
Abstract
MFA students are uniquely positioned to self-examine their sense of artistic identity as they pursue the degree associated with a professional artistic career. Understanding how students experience the construction of their artistic identity through their MFA experiences offers illumination into the process of artistic identity construction and the graduate school experience. This qualitative narrative inquiry, consisting of semi-structured individual interviews with MFA students in a leading graduate program, explores three themes. First, participants looked at artistic identity as an umbrella identity that allows for continued exploration of other individual identities such as gender and socio-economic class. Participants commented on their sense of artistic identity as central to understanding their other identities and positionality. Second, participants expressed a cyclical and overlapping process of identity development of exploration,
construction and presentation, with the MFA program as a place where all three of these phases were incorporated. Finally, the conception of the MFA program as a community with caveats is explored as participants discussed how they moved through the program in ways that are protective of their artistic identity. These findings offer insight into the ways an MFA program might consider structuring itself to support healthy exploration of artistic identity.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
12-16-2023