Slog
News & ArtsWednesday, April 4, 2012
Visual Art The Cost of Art School
Posted by Jen Graves on Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 12:00 PM
- Courtesy of the artists
This sculpture, The Cornish Diploma Dispensor by Max Kraushaar and Graham Downing, was installed outside Cornish College of the Arts's main building for two weeks until the artists say in an email that it was removed, "most likely by Cornish Faculty."
In case you can't make out the words, it reads:
1. Insert $75,000.00
2. Receive diploma
Given that each semester costs almost $16,000, $75,000 kind of sounds like a steal. The artists both attended Cornish, I believe. I haven't been able to reach them to talk about their specific motives, but I'm thinking: Student loans are coming due.
1
the work implies that all you do for the degree is pay the high tuition, which is incredibly insulting to other students and faculty members. what an incredibly tacky one-note.
3
Brilliant...it's like the inverse of Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" -- a urinal put into an art museum.
Here the artist puts the certification for sale without the institution.
He may have justified his tuition with this.
4
The cost to society for an art diploma is fairly cheap.
The cost to society for an MBA in Finance for an economy-destroying Hedge Fund Executive is in the Billions.
The cost to society for an engineering degree is incredibly cheap, as that grows the GDP of a nation.
The cost to society for an MBA in Finance for an economy-destroying Hedge Fund Executive is in the Billions.
The cost to society for an engineering degree is incredibly cheap, as that grows the GDP of a nation.
6
Most post secondary schools have just become diploma mills. Thanks for the 50k here is your literature degree and your application Starbucks application.
I spend a lot of time each year deprogramming students who believe they will never amount to anything of they don't set out immediately to a four year school upon graduation.
I spend a lot of time each year deprogramming students who believe they will never amount to anything of they don't set out immediately to a four year school upon graduation.
7
Speaking as a Cornish Graduate with $90,000 in student loans, that diploma is a steal. I had 1/4th of my tution covered by scholarships and grants AND worked 35 hours a week almost all the way through.
I work in IT now because I just wasn't dedicated enough to be a starving artist. Gotta pay the bills.
I honestly have though of doing something similar with my diploma.
I work in IT now because I just wasn't dedicated enough to be a starving artist. Gotta pay the bills.
I honestly have though of doing something similar with my diploma.
11
It may be insulting to the other students and faculty, but you gotta admit it's still pretty funny.
12
@8, well done, sir or madam! Max was the Piecyclist, no?
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/chow-…
The only Cornish grad I know makes a fine living selling high-end furniture of his own design and has a celebrity trainer boyfriend. He's pretty happy he went to Cornish, I believe.
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/chow-…
The only Cornish grad I know makes a fine living selling high-end furniture of his own design and has a celebrity trainer boyfriend. He's pretty happy he went to Cornish, I believe.
14
I've never heard of this Cornish outfit, but I know a few RISD grads. All of them would have been better off keeping the money for themselves.
15
Neither of these artists went to Cornish. Actually that is what I enjoy most about this piece. Graham didn't attend a college and Max went to UW. It is a very tongue and cheek piece of work.
I myself graduated from Cornish and am not insulted at all by this piece. I think it is hilarious. Also if you look closely it is titled 'dispensor' which is spelled incorrectly. :)
I myself graduated from Cornish and am not insulted at all by this piece. I think it is hilarious. Also if you look closely it is titled 'dispensor' which is spelled incorrectly. :)
18
I've been standing in front of one of these machines, waiting for someone to insert $75k in front of me so I can grab an MFA before the door closes.
19
I absolutely love this piece. It's hilarious! I'm the product of two art schools, but I graduated from Cornish. while I absolutely adore my art school education and benefit greatly from it, I think the diploma mill is ridiculous, and overinflated; especially in the art world. I also think the art world is in perpetual danger of taking itself too seriously, especially in regards to "pedigree", whatever the fuck that means.
people who make good art make good art and they don't have to come from anywhere. value is not in the degree, but in the person. this here is some damned good art.
people who make good art make good art and they don't have to come from anywhere. value is not in the degree, but in the person. this here is some damned good art.
20
If they were Cornish students they probably would have gotten the tuition right. I think it's 32 K a year next year so $75,000 is way too low. Also there's no way the faculty would have removed that I'm sure the administration/security did I can't believe it was there for two weeks. If they intentionally spelled dispenser wrong the piece is way funnier. Also I really want an artist who did go to Cornish to remake the piece and then place the photographs next to each other because though the clever/satire/commentary level is super high and awesome aesthetically it's failing a little. (Also a Cornish Grad. Also totally not offended.)
22
Cornish art grads will bag our groceries, and then complain that we used paper bags while stealing the extra ones to make paper mâché puppets with them - famous UW Grad School saying.
23
It really depends on which department you are in at Cornish. I went there and had half my tuition covered by scholarships and the other by loans and work study. It is expensive as all hell, but so is every private school. I can say some departments had some of the most talented people I have ever met coming out of them (Music, Visual Art). Some seemed like a cash cow at times (Design) and while there may have been some strong students there were other's who absolutely stunk but likely were admitted simply because they/their parents/federal loans could foot the bill. The classes are small, the faculty is talented and interested in interacting and you have a chance to get to know them on a first name basis, which might not happen at the UW. And once you graduate, you are branded a 'Cornish Grad' which established people in this town seem to admire and find a conversation piece when applying for jobs or what not. Emperors new clothes? Who knows. It has worked for me.
24
I'm just curious as to whether or not this piece actually functions. If one were actually deposit $75,000 in quarters, could they open the machine and remove a diploma? Honor system ensuring that they only take one, and not the whole stack to then sell at half price? Can the change box even fit $75,000?
25
I know somebody who's sister managed to fail out of Cornish. Her back-up plan was to get knocked up and move back in with daddy.
26
Cornish grad here and while I loved my experience, it didn't do much in terms of helping me find a relevant job. If I had known that the economy would tank while I was in school, I would have chosen something else based on the cost of my current student loan payments. I think this piece is pretty amusing and would love to know more of the story behind it.
27
A lot of grads from all kinds of schools are feeling like the hundred grand they spent on higher education was perhaps not a wise choice. They're kicking themselves for not going to grad school at a state university where you can get a Master's for around 10 grand and being, of course, under the impression that a name school or a private university degree had more prestige. The only place left, really, where that still works (and it doesn't work all the time) is the Ivy League. If you get into Harvard or Yale or Brown or Princeton, you're going to most probably be set.
So why not just go to a state school that has to meet the same educational standards and accreditation that the Ivy League has to meet?
So why not just go to a state school that has to meet the same educational standards and accreditation that the Ivy League has to meet?
29
I went to Parsons School of Design for a while. Everything about it was money based and elitist. You can learn more from a 'how to make art' website than that school. Most of my artistic motives are now: "do everything the opposite of how they tell you at Parsons."
30
Come on seriously?! A college degree isn’t a pre-req for success!! No one said it was! We chose to go to school though... No one held us captive, we could have left at anytime. And for those who, I guess aren’t aware, you rarely pay the tuition list price or atleast you shouldn’t be!! I went to Cornish and I received the majority of my tuition in scholarships and grants. Cornish has so many opportunities for scholarships, if you didn’t look into them or qualify for them, maybe that was a sign you shouldn’t have been there! It’s a tough market right now and it’s hard to find a job whether you have a degree or not! If you don’t think you’re better off from being there, than you did something wrong and should have left long before you graduated!
31
Cornish has so many opportunities for scholarships, if you didn’t look into them or qualify for them, maybe that was a sign you shouldn’t have been there!
And as a recipient of these awards, you should know more than most it's a crap shoot and almost a full-time job applying for scholarship. Glad you were able to master the system. Not everybody can - not people who have to work a full- or part-time job to pay for school and certainly not everyone who would benefit from an education.
And as a recipient of these awards, you should know more than most it's a crap shoot and almost a full-time job applying for scholarship. Glad you were able to master the system. Not everybody can - not people who have to work a full- or part-time job to pay for school and certainly not everyone who would benefit from an education.
32
Of course they attended, UW. That's because Cornish grads are getting all the jobs. It is making people talk, obviously, so I'll give them that, but it would have been much cooler had they placed it on their own campus.
33
Its cute. So that's success I guess. But really, if you didn't go there you don't have anything to say. So I'll file it in the oh-so-full folder of "look at me, I'm clever!" works that I can't seem to get away from. Please make work you mean, whether or not you attended this or any other school.
Its not for everyone.
Art school will never be worth the $ if you go about it with a pedestrian attitude and ethic. So that price tag should be the deterrent.
Its not for everyone.
Art school will never be worth the $ if you go about it with a pedestrian attitude and ethic. So that price tag should be the deterrent.
34
Who goes to art school for the diploma? I graduated from an "elitist" MFA program and it's quite possible my life & future prospects are fucked forevermore. And I don't regret a fucking thing. Everything that went right, went right because of me. Everything that went wrong, went wrong because of me. I'm still making art (that no one cares about) every single day (with a full time job) and I consider that a huge victory.
35
There's nothing insulting about it, it's just the truth. Nobody's ever heard of an art school kid getting flunked, you just know of dropouts. Either because they were lazy, or because it was too damn expensive. This is because each student represents about $60,000 - $120,000 in revenue for the institution. Failing paying customers is costly, to say the least .
It's true many students work hard and leave not just with a useless document but with a solid skill set. The fact remains though that faculty members risk losing their jobs for posting low grades. Therefore:
1. Insert $75,000.00
2. Receive diploma
It's true many students work hard and leave not just with a useless document but with a solid skill set. The fact remains though that faculty members risk losing their jobs for posting low grades. Therefore:
1. Insert $75,000.00
2. Receive diploma
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