- Vermont College of Fine Arts
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Vermont College of Fine Arts Established 1831 Type Private non-profit President Thomas Christopher Greene Academic staff about 60 Postgraduates about 225 Location Montpelier, Vermont, United States Affiliations New England Association of Schools and Colleges Website http://www.vermontcollege.edu/ Coordinates: 44°15′19″N 72°34′3″W / 44.25528°N 72.5675°W Vermont College of Fine Arts offers four distinct graduate programs, awarding Master of Fine Arts degrees in Visual Art, Writing, Writing for Children & Young Adults and Graphic Design. The student to faculty ratio at VCFA is 4-to-1.[1]. The faculty and alumni of VCFA have won many literary awards, including Newbery Honor Awards[2] and a National Book Award.[3][4]. VCFA is one of the rare graduate schools in the United States devoted solely to low-residency graduate degrees. The college’s campus sits atop a hill above downtown Montpelier, the capital of Vermont and the smallest state capital in the United States.
College Hall
Contents
Mission & Purpose
MISSION: Vermont College of Fine Arts is a national center for education in the arts, fostering the excellence of emerging and established artists and advancing the arts to create a more humane world.
PURPOSE: Vermont College of Fine Arts is a place where the creative expression of individuals is nurtured and a sense of community flourishes. For seventy years Vermont College® has been a site for progressive education. Anchored firmly on this historic campus in Montpelier, VCFA seeks to shape the global future of the arts with an emphasis on excellence that allows its members to reach for the highest artistic standards as individuals while recognizing that the arts are one of the foundations of a healthy and creative society. This is a place where national and international leaders in the arts gather, teach, and show and perform their work. The college prides itself on its openness and on creating an environment that is safe, welcoming, and built on mutual respect.[1]
Academics
Graduate programs offered:
- Masters of Fine arts in Visual Art
- Masters of Fine Arts in Writing
- Masters of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults
- Masters of Fine Arts in Graphic Design
- Masters of Fine Arts in Music Composition
Certificates offered:
- Graduate-level picture book certificate[5]
Low-residency
The low-residency structure allows students to attend graduate school while living at home. Vermont College requires "four six-month semesters of intensive one-on-one work under the guidance of a faculty mentor and five ten-day on-campus residencies, each of which consists of workshops, lectures, readings, panel discussions, student-teacher conferences and critiques, presentations of works in progress."[1] The students create their own individualized program of study with their faculty mentors. A faculty member works with five or fewer students through "written correspondence, online communication, oral tapes, and/or telephone conferences" during the semester at home.[6]
All programs feature writers-in-residence or artists-in-residence who give lectures and readings. Artists and writers-in-residence have included Jean Valentine, M. T. Anderson, Susan Cooper, Gregory Maguire, Holly Black, and Jane Yolen, who was the inaugural writer-in-residence in the Writing for Children and Young Adults program.[5]
MFA in Writing
Established in 1981, the VCFA MFA in writing program offers degree tracks in fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry as well as a secondary concentration in translation.[6] The MFA in Writing requires 2 theses: a critical thesis and a creative thesis in addition to a giving a lecture and public reading.[10]
Each faculty member supervises five writers through written correspondence, online communication, oral tapes, and/or telephone conferences during the semester. Students in VCFA’s MFA in Writing Program convene with other writers twice each year for 10-day on campus residencies. They participate in small, faculty-guided workshops in which each writer’s work is examined. Special workshops are offered in translation, the novel, and other focused topics. In addition to workshops, daily seminars, lectures, and discussions, as well as readings by faculty, graduating students, and visiting writers, students engage in formal and informal exchanges.
The faculty of the MFA in Writing Program have published more than 300 books and have won almost every major literary award. More than two-thirds of the faculty teach at other universities.[11]
The MFA in writing program is rated as one of the top five low-residency MFA programs in the United States.[7][8]
MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults
Established in 1997, the VCFA MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults Program was the nation's first MFA program focusing on writing for young readers. In the program students pursue studies in the writing of picture books, middle-grade or young adult literature and come to campus twice a year for 10-day residencies. After the residencies students begin faculty-guided independent-study projects. During the independent study project students are supervised and maintain a correspondence with faculty and peers.
The MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults requires 2 theses: a critical thesis and a creative thesis in addition to giving a lecture and public reading.[10] Candlewick Press, Houghton Mifflin/Clarion, and Harcourt Trade Publishers have established scholarships and prizes for students in the Writing for Children and Young Adults program..[1]
MFA in Visual Art
The Master of Fine Art in Visual Art Program at VCFA allows students to earn a 60-credit MFA degree over a period of two years through a combination of ten-day, on-campus residencies followed by six-month semesters of self-designed artistic practice. Students work in their home studios in between residencies. Whether on campus or at home, students participate in a discourse structured around their visual culture research and studio projects. Through this process of exchange, students explore their interests and make connections that help position their work within broader social, historical, and intellectual debates.
Since its founding in 1991, the MFA in Visual Art Program has been based on the principle of individualized learning. While in the program, students complete a series of interdisciplinary writing projects supervised by faculty members and pursue their studio work with guidance from local artists chosen in collaboration with the program.
The MFA in Visual Art Program’s pedagogy is based on the understanding that art does not exist in a void but within a social context, and that process is integral to the product.
MFA in Graphic Arts
In the tradition of VCFA’s graduate programs in other fields, this program requires one week of campus residence for each six-month semester and matches each student with a faculty mentor for one-on-one independent study. In VCFA's MFA in Graphic Design design professionals work closely with faculty who are leading practitioners in the field, students merge practice with design theory and research to expand their fluency in visual culture.
The program’s first residency will be held in October of 2011.
MFA in Music Composition
VCFA’s MFA in Music Composition carves out space in the lives of professional musicians and music teachers for inquiry and experimentation as well as research and critique, making room for both the exploration and the refinement of their craft. Students not only produce work but also hear and share the music they write with an engaged community of peers and faculty. Through the program’s low-residency, self-designed study model, students define their own paths in Contemporary Composition, Electronic Music, Jazz, Scoring for Media, or Songwriting, simultaneously engaged in their working lives and their artistic practice.
The Program’s inaugural residency will be in August 2011.
History
The focus of Vermont College has changed since its beginnings as Newbury Seminary in 1831. After existing in several forms including a Wesleyan Seminary and a Methodist Seminary, it became Vermont Junior College in 1941.[1] In 1958 it became Vermont College. In 1972 Vermont College merged with Norwich University; the two schools became fully integrated in 1993. Union Institute acquired Vermont College in 2001. The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in writing program was established in 1981 and the MFA in visual art in 1991.[8] The MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults, the first "MFA program in writing for young readers," began in January 1997. In 2008 Vermont College of Fine Arts became an independent fine arts institution.[1] In 2011 it launches an MFA program in Music Composition and one in Graphic Design [9]
College Hall, the central building on campus, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was completed in 1872 and includes a two-story high chapel and a pipe organ from 1884.[10]
People
Student profile
The average student age is 35 years old. Students live all over the world and continue working in their current careers while attending Vermont.[11]
Faculty Profile
Approximately 60 authors and artists teach at Vermont College. All have terminal degrees in their specialty.[1]
MFA in Writing Faculty Awards Name Award Book Year Rigoberto González Shelley Memorial Award[12] 2011 David Wojahn O. B. Hardison, Jr. Poetry Prize[12] poet's teaching and art 2007 Jean Valentine National Book Award[3] Door In the Mountain 2004 Diane Lefer Mary McCarthy Prize for Short Fiction [13] California Transit 2005 Sascha Feinstein Pennsylvania's Governor's Award for Artist of the Year 2008 Sascha Feinstein Hayden Carruth Award poetry collection Misterioso 2008 David Wojahn O. B. Hardison, Jr. Poetry Prize[12] poet's teaching and art 2007 Douglas Glover Governor-General's Award for Fiction Elle 2003 Douglas Glover Writers' Trust of Canada Timothy Findley Award 2006 David Wojahn The Carole Weinstein Prize in Poetry 2008 David Wojahn Pulitzer Prize finalist Interrogation Palace: New and Selected Poems 1982–2004 2007 David Wojahn O. B. Hardison Award from the Folger Shakespeare Library 2007 Natasha Sajé Fulbright fellowship Natasha Sajé Robert Winner and Alice Fay di Castagnola Awards from the Poetry Society of America Natasha Sajé Campbell Corner Poetry Prize Betsy Sholl Poet Laureate of Maine 2009 Domenic Stansberry Edgar Award Best Paperback Original The Confession 2005 Mary Ruefle National Endowment for the Arts fellowship Mary Ruefle Whiting Award Mary Ruefle Guggenheim Fellowship 2002 Mary Ruefle Award in Literature from The American Academy of Arts and Letters Robin Hemley Pushcart Prize “The Big Ear” 1994 Robin Hemley Pushcart Prize “Installations” 1990 Robin Hemley First Prize Nelson Algren Award for Fiction from The Chicago Tribune 1996 Robin Hemley Editor's Choice Award for Nonfiction from The American Library Association. Invented Eden 2003 Robin Hemley Guggenheim Fellowship 2008 Xu Xi O. Henry Prize Story Collection, shortlist for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize 2006 Xu Xi New York State fiction fellowship Xu Xi Ploughshares Cohen Award 2005 MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults Faculty Awards Name Award Book Year Franny Billingsley National Book Award Finalist [14] Chime 2011 Tim Wynne-Jones Boston Globe – Horn Book Award [15] Blink & Caution 2011 Franny Billingsley Boston Globe – Horn Book Honor [16] Chime 2011 Rita Williams-Garcia Newbery Honor [17] One Crazy Summer 2011 Rita Williams-Garcia Coretta Scott King Award winner [18] One Crazy Summer 2011 Rita Williams-Garcia NAACP Image Award finalist [19] One Crazy Summer 2011 Rita Williams-Garcia National Book Award Finalist [20] One Crazy Summer 2010 Rita Williams-Garcia National Book Award Finalist [21] Jumped 2009 Tim Wynne-Jones Governor General’s Literary Award Finalist [22] The Uninvited 2009 Kathi Appelt PEN Award The Underneath 2009 Kathi Appelt Newbery Honor Book[23] The Underneath 2009 Shelley Tanaka Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children[24] Amelia Earhart: The Legend of the Lost Aviator 2009 Kathi Appelt National Book Award finalist The Underneath 2008 A. M. Jenkins Printz Honor Book Repossessed 2008 Laura McGee Kvasnosky Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Zelda and Ivy: The Runaways 2007 Tim Wynne-Jones Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book[25] Rex Zero and the End of the World 2007 Sarah Ellis TD Canadian Children's Literature Award[26] Odd Man Out 2007 Cynthia Leitich Smith National Book Festival book[27] Tantalize 2007 Martine Leavitt National Book Award finalist [28] Keturah and Lord Death 2006 Julie Larios Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book [29] Yellow Elephant 2006 Julie Larios Pushcart Prize and Academy of American Poets Prize Poetry Leda Schubert NY Times Editor's Choice[30] Ballet of the Elephants 2006 Margaret Bechard ALA Best Book for Young Adults [31][32] Spacer and Rat 2006 Sharon Darrow Junior Library Guild selection [33] Trash 2006 Uma Krishnaswami Notable Book for a Global Society--International Reading Association [34] Naming Maya 2005 Kathi Appelt PEN finalist in Children's literature [35] My Father's Summers 2005 Rita Williams-Garcia ALA Best Book for Young Adults [36] No Laughter Here 2005 Margaret Bechard School Library Journal Best Book of the Year designation, and ALA Best Book for Young Adults[37][38] Hanging onto Max 2003 An Na Michael L. Printz Award[39] A Step From Heaven 2002 An Na Children's Book Award in YA Fiction-International Reading Association[40] A Step From Heaven 2002 An Na National Book Award Finalist[41] A Step From Heaven 2001 Franny Billingsley Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book[42] The Folk Keeper 2000 Franny Billingsley The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award[43] The Folk Keeper 2000 Ellen Howard Christopher Award (Canadian)[44] The Log Cabin Quilt 1997 Tim Wynne-Jones Governor General's Award (Canada)[45] The Maestro 1995 Tim Wynne-Jones Governor General's Award (Canada)[45] Some of the Kinder Planets 1993 Sarah Ellis Governor General's Award (Canada)[45] Pick-Up Sticks Marion Dane Bauer Newbery Honor Award [46] On My Honor 1987 MFA in Visual Art Faculty Awards Name Award Book Year Ashley Hunt BAK Center for Contemporary Arts, Research-In-Residence, Utrecht, NL 2008 Ashley Hunt Ford Foundation Social Justice Grant for Independent Media Production Documentary: Close Tallulah Now! 2002 Ashley Hunt New York Foundation for the Arts, Swing Space Fellowship 2007 Ashley Hunt Ford Foundation Social Justice Grant for Independent Media Production Documentary: Close Tallulah Now! 2002 Ashley Hunt Fellow of the Vera List Center for Art & Politics 2011
David Deitcher Creative Capital/Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant recipient.|
2006–2007 David Deitcher Lambda Literary Award Book: Dear Friends: American Photographs of Men Together, 1840–1918 2001 David Deitcher Canada Council, Independent Critics and Curator Award 2004–2005 David Deitcher Canada Council, Independent Critics and Curator Award 2006–2007 David Deitcher Fellow Swann Foundation for Cartoon and Caricature 1982 Dont Rhine Mid-Career Artist Award: California Community Foundation, Los Angeles 2007 Dont Rhine Individual Research Residency: Interface Centre, University of Ulster, Belfast 2006 Dont Rhine Individual Studio Residency: Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada 2005 Faith Wilding Guggenheim Foundation Fellow 2009 Faith Wilding Creative Capital Emerging Fields Grant (with subrosa) 2004–2006 Lana Lin New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship 2001 Lana Lin Fulbright Foundation Fellowship 2003–2004 Lana Lin Jerome Foundation Media Arts Grant 1996 Marie Shurkus Doctoral Award of Excellence, Graduate Fellowship, Concordia University, Montreal 2001–2003 Marie Shurkus Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Pomona College 2007–2009 Michael Minelli Wexner Center for the Arts Commission Exhibition: Shiny 2006 Sowon Kwon Book: Dear Friends: American Photographs of Men Together, 1840–1918 2005 Sowon Kwon New York Foundation for the Arts in Sculpture 1995 Dont Rhine California Community Foundation Fellowship 2007 Alumni
Alumni and students are published with major publishing houses. They work as "librarians, editors, freelance writers, teachers, directors of arts organizations, illustrators, and publishers."[6]
Alumni Awards Name Award Work Year Debby Dahl Edwardson National Book Award Finalist [47] My Name Is Not Easy 2011 Kekla Magoon Nominee NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work Youth/Teens[48] The Rock and the River 2010 Kekla Magoon Coretta Scott King Award John Steptoe New Talent Author Award[49] The Rock and the River 2010 Sundee T. Frazier Coretta Scott King Award John Steptoe New Talent Author Award[50] Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It 2008 April Pulley Sayre Geisel Honor Book Award[51] Vulture View 2008 Ann Parr National Council of Social Studies Honor Award for ethnicity [52] Gordon Parks: No Excuses 2007 Robin Oliveira James Jones First Novel Fellowship[53] My Name is Mary Sutter 2007 Martine Leavitt National Book Award finalist [28] Keturah and Lord Death 2006 Stephanie Greene ALA Notable Book [54] Queen Sophie Hartley 2006 Deborah Wiles National Book Award finalist [55] Each Little Bird That Sings 2005 Ed Briant Publishers Weekly Flying Start[56] Paper Parade 2004 An Na Printz Award [57] A Step From Heaven 2002 Deborah Wiles Coretta Scott King Award John Steptoe New Talent Author Award[58] Freedom Summer 2002 Notable alumni
Notable alumni of the program include:
- Ed Briant
- W.E. Butts
- Marcus Cafagna
- Mary Clyde
- Mark Cox (poet)
- Olena Kalytiak Davis
- Alison Hawthorne Deming
- Ted Deppe
- Alicia Erian
- Sundee T. Frazier
- Frank Giampietro
- Stephanie Greene
- Gail Gregg
- Pamela Harrison
- Katherine Hastings
- Allison Hedge Coke
- LeAnne Howe
- Patricia Spears Jones
- Nancy Lagomarsino
- Wally Lamb
- Martine Leavitt
- Moira Linehan
- Jo-Ann Mapson
- Alyce Miller
- David Mura
- An Na
- Sandra Novack
- April Ossmann
- Ann Parr
- Jamie Parsley
- Melissa Pritchard
- Bill Rasmovicz
- Trent Reedy
- April Pulley Sayre
- Tim Seibles
- Betsy Sholl
- Jennifer K. Sweeney
- Marjorie Welish
- Deborah Wiles
- Valerie Wohlfeld
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Vermont College of Fine Arts, Progress Report: January 2007-January 2008 (Montpelier., Vermont, 2008)
- ^ ALA | Newbery Medal & Honor Books, 1922-Present
- ^ a b The National Book Foundation
- ^ Vermont College of Fine Arts - MFA in Writing for Children
- ^ a b Vermont College of Fine Arts
- ^ a b Vermont College of Fine Arts
- ^ The Best of the Best
- ^ a b Vermont College of Fine Arts
- ^ College Hall
- ^ http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/11/19/programs
- ^ Vermont College of Fine Arts
- ^ a b c <http://www.poetrysociety.org/psa/awards/frost_and_shelley/shelley_winners/2011a
- ^ Sarabande Books - Prize Winners
- ^ http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2011_ypl_billingsley.html
- ^ http://www.hbook.com/bghb/current.asp
- ^ http://www.hbook.com/bghb/current.asp
- ^ http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal.cfm
- ^ http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/emiert/cskbookawards/recipients.cfm
- ^ http://www.naacpimageawards.net/42/winners-and-honorees/literature/
- ^ http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2010.html
- ^ http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2009.html
- ^ http://www.canadacouncil.ca/news/releases/2009/wi128999467161854957.htm
- ^ http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal.cfm
- ^ http://www.ncte.org/awards/orbispictus
- ^ Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards
- ^ CCBC | News and Events | Winners Announced for $53,500 Canadian Children's Book Centre Awards
- ^ Authors - 2007 National Book Festival (Library of Congress)
- ^ a b The National Book Foundation
- ^ Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards
- ^ 'Ballet of the Elephants,' by Leda Schubert - The New York Times Book Review - New York Times
- ^ ALA | 2006 Best Books for Young Adults
- ^ Margaret Bechard (1953-) Biography - Personal, Career, Member, Honors Awards, Writings, Sidelights
- ^ http://google.com/search?q=cache:U8k6LGiDilYJ:www.juniorlibraryguild.com/ pdfs/06F_FA.pdf+%22Sharon+Darrow%22+junior+library&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us&client=firefox-a
- ^ http://www.csulb.edu/org/childrens-lit/proj/nbgs/nbgs-lists/nbgs2005.html
- ^ PEN Center USA | 2005 Literary Awards Winners
- ^ ALA | 2005 Best Books for Young Adults
- ^ ALA | 2003 Best Books for Young Adults
- ^ ALA | 2003 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ Franny Billingsley
- ^ Franny Billingsley
- ^ Christopher Awards - Books for Young People
- ^ a b c Governor-General's Awards for Children's Literature
- ^ ALA | Newbery Medal & Honor Books, 1922-Present
- ^ http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2011_ypl_edwardson.html
- ^ [4]
- ^ [5]
- ^ ALA | Coretta Scott King Book Award
- ^ ALA | 2008 Media Award Winners
- ^ http://www.socialstudies.org/awards/woodson/
- ^ http://www.jamesjonesliterarysociety.org/NOVEL.HTM
- ^ ALA | 2006 Notable Children's Books
- ^ The National Book Foundation
- ^ Flying Starts - 6/28/2004 - Publishers Weekly
- ^ ALA | 2002 Michael L. Printz Award Winner
- ^ ALA | Coretta Scott King Book Award
External links
- Vermont College of Fine Arts
- The T.W. Wood Art Gallery and Arts Center
- Vermont College MFA in Visual Art alumni website
Colleges and universities in VermontPublic University of Vermont
Vermont State Colleges: Castleton State College • Community College of Vermont • Johnson State College • Lyndon State College • Vermont Technical CollegePrivate Bennington College • Burlington College • Champlain College • College of St. Joseph • Goddard College • Green Mountain College • Landmark College • Marlboro College • Middlebury College • New England Culinary Institute • Norwich University • Saint Michael's College • SIT Graduate Institute • Sterling College • Southern Vermont College • Vermont College of Fine Arts • Vermont Law SchoolCategories:- Universities and colleges in Vermont
- Montpelier, Vermont
- New England Association of Schools and Colleges
- Buildings and structures in Washington County, Vermont
- Education in Washington County, Vermont
- Visitor attractions in Washington County, Vermont
- Art galleries in Vermont
- Educational institutions established in 1831
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