The Santa Monica College Art Mentor Program is a concentrated group of talented art students who have been invited to explore and develop their artistic practice in an experimental and interdisciplinary manner. The course is designed for gifted and burgeoning art majors who are building a portfolio of autonomous works with the goal of transferring to a four-year arts program. Our transfer rate is nearly 100% and participants are accepted to an impressive list of undergrad and grad programs across the nation and abroad. Rather than enrolling, all participants have been recognized and invited by Art department faculty for their exceptional talent and strong academic record. The program fosters an environment that encourages collaboration, offers in-depth studio discourse, individual studio visits, professional artist presentations, and rigorous group-critiques.
The fall semester places emphasis on studio practice, the focused research that drives art-making, developing an artist statement and forming a stronger alliance between a participant's artwork, artist statement and other important essays for successful college transfer. The second semester gears up towards an exhibition at the Pete and Susan Barrett Gallery and designing a catalog to accompany the exhibition. Participants will learn professional methods of preparing work for exhibition, presenting work to a curator, mapping out a show, organizing and designing a catalog, and promoting and documenting a show.
During the course of two consecutive semesters, students meet once per week and complete 4 projects per semester that are based upon loose thematic prompts that reference art history, contemporary art theory, and material challenges and limitations. Participants will be provided with reading and viewing material related to contemporary art theory and relevant exhibitions currently on view in Los Angeles. While the participants work in a variety of media and art disciplines, the material they are exposed to and the close proximity in which they work help establish strong and recognizable strands that connect the work produced. The dialogue that surfaces through carefully following each other's work create a highly supportive environment that pushes all participants to produce ambitiously and to vigorously explore their artistic potential as they craft a comprehensive body of work for transfer.
Contact Carlson Hatton for application details.