Located in San Pedro, California is an 850-square-foot studio that overlooks the Pacific Ocean.

It’s this studio that four Syracuse University graduate students pursuing a master’s of fine arts degree are sharing while they participate in the Turner Semester, a program that is being operated by the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Through the program, which VPA has offered for the first time this spring, the students get to experience the West Coast art scene firsthand by meeting artists and curators from the city and have their own studio space to work in that overlooks the Pacific Ocean.

Caitlin Foley, the project manager overseeing the Turner Semester, said the program gives students the opportunity to find themselves as artists and to explore the professional atmosphere of Los Angeles.

Foley added that while the students are learning and experiencing the art culture of the city of Los Angeles, they are also getting the time and space to create, allowing them to forge connections with artists and build networks for the end of their schooling. Foley notes that this program is a transition from the students’ long educational career into the real world of art as a career.

The students intern at the Museum of Latin American Art and the Angels Gate Cultural Center to promote engagement on different levels. Each student only works 10 hours a week, but those hours are important to forming their vision of what kind of work they want to do post-graduation, Foley said.

Ozan Atalan, one of the graduate students participating in the Turner Semester, believes the characteristics of the program will take SU’s MFA program one step further than other art programs around the country.

“This program offers a great opportunity for creating a realistic sense of what it would be like after getting an MFA degree and helps a lot for developing adaptation skills in the art world,” Atalan said.

Marsha Mack, also one of the four graduate students, said her favorite part of the semester so far is exploring the city and being inspired by a new place.

“I have never experienced LA — it’s very different from the art scene I am used to at home in San Francisco and at school in New York,” said Mack, a third-year graduate student studying ceramics. She said it allows for the students participating to “get an understanding of the flavor” of Los Angeles art, and that grasping the microcosm of art in LA is enlightening but also challenging.

Atalan said the Turner Semester is great experience for him to re-evaluate his work by blending his academic skills with real-life experience. He takes into account insight he gets from from art events, artists, professors of other art schools, audiences and curators he meets in Los Angeles.

Having reached the midpoint of the semester, Atalan said the Turner program is a success. He said it provides students a wide range of opportunities to network, get different feedback from professionals in the art world, have a unique life experience that reflects their work and adjust to participating in the art world by learning how to be present and validate themselves.

Published on March 4, 2015 at 12:01 am

Contact: mpmoor02@syr.edu