Eric Valosin is a success story for the ÌÇÐÄvlog Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art program. Since graduating in 2013, Valosin has shown his work in several exhibitions across New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. He has given numerous lectures, teaches as an adjunct professor, editor and is a co-founder of the New Jersey art blog NotWhatItIs.com, and fosters meaningful collaborations with his peers from ÌÇÐÄvlog. With his having participated in seven shows this past summer and two solo shows coming up, what is the secret to Valosin\u2019s success?<\/p>\n
Initially Eric entered Montclair\u2019s MFA program with the aim of teaching higher education. By the time he graduated he felt empowered to follow his larger goals that, before his MFA, seemed like pipe dreams. With a new perspective and passion for his studio practice, Valosin is now able to recognize the necessary steps to achieve his goals and aims high.<\/p>\n
What exactly gave Eric the confidence and ability to try to achieve these goals?<\/p>\n
Eric said, \u201cMy time at ÌÇÐÄvlog was totally transformative. It certainly made me a better artist. In retrospect, I had no idea what being an artist really meant before grad school.\u201d Eric speaks about how the MFA program helped him to understand how to make art, but more importantly why to make art; which helped him to develop big, philosophical questions that still drive his art practice today.<\/p>\n
Eric explained how the World Making course taught by Iain Kerr, \u201cequipped me for the experimentation and research that would eventually become my thesis.\u201d In addition to this course he continued, \u201cThe summer research project we did in anticipation of our thesis monographs was where I turned a major corner in my work and set it on track to become what it is today. I had been interested in the intersections of art and spiritual experience, but this research project narrowed those interests into more specific, valuable, complex questions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eric went on to say, \u201cThe MFA director, Dr. Andrew Atkinson was instrumental in guiding me through these questions and how they meet the world, through the creation of the thesis monograph itself, which I still use as a networking tool. In fact, I recently gave someone a copy of it to discuss one of the interviews. Even now it remains prescient.\u201d<\/p>\n
Valosin states that the MFA program at Montclair State set him up for success by establishing a network of peers and professionals that he continues to rely upon today. He explains, \u201cThe steady stream of visiting artists, critics, and curators – as many as three each week – was invaluable in developing my work and getting that work out into the world. Probably close to 75% of the most interesting things I\u2019ve done artistically since graduation have in one way or another come through my relationships with my classmates, be it through collaboration, shared opportunities, or generous introductions. As Andrew once told us, when you graduate, nobody in the world knows your practice more intimately than the people you went through Montclair State with.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, life after the MFA program, however, is not easy; it requires artists to wear several hats and to hustle. It is for this reason that Valosin\u2019s success can be contributed not only to the skills he learned at Montclair State, but for his continued practice of acquiring new skills. Valosin said, \u201cAs an artist you are essentially an entrepreneur creating a startup with no budget and only one employee, using tools that oftentimes don\u2019t yet exist until you invent them.\u201d Some of the essential skills that Eric references are collaboration, keeping calm under pressure, and making interpersonal connection. Eric continued, \u201cCollaborations always help you develop new skills and reach new audiences. But more importantly, they force you to step outside your own conceptual bubble and see the world from someone else\u2019s perspective.\u201d As an excellent example, Eric works with several other MFA alumni including Stephen Douglas \u201914, Christine Soccio Romanell \u201914, Daniel Morowitz \u201915, Esmeralda Vazquez \u201915, and K. Anthony Lawler \u201917 on the New Jersey based art blog, Not What It Is, to fill the gap in critical attention to New Jersey fine art. Additionally he will be in a three-person show in early 2017, making collaborative work with Marc D\u2019Agusto MFA alumnus 2011, and Russ Wills at City Walls Gallery.<\/p>\n
Valosin\u2019s teaching philosophy reflects his time in the MFA program as well. This spring, he will teach a studio-based conceptual development class that has roots in the strategies learned from World Making. Currently he teaches in the Art and Communications departments at the College of St. Elizabeth where his courses, Writing for Converging Media and Editing for Converging Media, grew out of his critical writing practice.<\/p>\n
Valosin concluded, \u201cI aspire to make a difference in the way people interact with each other and with the world. I feel a sense of urgency within religion and society in general to bridge these metaphysical-relational-technological gaps. I hope my work opens a pathway to a reexamination and retooling of our existing religious frameworks to create new spaces for mystical experience in our hyper-technologized, (post-)postmodern, globalized, complicated world.\u201d Eric Valosin is a success story for the ÌÇÐÄvlog Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art program. Since graduating in 2013, Valosin has shown his work in several exhibitions across New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. He has given numerous lectures, teaches as an adjunct professor, editor and is a co-founder of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":117334,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-19_announcements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/art-and-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/art-and-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/art-and-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/art-and-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/art-and-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17334"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/art-and-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206927,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/art-and-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17334\/revisions\/206927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/art-and-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/art-and-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/art-and-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/art-and-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n
\nEricvalosin.com<\/a>
\nAdjunct Professor, The College of Saint Elizabeth
\n“Rabit Hole Engineer,” and Contributing Editor, Not What It Is
\n notwhatitis.com<\/a>
\nFine Arts Instructor, The Collective Art Tank
\n collectivearttank.com<\/a>
\nCoordinator of Fine Art Education, Gravity, Inc.
\n getgravity.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"