DIRECTED STUDY JOURNAL

Getting a start on this MFA requirement.

There's definitely been some confusion around what the journal was for and when it should be started / utilized. Apparently there is an online template that could be used, but what I hear from instructors / students is that you just duplicate your weekly Group or Individual Study posts and feedback into that template. Seems silly and redundant given that all this information is stored online in the classes area anyway.

Per the MFA Thesis Handbook, the journal can be done offline via other methods but must be submitted as part of Final Review. To me this WIX blog format is a better one and potentially more long-term storage-wise.

I was really looking forward to the journal portion of the MFA process, thinking that this part of my journey would be more investigative, experimental and focused on really digging into the software and skills particular to my thesis. It's been more than a bit disappointing to be simply thrust into either pure production mode via DS classes or just more skills-based classes with their own, unrelated workloads. Where is the 'study' that I was hoping to sink my teeth into? Apparently this has to be done somewhere else.

Per requirement, I'll be documenting my work submissions here along with relevant feedback and notes, but in addition, I'll be peppering my myriad side experiments and research, related or unrelated to my thesis, mainly because in terms of my artistic journey everything I tinker with influences my work and could potentially filter into whatever final form it takes in the future.

No better place to start than the Midpoint Review: