Students and Alumni of Creative Inquiry, Interdisciplinary Arts

Colette Eloi is an African Diaspora Folklorist/Choreographer in the MFA in Creative Inquiry, Interdisciplinary Arts program. "The experience that I am going though as an MFA student can be likened to a feeling of expanding and contracting, of both my mind's perspective and my knowledge base," says Colette. "My MFA project is to write a libretto using styles that are non-conventional to the operatic style yet in close alignment with the aesthetic of opera."

Nathan McAllister Beier is a Composer/Musician/Writer in the MFA in Creative Inquiry, Interdisciplinary Arts program. "The encouragement and enthusiasm I've received from classmates and teachers at CIIS has been so healing and nurturing," says Nathan. "The interest in my work is genuine, and the ideas I receive are provocative, scary and fun. It's like everyone is saying to me, ‘Yes! And please give me more!' All of the above mixes together to create a deep trust which gives me strength to face my fears and take on challenges. The immediate example of this is me leaping very noticeably from the singer/songwriter material of guitar and voice to the largely instrumental work of solo piano and ensemble works for drums, piano and bass. And there's just more to come." Nathan's final MFA project is a vinyl recording of solo piano compositions. The pieces for this record are musical language explorations of people's names.

Joie Rey / Jana Lynn Cohen is a Fine Art/Commercial Photographer and Multimedia Interdisciplinary Artist in the MFA in Creative Inquiry, Interdisciplinary Arts Program. "I am so glad that I get to experience artists of many mediums, rather than doing a traditional MFA where everyone in my program would be using the same materials," says Joie. "I find other art forms more inspiring, and gain fresh perspectives from them. As a result of this program, I have gone back to my roots as a photographer and I have begun to utilize other mediums, such as writing and collage in conjunction with photography within my work." Joie's final MFA project is entitled, "Dissonance: A Visual Memoir (A Preservation of Memories)."  Visit the CIIS blog for Joie's post on how Joie decided on the MFA in Creative Inquiry, Interdisciplinary Arts.

Alumni
In 2008, CIIS transferred the MFA in Writing and Consciousness and the MFA in Creative Inquiry, Interdisciplinary Arts to CIIS.  Many dynamic artists graduated from the MFA in Writing and Consciousness and the MFA in Creative Inquiry, Interdisciplinary Arts from New College of California. We are pleased to highlight the accomplishments of these artists.

Graduates of the MFA in Creative Inquiry, Interdisciplinary Arts
Jennifer Chen, dancer, healer
Erika Chong Shuch, choreographer, director, performer
Tim Stapleton, writer, visual artist
Susie Bright, performance artist
Rochleigh Wholfe, visual and performance artist
Jovelyn Richards, storyteller, actress, writer

Praise From Recent Graduates

Julianne Reidy, MFA 2008: “This program has benefited me as an artist by validating my position in the world not just by classifying myself as an artist, through my lifestyle and/or my work but by identifying me as a person who has pursued an art-based degree. I believe the difference in obtaining this degree rather than just letting my work define me is that I can now pursue teaching. For me, the difference in obtaining an artbased degree is that I am putting the message out there in the world that I have cared enough and value the arts enough to pursue and obtain a degree in Creative Inquiry, which can be applied to so many interdisciplinary practices…”

Debbie de Coudreaux, MFA 2008: “I specifically chose an interdisciplinary arts program because of my background in various performing disciplines, i.e. dance, voice and performing arts. Although I had a strong background in performance I wanted to focus specifically on the academic aspects of the performing arts. I wanted to study and examine in detail the socio-political influences that the Arts, in general, and Art as created by Women specifically, has had in America.

In learning how to use research as part of the artistic process I was able to broaden my knowledge of my main subject as well as all the subsequent support material with which to further enrich my performance pieces. I believe that this makes the artistic project extremely interesting for the viewer. It was said in one of my classes that the creation of the art is itself a method of research and this has never been truer than with my MFA presentation piece “At Long Last Lena.” The culmination of this project would not have happened without the Creative Inquiry Program. I was given the tools not only to create and expand upon my art but also the wherewithal to promote and market my offerings, a vital step that is often ignored or overlooked in other Masters programs.

Not only did I improve as a performer but my work with my teachers within the program enabled me to develop and create several curriculums that I will be able to teach with confidence and enthusiasm to future students. I have learned how to use mixed media to assist me in making my courses interesting, dynamic, thought-provoking and stimulating.  My teachers were extremely adept in assisting me in my discoveries of new thought processes, the development of my own artistic aesthetic and supportive through out the sometimes painful process of creativity. Making art is rather messy sometimes. I would strongly encourage and urge those students of the arts who have a deep desire to explore, question, discover and create to participate in this program. They would be richly rewarded for their work.”