On Tuesday, March 3, 2025, The 1st-year MFA cohort had a group critique at their Düsseldorf studios in Oberbilk. Alongside professors Jutta Haeckel and Stefan Kürten, the students talked about their work, ideas, and future visions. The following day, March 4, 2025, we had our midterm, which included input from German professor Katrin Laade and the Alfred MFA painting staff; including director Stephanie McMahon, Patrick Brennan, and John Chae. The past two days were an intensive dive into our work – we had many minds focused on our art, and many ideas were generated – it is up to us as artists to take what we want from these sessions; to hear the critiques, think about our art and what we want to carry forward.

📸 Max Heaton