ProdigyGate Part IV: In Which IvyGate Interviews Annabel Osberg
For Annabel Osberg, it sucks to be 19, and not because fake ID’s are so damn expensive. For the past few weeks, we’ve been covering the story of this art prodigy’s expulsion from Yale’s MFA program. When we last checked in with ProdigyGate, Osberg had just filed a lawsuit against the University, claiming that she was unfairly expelled without proper warning from the Master of Fine Arts program in Painting and Printmaking. According to an article in this week’s Yale Daily News, University officials say there is “no merit” to Osberg’s allegations that Yale considers her “too immature and too young” to receive this terminal degree, despite knowing her age when they accepted her.
Per the YDN, University Spokesman Tom Conroy says that the decision to expel Osbery did not violate any protocols whatsoever. “The Yale School of Art assesses the academic progress of its students carefully and followed its procedures in all respects in making its decision not to promote Annabel Osberg to the second year of the MFA program,” Conroy told the YDN. “We believe that Ms. Osberg's claims have no merit.”
Osberg’s lawyer hopes to get a hearing on the injunction in late August or early September; Yale has until August 12 to respond to Osberg’s complaint.
Meanwhile, here at IvyGate, we’ve taken matters into our own hands and sat down for an exclusive interview with Annabel Osberg (formerly Y-ART’09) to discuss all this hullabaloo. Read the interview after the jump:
IG: Hey, Annabel. Thanks for taking the time to talk with us! Can you tell us a little about what it was like for you in the MFA program? How did you get along with the instructors/other students?
AO: Most of my peers were supportive of me. My relationships with other students were very positive. About 93% of the other painting students signed a petition that stated that I made a “fine contribution” to the program and that “it would be unjust and arbitrary to terminate Annabel from the program”. I believe the painting MFA program is rife with favoritism on the part of the faculty that usually has nothing to do with the quality of students’ work. Students who are well-liked by influential faculty members are given many more opportunities (such as awards and trips to visit artists’ studios) than those who are not. Personal partiality can also affect the teachers’ perceptions of students’ work. I think that some of the teachers are not critical of the work of their favorite students, because they do not want to upset them; but the same teachers have no qualms about attacking other students’ work during critiques. I also felt that although the program is Painting/Printmaking, representational painters (such as I am) are held to a higher standard than non-painters who work in other media including video, installation, and others. Students whom the teachers do not like as much can have a difficult time. I never was a disciplinary problem, nor did I do anything to upset any of the teachers, but obviously I wasn’t a favorite.
IG: It seems like the environment was a bit hostile toward your presence--did you ever think about leaving? Why or why not?
AO: No, I never considered leaving. I really wanted my MFA, and I wasn’t about to give up.
IG: We read that you were locked out of your apartment--seriously? They just locked you out? Was this on the last day of class? Was there warning? Sounds bizarre!
AO: My expulsion came in the form of a letter taped to my studio door. At that time, I had not even received my grades for the fall and spring semesters--so I could not have known for sure why I was being expelled. The expulsion letter contained no information as to when I had to vacate my studio or dorm. Since the letter said that I would not be allowed to return the next year, and since students keep their studios for the entire summer, I didn’t think I would be expected to move out until a reasonable amount of time before the next semester began (unless I was later given a date by which to vacate, which I was not.) However, on the afternoon of June 30, my attorney told me that Yale’s attorneys had informed him that I was supposed to be out of my studio by the end of the day, and that I had to vacate my dorm by the next week. Fortunately, my attorney was able to negotiate for an extra week for me to vacate my studio. I was locked out of the building on June 30, before the time given for the lock-out, and had to ask permission to be let in during the next week I was allowed entry. The person who was to let me in was only there during limited hours, making entry very difficult. I wasn’t locked out of my dorm until the next week, so I was able to move, but I barely had time to pack everything into boxes. My belongings were disorganized when placed in storage.
IG: That really sucks. Let’s hope this gets resolved and you can return to Yale soon. Say, in a perfect world, what would you be doing a year from now, as a newly-minted MFA?
AO: Showing my work in New York.
Thanks, Annabel!
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July 31st, 2008 at 11:50 pm
I have to say… she’s a shitty artist. Maybe that’s why she is being kicked out.
August 1st, 2008 at 11:57 am
I was an art major at Yale, and I have to say, that I can not imagine any of the professors or administrators in the art school being anything less than supportive and respectful. Granted I was there as an undergrad, but many of the professors and critics are the same. I don’t believe that they would arbitrarily pick on this girl or that they would make the tough (and extreme) decision to kick someone out without a very compelling need to do so. Do you think the talented and busy artists who take the time to teach at there are sitting around and hatching plans to ruin the life of this girl? I am sure they tried to give her every opportunity to complete the program. They don’t want people to fail out.
I also never saw any of the favoritism she talks about. If you are serious and enthusiastic about your work, any professor is going to be happy to discuss it with you. If anything, a professor that respects your work and commitment is going to critique you more to help you improve. A critique is not a personal attack–how do you expect to improve if you don’t get feedback? The problem is that you have to be mature and secure enough to accept criticism and use it.
As for her talent and maturity, I can’t comment. I am not impressed by the few works I have seen here, but that is just a small sampling. Who knows…
August 12th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Honestly? Personally, I’m going to take Lewis Black’s account, which mirrors Osberg’s, over two random Yalies. There’s a reason why the aphorism about painters being the oblivious artists and thespians being the observant ones is an aphorism, no?
August 20th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
As a fellow student in the MFA program with Annabel, I’m going to break it down:
1) She was treated with kid gloves by the faculty. It was apparent by the end of the first semester that she was performing at a level below what is expected of the art undergrads. The faculty tried, trust me, they tried and should be given credit. She was not singled out in a negative light, if anything she was coddled far too long.
2) Her allegations about favoritism are BULLSHIT. Every single student in the program has had negative feedback. We have private studio visits almost daily with faculty and they tell us exactly what they think. Just because Annabel wasn’t privy to what was said in these private exchanges doesn’t mean that the rest of us are “favorites”. Some people have better group crits than others, some have better studio visits than group crits, we all get shit one way or another and its too bad Annabel is too immature to realize this.
3) And the faculty giving more awards/opportunities to their favorites? BULLSHIT. By the end of your second year, every student has gotten some kind of prize, its a very small program. Too bad Annabel didn’t make it to her second year to find out.
4) I love this one: “I also felt that although the program is Painting/Printmaking, representational painters (such as I am) are held to a higher standard than non-painters who work in other media including video, installation, and others. Students whom the teachers do not like as much can have a difficult time.”
INSANE BULLSHIT. I think the problem Annabel had is that the faculty have standards, PERIOD. When the faculty admit you, they are taking a risk that you will be able to work at least to the standard of what you applied with. Annabel could not. Even when given simple assignments it was obvious that she was not able to make something that showed any invention much less technical ability. The faculty don’t care if students are making representational work, abstract work, video, sculpture, installation, printmaking, they would just like us to be accountable for it and know why the hell we are doing something. Heaven forbid that Annabel the prodigy would be questioned like the rest of us peon “non-painters”.
5) As for that idiot petition she loves to brag about in her media blitz, she knocked on every one of our studio doors day after day until she got all her signatures. We could have declined to sign it but we all did because most of us felt sorry for her and didn’t want to hurt her feelings. I’m sure had any of us known it would be used in some bogus lawsuit we would have declined to sign it. Why do you think that not one of her fellow students would go on record supporting her? Its not because the faculty are monsters and we are afraid of them, its because SHE IS WRONG. Plus if any student wanted to publicly support her (which I highly doubt) do you think that they would want their name dragged in the mud? She has fucked herself by all this ridiculous media attention, what MFA program would ever admit her now that when you google her name images of her work don’t come up, the lawsuit and various articles related to her expulsion come up! Gee, some prodigy.
6) Annabel is NOT a prodigy. I’d even say Annabel isn’t an artist. Its not that she was too young for the program but that her work was sub-par and she lacked the ability to understand why. The faculty took a gamble, it didn’t work out, life goes on. The rules are in the hand-book, YOU MUST BE INVITED BACK FOR YOUR SECOND YEAR. This bullshit has gone on long enough.
7) If she has such scathing criticism and disdain for the faculty then why the hell would she want to be re-instated? Why would you want to put yourself back in a situation that you perceive as so detrimental and biased toward your development and work?
8) Get over it and keep painting, move to NYC get a job and rent a crappy studio like the rest of us did before we came here and what we will have to do when we get out. Instead she has alienated her entire class, trashed the program/faculty and acted like a spoiled brat.
9) I hope she has to pay for Yale’s legal fees when this is all over. Good riddance.