I'm an art history student with a minor in anthropology. I've taken a LOT of anthropology classes (what field of anthropology did you concerntrate in? Please tell me archaeology! lol!) and I can say that you may have a difficult time applying to an art history grad school. I'm not so sure about anthropology, but I know that art history is fiercly competitative at this level and while they do say "we will accept people of diverse backgrounds" they are really interested in your research skills and your knowledge.
If you haven't taken many art history classes, I suggest you do so. Also, depending on your field in anthropology, you may have a hard time transitioning to art history. That is, unless your primary focus was on archaeology. Arch's obsession with material culture would probably do really well in this context. You could seriously use that to your advantage when applying an art history program. I've touched on things in my arch classes that AH have never even considered, and when I bring it up to my professors they are honestly intrigued. If you are more on the cultural/biological/linguistic/etc. side, separately the art from the person making it is going to be kinda hard for you.
Since I've already mentioned the competitiveness of AH, I would definitely suggest an internship over a 9-5 job. Or, if you can, do both. With school and my current job, I'm already pulling 45 hours a week, and this semester I already have a 16+ hour/week internship (it's more like 20 hours). It's not impossible, and since you probably wouldn't have outside responsibilities of your job, like homework or something, I'd definitely suggest trying to pull an internship. Try for an art museum definitely - even if it is just your school's.
Also, make sure that you ahve a firm grip on a language, depending on your interests in art history. If you are into Latin America, know Spanish, Europe in the middle ages, Latin or German or French, etc. Also, in grad, you really want to focus on ONE area of art history to study so make that selection now - it totally cuts your insanity in half. :)
Heh. This is good advice, except you basically told me to do all three-- have a "real job", another job, and learn a language. And I gotta apply to most programs by December. I'm still not sure whether I can do -any- of these things, and I'm trying to get a feel for which one I should throw myself into (right AFTER I finish my thesis).
Do you have a sense of which of these things should be prioritized, maybe?
although to answer your questions, i did have a pretty culturally-focused course of study. still, my thesis is about Banksy and graffiti culture, and the head of the archaeology program is on my thesis committee. i -am- hoping i can sell myself to the art-and-archaeology programs this way. but they do want me to know French and/or (or just "and") German, it seems, which is funny because generally I want to study the art of the ancient world -- either the Classical world, and how do those languages help me do that? -- of pre-columbian, for which Spanish, which I at least sort of know, would certainly be useful.
From my discussions with my professors in anthro. and those in AH, anthro sounds far easier to get into programs.
Ok, well I see what your focus is - antiquity. Do you want to do Greek or Roman? Or both? or maybe Roman Britain or Greece on Asia Minor? I mean, seriously - this is how focused grad school becomes for you. Of course you don't want to draw these lines right now, but when you go into interviews you want to be able to explain why this concentration and how much you already know about it. Also, archaeology and art history tend to merge in this era so having anthropology behind you will prolly be a good thing. :)
If you are studying antiquity, lets say you are interested in both Greece and Rome, your languages will definitely be Latin (reading comprehension) and if you can't do ancient Greek, definitely study German. If you want to do a MA track, one language is sufficient however they will probably expect you to pass your language tests within the first year of your masters. If you go on a PhD track, then you must know two languages. Schliemann (German) and Evans (English) are the big names in Greek excavations, especially of early antiquity and they have (arguably) the most concise study of archaeology esp. in the early period. German would be a valuable language.
If you go into AH, the internship is your highest priority - especially if it is a good one - like curatorial in Ancient Art. Also, the larger the name of the museum is sometimes better, however, if you go to a smaller museum that requires you to have more responsibility then your resume will look really good too. Lets say, "I interned with the Ancient Greek curator at the Met and researched all I could on the Hellenistic statues of Athens, etc." or a smaller museum where you not only worked with their collection hands on, but also with various departments and on many projects.
The thing is, depending on the internship it could be very easy to manage a 40hr/week job and a part-time internship. Unfortunately, summer internships applications are probably over (to most major/competitive museums), but smaller galleries and things will be open. Some places will only be 10 hours a week, others may be more. They also have semester-long internships which will be about 12 hours a week. It is manageable. If you worked a part time job while doing a normal semester (15 hours a week), it will mostly be the same.
Also, just a heads up, I know a lot of people consider Banksy an "artist" but in the Art History world he's a verrrrrry touchy subject - especially in the museum world where I've heard his name spoken with venom. Cultural essays aren't uncommon when referring to the art world but too much not dealing with the "artfullness" of grafitti and on the rise and development of this culture may not be a good paper to submit as your writing proposal. If you wrote a bunch on the art of the graffiti world then with some small tweaking you could possibly submit.
I know I suggest a lot to you, but most of what I say IS possible - it just requires reviewing and knowing exactly what you want to do. Let me know if you have any more questions.
i -am- hoping i can sell myself to the art-and-archaeology programs this way. but they do want me to know French and/or (or just "and") German, it seems, which is funny because generally I want to study the art of the ancient world -- either the Classical world, and how do those languages help me do that?
Actually, a LOT of scholarship on the classical world is in German. Most Classics grad programmes, for instance, require that you know German and French or Italian, so that you have enough access to secondary sources.
Also, just my two cents, but I think your priority is to nail down what you want to do. Between the post and the comments, you've named a lot of different things... art history, cultural anthropology, Classical art, pre-Columbian art, ... all of which are divergent fields and require extremely different preparation.
I'm an art history student with a minor in anthropology. I've taken a LOT of anthropology classes (what field of anthropology did you concerntrate in? Please tell me archaeology! lol!) and I can say that you may have a difficult time applying to an art history grad school. I'm not so sure about anthropology, but I know that art history is fiercly competitative at this level and while they do say "we will accept people of diverse backgrounds" they are really interested in your research skills and your knowledge.
If you haven't taken many art history classes, I suggest you do so. Also, depending on your field in anthropology, you may have a hard time transitioning to art history. That is, unless your primary focus was on archaeology. Arch's obsession with material culture would probably do really well in this context. You could seriously use that to your advantage when applying an art history program. I've touched on things in my arch classes that AH have never even considered, and when I bring it up to my professors they are honestly intrigued. If you are more on the cultural/biological/linguistic/etc. side, separately the art from the person making it is going to be kinda hard for you.
Since I've already mentioned the competitiveness of AH, I would definitely suggest an internship over a 9-5 job. Or, if you can, do both. With school and my current job, I'm already pulling 45 hours a week, and this semester I already have a 16+ hour/week internship (it's more like 20 hours). It's not impossible, and since you probably wouldn't have outside responsibilities of your job, like homework or something, I'd definitely suggest trying to pull an internship. Try for an art museum definitely - even if it is just your school's.
Also, make sure that you ahve a firm grip on a language, depending on your interests in art history. If you are into Latin America, know Spanish, Europe in the middle ages, Latin or German or French, etc. Also, in grad, you really want to focus on ONE area of art history to study so make that selection now - it totally cuts your insanity in half. :)
good luck. Lemme know more! :)
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This is good advice, except you basically told me to do all three-- have a "real job", another job, and learn a language. And I gotta apply to most programs by December. I'm still not sure whether I can do -any- of these things, and I'm trying to get a feel for which one I should throw myself into (right AFTER I finish my thesis).
Do you have a sense of which of these things should be prioritized, maybe?
although to answer your questions, i did have a pretty culturally-focused course of study. still, my thesis is about Banksy and graffiti culture, and the head of the archaeology program is on my thesis committee. i -am- hoping i can sell myself to the art-and-archaeology programs this way. but they do want me to know French and/or (or just "and") German, it seems, which is funny because generally I want to study the art of the ancient world -- either the Classical world, and how do those languages help me do that? -- of pre-columbian, for which Spanish, which I at least sort of know, would certainly be useful.
Reply
Ok, well I see what your focus is - antiquity. Do you want to do Greek or Roman? Or both? or maybe Roman Britain or Greece on Asia Minor? I mean, seriously - this is how focused grad school becomes for you. Of course you don't want to draw these lines right now, but when you go into interviews you want to be able to explain why this concentration and how much you already know about it. Also, archaeology and art history tend to merge in this era so having anthropology behind you will prolly be a good thing. :)
If you are studying antiquity, lets say you are interested in both Greece and Rome, your languages will definitely be Latin (reading comprehension) and if you can't do ancient Greek, definitely study German. If you want to do a MA track, one language is sufficient however they will probably expect you to pass your language tests within the first year of your masters. If you go on a PhD track, then you must know two languages. Schliemann (German) and Evans (English) are the big names in Greek excavations, especially of early antiquity and they have (arguably) the most concise study of archaeology esp. in the early period. German would be a valuable language.
If you go into AH, the internship is your highest priority - especially if it is a good one - like curatorial in Ancient Art. Also, the larger the name of the museum is sometimes better, however, if you go to a smaller museum that requires you to have more responsibility then your resume will look really good too. Lets say, "I interned with the Ancient Greek curator at the Met and researched all I could on the Hellenistic statues of Athens, etc." or a smaller museum where you not only worked with their collection hands on, but also with various departments and on many projects.
The thing is, depending on the internship it could be very easy to manage a 40hr/week job and a part-time internship. Unfortunately, summer internships applications are probably over (to most major/competitive museums), but smaller galleries and things will be open. Some places will only be 10 hours a week, others may be more. They also have semester-long internships which will be about 12 hours a week. It is manageable. If you worked a part time job while doing a normal semester (15 hours a week), it will mostly be the same.
Also, just a heads up, I know a lot of people consider Banksy an "artist" but in the Art History world he's a verrrrrry touchy subject - especially in the museum world where I've heard his name spoken with venom. Cultural essays aren't uncommon when referring to the art world but too much not dealing with the "artfullness" of grafitti and on the rise and development of this culture may not be a good paper to submit as your writing proposal. If you wrote a bunch on the art of the graffiti world then with some small tweaking you could possibly submit.
I know I suggest a lot to you, but most of what I say IS possible - it just requires reviewing and knowing exactly what you want to do. Let me know if you have any more questions.
Reply
Actually, a LOT of scholarship on the classical world is in German. Most Classics grad programmes, for instance, require that you know German and French or Italian, so that you have enough access to secondary sources.
Also, just my two cents, but I think your priority is to nail down what you want to do. Between the post and the comments, you've named a lot of different things... art history, cultural anthropology, Classical art, pre-Columbian art, ... all of which are divergent fields and require extremely different preparation.
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