Written by Kay Heino

In our MCAD MFA program, we have the privilege to be able to be apart of a mentor-mentee program. I am lucky enough to have installation artist and space creator, Alexandros Lindsay! He is skilled with knowledge of techniques and scholarly information. He has many awards, such as 2011 Florence Biennale, and has shown work nationally and internationally, including a solo show at the Casket Arts Building and a group exhibition at the Weisman Art Museum. But I’ll let him explain himself further. I asked him to provides some advice about things that I felt could better help everyone. Below is the Q&A. 

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KAY:

Can you introduce yourself and let everyone know what kind of art you create?

ALEX:

I’m Alex Lindsay, an artist who uses mixed media to explore subjects overlooked in American society.

KAY:

This may seem like a lot of questions about advice. But as your Mentee I know you have tons of wisdom and lots of great advice you could share with others. 

ALEX:

The best piece of advice I received in grad school was to become an expert in what you do.

KAY:

I personally know you’ve gained a lot of awards. But one I’d like to talk about more in depth is your 2013 Jerome sculpture park scholarship. How did it go and do you have advice about exhibiting art at such a high level?

ALEX:

The Franconia Sculpture Park Jerome Fellowship was a fantastic experience for me. The pressure of working on large pieces can get intense but I have found that if you plan, start early, and work vigorously until you finish that really helps.

KAY:

I know your an Installation artist, many of the other MFA students are as well, can you give some advice about documentation of installations? 

ALEX:

Everyone has their own style of documentation, but I think it’s helpful to have one image that is both engaging and compelling as well as a couple of supplementary images to fill in the details.

KAY:

This is more of a question about education. Is there anything as a MFA student that we shouldn’t miss out on? ( EX. Group shows, studio Visits, collaborative practices, experimentation ) 

ALEX:

Learn from and connect with your classmates while you are in school and keep those relationships. Also, apply to as many exhibit opportunities and residencies as you can because MCAD covers the application fee for graduate students.

KAY:

And lastly can you let us in on things coming up in your life as an artist? about your future. What do you have planned. do you have future ambitions current works.

ALEX:

I’m currently working on a large-scaled kinetic video installation for Good Weather Gallery’s new Project Space in Chicago.