A few months ago I submitted my portfolio for a free review by the faculty of the Vermont College of Fine Arts. I am very pleased by their response which is below along with the two pieces mentioned in the review. 

Dear Salvador,

 Thanks so much for submitting your portfolio and artist statement.  The MFA in Visual Art program at VCFA, now celebrating our 26^th anniversary as the first low-residency program of its kind, prioritizes a substantial level of discourse within our wide-ranging community, which values every artist’s own experience and practice on his or her own terms.  Our faculty is deeply invested in maintaining a rigorous critical and creative environment and because of this, it made strong sense to open that conversation to a larger audience.  

The faculty committee was thrilled to have the opportunity to engage with your work.  They note that “your work adopts Surrealist strategies in both painting and assemblage. In addition, your practice is one of refined intuition, where you elaborate on “faces” found in accidentally painted surfaces, or on the enigmatic model-numbers found in bits of manufactured material. This process of finding, collecting and assembling is prevalent in the work of an artist like Louise Nevelson and some of your pieces, such as Stated Purpose and Chicago Winter View, definitely evoke Nevelson. One area for future development is to combine the intuitive approach to making with research, such as diving into Pareidolia – the psychological phenomena of finding unintentional familiar patterns, especially faces! Strengthening the partnership between your process, aesthetics and conceptual structure will add even more dimension to your work.”

 We invite you to consider further opportunities to engage with our unique and dynamic program and are so glad that you participated in this initiative.   

All of my best,

Danielle Dahline

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