contact usMISSION
The mission of the Mountain School of Arts is to encourage new ways of thinking about liberal arts, sciences, and practical methods as they apply to a professional career.
The intention of the school is: to grapple in frank, pragmatic, and experimental ways about a wide range of practical and theoretical concerns. We encourage argument, questioning, dilemmas, multiple points of view, hands-on experience, and trial and error.


OBJECTIVES
MSA^ concerns itself with the development of various academic programs designed as a supplement to those offered by the established art schools, teaching more tangible aspects of art, developing a different, but complimentary, point of view.

These topics include law, science, production methods and problems, the commercial art market, relationships with galleries, etc.   striving towards unconventional approaches to intellectual, aesthetic, and cultural questions.


SETTING
The main facility of The Mountain School of Arts is located at “The Mountain”, a bar in the heart of Chinatown. The student housing and studio space are within walking distance. 


THE FACULTY
The faculty brings an atmosphere of exploring intellectual, emotional, and practical concerns. The expectation is that the students will use the lessons and reflect the learning process by thinking about how the professor came to understand and organize the knowledge presented. Through the guidance of the faculty students will learn how to take full advantage of school resources and those elsewhere.


ACADEMIC ORGANIZATION
The school curriculum will start in January 2006. Classes will be held twice a week for 3 hours a day for a period of 3 months. During this period the school will provide housing and studio space for half of our class, which will include invited students from abroad. There will be no fees for classes. In addition, we plan a series of field trips to artists' studios, collectors' residences, art foundations, offices of museum directors, and other pertinent and usually inaccessible sites around the city. The first academic session will offer 4 primary classes and 4 specific classes. The primary classes will consider topics related to economics, science, law, research and production techniques. The specific classes will explore communication skills and a more general view of art and its role in society. The program will include conversations and lectures by artists, curators, dealers, collectors, and other pertinent players.



SUSTAINABLE ARTICULTURE: HOW TO GROW AN ART PRACTICE
Michael Darling, Assistant Curator, MOCA

MANNERISM
Jorge Pardo, artist; Steve Hanson, gallery owner, China Art Objects

LAW & ART
Eric Wesley, artist; Lonnie Blanchard 3rd, lawyer; Carl Wesley, federal defendant

TOPICS IN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Stefano Campagnola, researcher, Caltech

DO-IT-YOURSELF ADVANCED UNUSUAL BEHAVIOR
Richard Jackson, artist

ART WORLD AND ART INDUSTRY
Robert Shapazian, former director, Gagosian Gallery

SOMETHING ABOUT ENERGY
Sylvie Fleury, artist

EVOLUZIONE for MSA^
evoluzione is a project of 1+1=3 by Maurizio Altieri, Ito Yoko and Eliza Flanagan

This fucked-up version of the classic eames stacking chair is the first of a series of objects designed by members of MSA^ for the school