“Help, I need some body. Help, not just anybody…..” Beatles

“Help, I need some body, Help, not just anybody…..” Beatles

Help. Everything is going great for my packages. My letters of reference are peers and mentors that I respect greatly whose experience and current work are relative. My portfolio contains a diverse and strong body of work. My resume and CV are current and clean. And my website is acting as a great storefront.

But my letters of intent are proving to be more troublesome than anticipated. If I were writing a letter for a Master’s in Fine Art (MFA) the process would be relatively natural and easy. My peers in undergraduate were mostly MFA students and I worked closely with and showed at the same galleries, and critiqued the same work.

However, when writing my letters of intent of MLA, the content is not the problem, it’s the process of editing down the excess, and exemplifying the appropriate material to demonstrate my sincere intent in the school, program, and career. Does my resume and CV demonstrate my capacity as a designer and fine artist, or do I need reiterate these.

• Do I use the building of our family’s greenhouse as my hook paragraph? Because I’m very interested in combining Landscape architecture with greenhouse and residential and commercial spaces.

• Do talk about the font I designed for my BFA thesis. The research was tremendous, and studio man-hours are unfathomable.

• Do I try and work in my experiences in the coastguard doing heavy weather search and rescue and how it has shaped me as a person? I stopped mentioning being veteran during interviews for design positions. I usually would just get a blank stare from the designer, lol.

• Do I this, or that, or this……..
As you can see I’m suffering from paralysis through analysis. Okay, so I’ve identified the ailment, SNAKE OIL anybody? Anybody?

Kidney Pool

Resolved issues

When your truly sincere to the design process it can quite exhausting. A flash of clarity occurred to me with my latest design and it's a very relieving. Producing the concept has always been the easiest for me (workaholic). I can't wait to start posting my sketches and let of you in to ideas. Stay tuned

2008 National Clean Energy Summit

Tonight our former Commander in Chief Bill Clinton kicked off the National Clean Energy Summit here in Las Vegas, NV. I never take for granted the opportunities that our city offers us as far as conventions and invited speakers. Just as I suspected tonight was no disappointment.

President Clinton had several suggestions for National and Global clean energy solutions, but perhaps the intriguing and pertaining to us locals is his challenge for the Silver State of Nevada to become the first self sustaining energy state.

The biggest challenge that Clinton proposed was convincing the populace and spend the appropriate money to build huge wind and solar farms that natural landscapes can provide.

Another significant cost would be to restructure (overhaul) our current electricity grid system. He spoke frequently of couplers and how California has taken advantage of using couplers. I have an idea as to what he means but I'm not positive. Perhaps at tomorrows summit people will expand upon this.

This summit is perfect timing for my application process because energy is such an important concern for me.

Tomorrow, I will blog about the speakers. I did take a sneak peak at some of the booths set up and already I can tell it's going to be an educational and thought provoking day.

back to mac

I'm back on a Macintosh and I couldn't be happier. Just got done installing Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Google Earth, and SketchUp.

Too bad I can't install any AutoDesk programs. Perhaps, I'll break down and install XP or Vista or the Mac if I really have to. But I'd rather just buy a PC desktop when I get to Graduate school.

I got six binders setup up for the schools I'm applying to. I'll be adding all research to these folders.

I heard that Ohio State likes to work with clay models. That's good because I got a clay model in the works for my portfolio.

I have some ideas on where to start, but I must admit I'm a little hesitant to dive in. Call it Paralysis through Analysis if you will.

Masters in Landscape Architecture School pics

UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
http://www.usu.edu/laep
BLA Program
LR Spring 2005/NR Spring 2011
MLA Program
LR Spring 2005/NR Spring 2011
Michael Timmons, Acting Dept. Head
Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning
College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Utah State University
Logan, UT 84322-4005
(435) 797-0500
Fax: (435) 797-0503
michael.timmons@usu.edu

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
http://knowlton.osu.edu
BSLA Program
LR Spring 2003/NR Spring 2009
MLA Program
LR Spring 2004/NR Spring 2010
Laurel McSherry, Head
Section of Landscape Architecture
Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture
Ohio State University
275 West Woodruff Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210-1138
(614) 292-0081 Fax (614) 292-7106
georg.1@osu.edu


UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
http://www.landarch.uiuc.edu
BLA Program
LR Spring 2002/NR Spring 2008
MLA Program
LR Spring 2002/NR Spring 2008
James L. Wescoat, Jr., ASLA, Head
Gary B. Kesler, FASLA, Associate Head and Undergraduate Coordinator
Carol Emmerling, ASLA, Graduate Advisor
Department of Landscape Architecture
College of Fine and Applied Arts
University of Illinois
101 Buell Hall MC 620, 611 Taft Dr.
Champaign, IL 61820
(217) 333-0176 Fax (217) 244-4568
wescoat@uiuc.edu

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
http://www.caup.washington.edu/larch/Programs/graduate/mla.php
http://www.caup.washington.edu/larch/Admissions/admissions.php
http://www.caup.washington.edu/
HTML/LARCH/
BLA Program
LR Fall 2007/NR Fall 2013
MLA Program
LR Spring 2004/NR Spring 2010
Fritz Wagner, Chair
Department of Landscape Architecture
College of Architecture and Urban Planning
University of Washington
348 Gould Hall, Box 355734
Seattle, WA 98195-5734
(206) 543-9240 Fax(206) 685-4486
fwagner@u.washington.edu


STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
http://fla.esf.edu
BLA Program
LR Spring 2006/NR Spring 2012
MLA Program
LR Spring 2006/NR Spring 2012
Richard S. Hawks, FASLA, Chair
Robin E. Hoffman, BLA Curriculum Director
Emmanuel J. Carter, Jr., MLA Curriculum Director
Faculty of Landscape Architecture
State University of New York
College of Environmental Science and Forestry
1 Forestry Drive
Syracuse, NY 13210-2787
(315) 470-6544
(315) 470 6600 BLA Admissions
(315) 470-6599 MLA Admissions

KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY
http://capd.ksu.edu
BLA Program
LR Fall 2002/NR Fall 2008
MLA Program
LR Fall 2003/NR Fall 2009
Dan W. Donelin, FASLA, Head and MLA Program Director
Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and
Community Planning
College of Architecture, Planning and Design
Kansas State University
302 Seaton Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506-2909
(785) 532-5961 Fax (785) 532-6722
la-rcp@ksu.edu

http://www.clarb.org/

http://www.clarb.org/

Day 1 of MLA Masters in Landscape Architecture Blog

Today is my first entry in documenting my path to becoming a Landscape Architect or better yet the work I will need to do to get into Graduate school to achieve a MLA (Masters Landscape Architecture).
There is an incredible amount of work that I need to do. First, is putting together my portfolio. Since, I don't have a Bachelors Degree in Landscape Architecture, I could be at a slight disadvantage to my competitors. However, my BFA (Bachelor in Fine Arts) from UNLV Universty of Nevada Las Vegas can also help me to be very competitive in several different areas. I will be elaborating on more of those assets the farther along I am in putting together my packages, but for now I would say my ability to sketch, draw, illustrate, and paint are a very powerful skill set to have.
I anticipate the process of putting together my packages for schools will cumbersome, tedious, thought provoking, and rewarding.
I look forward to sharing my thoughts and experiences to prospective schools, fellow applicants, and peers.

http://www.michaeltodoran.com