KPF has been the flagship of the Kossak Program since the spring of 2011. Undergraduate art majors studying painting compete for a $1000 grant and a program to mentor their advancement. In the Spring of 2012, the Tuesdays at 10 series was started, inviting a roster of significant visiting artists to Hunter on a weekly basis. Kossak Painting Fellows participate in these critiques throughout the semester. Those who are simultaneously in the BFA regard the KPF program as integral to their BFA experience. Students are eligible for selection three times, with each semester requiring a new application. The Kossak Committee votes on the selection of painting students who will receive the grant, each semester’s group a mix of initial grants and renewals. Since the Fall of 2014, the sessions have been videotaped, with the artists involved having approval over any compression made from the footage. Approved videos are posted at this site. The list of visiting artists in the series represents the widest stylistic diversity in contemporary painting as it is now practiced, bringing a range of commentary that a resident faculty could not encompass. By looking into the work of those invited and hearing from them in person, students get a picture of the medium that opens up new possibilities and exposes them to the highest standards. Over the last seven years, there have been 144 sessions. Here is the list of KPF Visiting Artists, several of whom have returned:
Johnny Mullen, Judith Linhares, Jules de Balincourt, Joanne Greenbaum, Gary Stephan, Carrie Moyer, Terry Winters, Bill Komoski, David Humphrey, Rashid Johnson, Dana Schutz, Katherine Bernhardt, Ellen Altfest, Wayne Gonzales, Charline Von Heyl, Jacqueline Humphries, Wendy White, Manuel Ocampo, Bill Saylor, Rosy Keyser, Carroll Dunham, Garth Weiser, James Hyde, Dike Blair, Elliott Green, Joe Bradley, Stephen Westfall, Rochelle Feinstein, Ron Gorchov, Dennis Kardon, Elena Sisto, Keltie Ferris, Rita Ackermann, Rob Storr, Polly Apfelbaum, Nolan Hendrickson, Lucy McKenzie, Angelo Filomeno, Stephen Ellis, Jenny Snider, Diana Cooper, James Sienna, Alexi Worth, Melissa Meyer, Anoka Faruqee, Tom Sanford, Glenn Goldberg, Katherine Bradford, Wyatt Kahn, Ellen Berkenblit, Mike Cloud, Lauren Luloff, Tatiana Berg, Ross Bleckner, Robin Winters, Helen Mirra, Inka Essenhigh, Steve Dibenedetto, Sharon Horvath, Joan Snyder, Peter Saul, Borden Capalino, Fred Wilson, Anna Betbeze, Paul Resika, Joe Fyfe, Guy Goodwin, Julia Fish, Carolee Schneemann, Lydia Dona, Suzanne Joelson, Lisa Yuskavage, Fabian Marcaccio, Laylah Ali, Peter Acheson, EJ Hauser, Julie Heffernan, Daniel Heidkamp, Amelia Saddington, Cynthia Daignault, Daniel Hesidence, Angela Dufresne, Joan Semmel, Richard Kalina, Cullen Washington Jr, Peter Schjeldahl, Brenda Goodman, Chuck Webster, David Reed, Jennifer Packer, Clintel Steed, Doron Langberg, Mary Heilmann, Yevgenia Baras, Esther Kläs, Sarah Walker, Alexander Iskin, Trenton Doyle Hancock, R H Quaytman, Paulina Olowska, Hillary Harkness, Ann McCoy, Judith Bernstein, Louise Fishman, Michelle Segre, Henning Strassburger, Oliver Herring, Sarah Faux, Mark Greenwold, Suzanne McClelland, Jenny Monick, Sigrid Sandström, Guy Richards Smit, Patricia Treib, Michael Berryhill, Heidi Hahn, Charles Spurrier, Ryan Sullivan, David Diao, Yoyo Friedrich, Clarity Haynes and David Humphrey.
The sessions are hybrids of interview and crit. The student work installed for each occasion includes both the KPF core undergraduates and MFA painters selected by lottery from those interested. The sessions begin with a conversation between the program’s director, Drew Beattie and the visiting artists, before shifting into a touring crit of the works installed. It’s a, rich two hours, from 10:00 to 12:00 on most Tuesday mornings of the semester. The testimonies of the visiting artists have been transformative for the students, becoming school that’s not “school.” The informal format of the sessions allows for more effective and influential interaction between students and visitors than the usual artist lecture can accomplish. The artists are present without the separation of a podium, in live discussion and debate with the students, taking the potential of their work quite seriously. These experiences have had a major impact on what the undergraduate students think they can become. Several of these KPF students have been admitted to leading MFA programs, many offered full scholarships. Those schools include Yale, UCLA and VCU in this country and The Royal College of Art, Slade School of Fine Art and The Glasgow School of Art in The United Kingdom. A few have already begun careers as exhibiting painters.