Read Maria Porges's faculty bio »

I did not take a conventional path to working in academia. Since the mid-80s, I have pursued dual practices as art writer/critic and exhibiting artist, but I also ran a craft-based business producing hand-painted tile for a decade and even spent some time deeply involved in the Bay Area poetry scene.

Background & Influences

As many artists do, I was also a visiting artist, “teaching around” the Bay Area -- a class here and a seminar there, at UC Berkeley, Stanford, and the San Francisco Art Institute, among other schools -- but eventually chose to focus my energies in the graduate program here at CCA.

Having been self-employed for much of my adult life has given me a sense of what kind of tools might best equip young artists to succeed in a variety of career paths, from making and selling work to teaching to public art projects.

There are many different kinds of opportunities out there, both in the art world and in the world at large, and I feel strongly that CCA’s MFA curriculum encourages and fosters the resilience and resourcefulness that will make it possible for our graduates to not only find those opportunities, but also to seize them successfully.