1~2 gap years During high school for non-academic fine art program?

Parents Forum
21

If after her HS year she’s still thinking about doing the gap year,
I would strongly recommend that you not seek a school based on a particular location or language,
rather you should focus your research on seeking a particular teacher and/or mentor for her.

Art is subjective. Technical skills can be taught by anyone, but for true assistance to her vision, I would hope that she gets to work with a known talent that she either admires or has been influential.
Too many art schools (including the infamous pay-for-play San Francisco Academy of Art University, who attract a large percentage of its students from abroad) hire local artist who are out of work, or trying to supplement their own work. Frequently the instructors are there for a year or less. There’s no way to tell if the instruction will be what’s she’s hoping for, if you haven’t screened for their ongoing staff/departmental offerings.

22

She may find it challenging to step back into high school coursework and perform at a high level after a long break from it. Math skills get rusty, for example. Colleges might be interested in her experience, but her grades & test scores will still be judged against her peers. I don’t see why she doesn’t take a gap year after HS to do this instead of doing it at this age.

23

Based on her past catching-ups after months-long breaks from academics, I really don’t worry. She has taken AP level Art History, English Composition, US History, Psychology, Physics and Honors level Biology and Chemistry at local community colleges by 8th grade, and aced them except a B in Physics. She will be really fine academically. She can already score pretty high on SAT English. She needs more math… but will have enough by the time, even if she gets rusty after a long break. Although barely, she tested out of algebra II at her college last year to take the Physics class.

Gap year after high school is an option too. But then it will be after deciding her college path. I am hoping that the experience will help her future planning, and incidentally help her in college admissions if possible.

24

If she takes the gap year(s) during high school, her friends will graduate without her. It would definitely impact her socially.

25

IMHO there is a lot of putting of the cart before the horse here.

Why not let her jump into her new school with both feet without already encouraging her to look for the exit sign?

Why not support her academic and artistic interests without ALWAYS going back to “incidentally help her in college admissions if possible?” In YOUR head, she will have done something cool and independent and mold-breaking, backed up by significant talent. Her application might get read by someone who agrees with you. Or it might get read by someone who sees Barcelona immersion, boarding school, give me a break- yet another “I’m so passionate and my parents made it happen for me”.

You just don’t know.

So let it go, let her jump in without planning for contingency plan A, leaving midway but coming back plan B, etc. You may be enabling her with all this talk of a gap year- providing her with a reason NOT to fully invest herself in the coming experience, make friends, be a HS kid. Is that what you want???

I’d be telling my kid, “no discussions of Barcelona until you are done with exams in June. Ok?”

But that’s me. My kids didn’t get to do foreign study programs in HS… but we modeled for them how to bloom where they get planted, and that seems to have been a valuable life lesson.

26

@blossom, “Why not let her jump into her new school with both feet without already encouraging her to look for the exit sign?”

I agree. At this point, it is my preliminary research period. I have given the Summer option and but held the gap year idea back for the reason. I just want to be ready to give her adequate advises if she likes it so much that she changes her future plans then.

I think choosing to continue with the atelier and foregoing college and academics is a good life plan too and will support it. But I also want to have a backup researched if she wants to returns to academics from atelier.

I have a big folder of other plans that I have researched but became unnecessarily so I haven’t presented to her. I want to know these things because I want to. It’s my hobby.

And I will keep your other advises in mind as well.

27

@MotherOfDragons advice about having her working with a personal mentor rather than a “program” is right-on.

If DD is going to be a working artist, she will have to build an “artistic family” of teachers, colleagues, galleries, etc. If her formative training is in Europe, then her first network will also be in Europe.

It’s not all about “who you know.” Talent plays a greater role. But being part of an artistic community will be very important to her someday. Her teachers and where she studies (the city, the school, etc) will be where she first enters those networks. Certainly avoid the places where the websites won’t list the teachers’ last names!

28

I wasn’t aware that students could take gap years in high school. In NYS parents have to either submit a letter of intent to homeschool, enroll their kids in the local public school, or send them to private school. Students can formally withdraw at the end of the (school) year they turn 16, but parents can’t pull them out before then.

29

Well one of mine skipped senior year of high school and got her GED, while doing a performing art at a professional level. She also, a year later, got a diploma through an online school. She missed most of junior year too, but kept up with her work at school. Senior year she didn’t go at all. All I can say is that college admissions officers found her interesting. That’s when one of them said “we love outliers.”

She had some learning challenges and hated school every year of it, every day. But if I had it to do over again I would have found another school for her. (There was a reason we couldn’t move or do school choice, a long story). Hindsight informs my advice to you!

That said, I know a viola player who is in a well-known quartet who told us she didn’t go to high school at all so she could focus on what she loved- music.

So it really depends.

30

I strongly believe that it is healthy to be ordinary in high school :slight_smile: Very tough row to hoe if you are exceptionally talented when young. I would just say 1) be careful and 2) life is long

31

@SculptorDad, I sincerely don’t understand the point of this thread. You have a very strong point of view about what YOU want for your child, and you don’t seem open to the perspectives of other posters.

Is there a real question here? Or are you asking for confirmation that your plan will gain an edge in college applications?

32

hey SculptorDad, i can’t add any advice to this as it’s all way out of my realm, but on a very side tagent — i do know a kid who’s received national recognition for an art portfolio and pieces through the Scholastic Art & Writing program. She is amazingly talented; and national recognition was sweet validation of her work. It was all through her US high school. Certainly not the same as a gap year; but perhaps a nice plug on a resume.

33

@eastcoascrazy , The question is to what extent an art focused gap year(s) at an atelier after 10th or 11th will help prestigious college admission with non-art major. I thought it was more than asking for confirmation. I only have a vague idea that it might give an edge, and wasn’t even sure that.

@bgbg4us, Thanks I heard that national medals are very prestigious!. Daughter got a few regional gold keys last year. Hopefully she will get a national medal in the future.

34

@AroundHere, “If her formative training is in Europe, then her first network will also be in Europe”

That’s how I want it to be. I am not too happy with how fine artists are appreciated here.
The places we are looking into list all the teacher’s bio and works, which are impressive. I would say more impressive than many U.S. teachers who don’t seem to do too much of their own art making, or teaching outside of their specialty medium.

@austinmshauri daughter has Certificate of Proficiency from California, it’s like GED, except that I have to elect to graduate her earlier, which I haven’t. Practically that means she can get state issued high school diploma at will, without further schooling.

@compmom, Glad to hear that. I sometimes worry if they won’t like someone is “too much” of an outlier. Thanks for your advises again.

35

“The question is to what extent an art focused gap year(s) at an atelier after 10th or 11th will help prestigious college admission with non-art major”

Forgive me if I don’t know the background, but from all I’ve heard about your D, she lives/breathes/eats/sleeps art - and she’s very talented at it too. Given that, why on earth wouldn’t she be an art major? I know nothing about what are the right/best schools for art, but it would seem to me that going after a “prestigious (mainstream) college” for a non-art major kind of goes against everything she authentically is.

36

Sounds like a more valuable way to spend a year than the typical sophomore drill, if you ask me. Let college take care of itself.

37

“Glad to hear that. I sometimes worry if they won’t like someone is “too much” of an outlier. Thanks for your advises again.”

I think this is the core of your problem. Your evaluation is predicated too much on what college adcoms might think. They are not the gatekeepers to her future in the way you think they are.

38

@Pizzagirl, “why on earth wouldn’t she be an art major?”

She first discussed about her future career as a full-time artist when she was 7. She already demonstrated passion with hundreds of paintings and hundreds of sculptures. She was especially talented in sculpting from early age, both skills and ideas, and has loved taking community college art courses for 5 semesters.

The unexpected negative effect of taking community college art courses, as well as exhibiting on college/adult level, was that she got to meet and talk to many adults - professional artists, professors, artists with a day job, art students, etc. Through meeting with them and searching online, she has formed a very realistic career expectation as a professional artist who doesn’t want 1. make any commercial art, 2. teach art, 3. or sell original art pieces. Combined with family finance, it wasn’t satisfactory to her.

Another thing she figured out after taking 10 college art courses and meeting lifelong artists is that she does NOT need BFA/MFA degree unless she wants to do above #1, #2 or #3. She is free to continue her own art, with other artists and her ceramics professor whom she took 6 courses from, and is her mentor.

Lastly, she got very interested in science and politics in recent two years. She feels the vast life experience she can have outside of the artist world. Her Saturdays art classmates with daytime job - business, engineering, physician, etc - seemed content with their choices. Unlike arts that she wants, those daytime jobs require a college degree, preferably from a prestigious college. Luckily she has good academic talent too. Since she has only one chance at traditional college->internship->good employment route, she wants to take it unless there is a better alternative.

I asked her the question you are asking. Her answer was that I shouldn’t take her declaration made when she was too young at 7 as face value, and she now doesn’t want to limit herself as an artist only.

She is still considering majoring art, but in this case an atelier that focuses 100% on traditional art, versus a U.S. program that divides focus into teaching art and general education. That’s where the atelier at Barcelona (or other ateliers) comes. If she trys that for a year while in high school, it will give her better idea on her future planning - go back to non-art academics, continue atelier, or go to an art college after all.

39

I still think this is providing nice cover for your D NOT to invest in the upcoming academic year. You claim that you are just doing preliminary research for you- nothing’s been shared with your D- but she sure seems to weighing LOTS of different future things right now when her focus should be on being a HS kid.

She can love making art and studying art and being with artists without deciding that she in fact wants to be an artist. And the “preferably from a prestigious college” is what’s tripping you up.

Let her jump into HS. IF she gives it her all and hates it, that’s the time to be exploring gap years, break years, unconventional schooling. IF she gives it her all and loves it- great. Something to weigh- be a HS kid for four consecutive years or not. But for her NOT to give it her all because in the back of her head you are sending her to an atelier (sure sounds like more fun than HS)- what have you learned?

I honestly don’t see what a year in Spain or the other ateliers give her UNLESS she is affirmatively going to pursue art in college (and professionally but that’s a different decision). Yes, she’ll be fluent in Spanish.

Why not dial this “research” (which isn’t feeling like research at all by the way) back until next June once she’s got finals under her belt??? With her not absorbing every thing that isn’t 100% perfect in HS with a “oh well, I’m checking out for Spain after two years anyway?” She needs to grow from the good AND the bad about HS.

40

@blossom, thanks for lots of good points. I plan to hold this research for now after this tread is done.

The high school was her idea and she has lots of hopes and plans for social aspect of it. She will fully invest even if she is schedule to leave in a year for sure. Academically, I think her mom’s gene compels her to work hard to excel no matter what.