@LeastComplicated Yes, the hardest part of making the transition from high school to college was that the pool of talent is much wider and deeper. My Ds auditioned or had a portfolio review to get into their respective programs. While they both were accepted, once in their program, they had to deal with not being the most talented. Everyone was the lead in their high school musicals or the top artists in their high school.
So it was no longer about having talent or being the best. Studying art or music in college is about developing your own voice, your own style and type. It’s about being receptive to critism from professionals without taking it as a personal affront. But it is not an easy process.
Not sure if it is possible at her LAC, but at many you can design your own major if none of the existing ones do the trick for you. It takes some work, but maybe this is something to explore.
She can incorporate her artistic skills into any profession she wants WITHOUT studying arts in college. Also, artistically gifted kids shouldn’t be forced to take it as a profession. She has as much right to do something she deems meaningful as kids without artistic talents.
Since I obviously failed to make my question clear - that I wasn’t looking for ways to “force” her to major in art, or do art as a career - but rather looking for ideas where she could “incorporate” her artistic talents into whatever career/major she chooses - I would like to request that no more comments be posted.
I will re-iterate again, that SHE ASKED for my advice, in a conversation where she stated she was disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to fit in an art class next semester, and also talked about how she loved working on a recent visual presentation for one of her classes and that that was the type of hands-on work that she would love to do. So for the millionth time - I’m not forcing her to do anything or making choices for her.
Thanks again to everyone who offered their helpful advice. I passed a few of them along to her and she appreciated the information.
@LeastComplicated --I totally get it. My kid wanted to do art and I had no idea where that would lead her and in your situation your kid is good at art but she doesn’t know where she would go with it. Two sides of the coin.
My first reaction to your initial career question was like others–marketing and graphic design. Industrial design.
With enough diversity of courses you maybe can get a job in those fields without having “the degree” spelled out. A lot of this can be “self taught” to some degree.
And most people think art is “self-taught”. Some is. Some or most isn’t. .
Question–don’t shoot me!-- But it’s important. Has your D had outside art training of any kind? Community classes, a pre-college experience, figure drawing at community college, HS art classes, AP art? Any of those?
If she did, what was the result?
You say she doesn’t have confidence that her talent could get her a job. She wants to take art class (of some kind) so she has great interest apparently. Has she taken prior art classes that have tested and increased her skills?
As parent of an artist I will say that classes are extremely important.
It is not just raw talent–it’s trained talent that makes the difference.
My D’s skills exploded in a very short time with good training during a pre-college experience of 4 short weeks. . It was night and day for skill set and very important not only skill-wise but for confidence building also. It also built MY confidence that it was the best path for her.
Lastly…it may well be that your D is at the wrong school to obtain her goals artistic or not. It’s just a fact that life gives you some adventurous roundabouts that you weren’t expecting.
Choosing a college always is THE choice in “life hoops” and “end all, be all” in so many scenarios. But it’s not.
There may be jobs in publishing. Like magazines have art directors. Although I’m not sure I’d send my kid down a magazine publishing career path at the moment…
Yes, my daughter has taken art in school from the time she was in elementary school. She went to a magnet school for the arts in elementary, where she was in the gifted and talented program for creativity. She won a city wide PTA art contest in 2nd grade (500,000 population). It wasn’t the work of a child prodigy, but the evaluators noted that they had rarely seen such detail in a 2nd grader. She got a student of the year award in art at a large middle school. She was the first student to ever design the yearbook cover at her middle school. She took regular and AP Art in high school and got the AP Art Award at her school’s academic award ceremony. So she’s been recognized for her talent since she was very young.
That being said, I don’t think any of her art classes were taught by a top notch instructor, but she has used a wide variety of media and has been required to do assignments in lots of different styles. I do agree that she could definitely benefit from good instruction and training that challenges her. She also hasn’t had much training or experience in any type of computer graphic applications like Photoshop or Illustrator, which I think is pretty important in today’s job market.
I also agree with the posters who commented that there are many fields other than pure art where artistic talent is a bonus. She’s a bright kid going to a pretty selective school and she has the potential to do well in a variety of fields. I think that may be why she doesn’t want to major in art - because why would someone with the academic credentials to get into her school major in art?
I do think she has time to figure it out. She seems to have relaxed a bit since I started the thread, so I think she’s feeling better about things. She told me that she has managed to fit in the art class after all - and will see how she feels after she takes it and has a chance to talk to some art faculty.
@LeastComplicated --Best of luck to your daughter. She’s obviously multi-talented and will land on her feet no matter what she decides to do!
Here’s what I do know…
Art kids live and breathe art and aren’t truly happy unless immersed in it.
You can make a living doing art.
A business mind is a huge plus. Necessary. Art plus math can equal gold.
My kid did art (like yours) since pre-school It was an eye-opener for me when I saw what real training could do for her skills.
Like you I would want my D to develop her talents to the fullest especially since she wants to!
Your D may not be in the best environment to stretch and explore her talents. It may well be that the school does not have the majors, classes, etc that she needs to obtain her goals. Leave that option open. as a good choice.
The good thing about going to a good school is that your daughter will gain the prestige bonus regardless of her choice of major. NYU, while not ivy caliber, has an excellent reputation in the arts and has a good reputation for academics overall.
When my older D with a BM degree applied for her MBA, she said having a degree from NYU absolutely helped. People definitely took her more seriously knowing she was an NYU grad. While many schools found her music background interesting, I don’t think she’d have gotten the acceptances and scholarships she did if she went to a lower ranked school with less prestige. They felt her classes, regardless of subject, met a certain benchmark.
So I’d rest assured that regardless of her major, your D will benefit from any degree she chooses from a well regarded school.
There are many art schools that also carry prestige. Some liberal arts schools, however selective, will not offer courses that are sufficiently challenging (or inspiring) for a kid who already has some skills along with talent.
I think that detaching studies from career concerns for undergrad years can really clarify things. It is a wonderful thing to spend 4 years focusing on what you love and any young person is lucky to love doing something in the first place
@compmom I totally agree that the prestige factor enters into how people perceive certain art schools and music conservatories, too.
I was reacting to the statement that the OP’s D may be grappling with the thought that she is in a very selective academic program and that others would question why she would study art in that setting. She may be concerned that it could effect how she would be perceived by others—leading them to believe that she wasn’t as academically inclined and / or wasn’t taking advantage of more prestigious offerings.
@LeastComplicated Another thing to consider though. Your D may be surprised at how academic studio art classes can be. D’s studio art classes at NYU had tons of readings assigned by professors. They touched upon many philosophical, sociological and historical topics. There was no shortage of academics. And this is in addition to art history and theory classes. I would say that if anything, several students switched majors because they found studio art MORE academic than they anticipated.
uskoolfish I think you answered your first issue (perception of studying art as somehow inferior academically) with your second ( liberal arts colleges’ art classes are more academic and quite rigorous).
But that second idea also explains why a kid who wants to do hands on applied art might prefer an art school versus a liberal arts college.
I do want to say there are exceptions of course, liberal arts colleges that do indeed have wonderful applied art. (As an aside, even Harvard has tried to increase applied music, art, theater, film etc. by giving credit for performance or creation of works and offering more opportunities for hands on work.) There is a great book entitled “Creative Colleges” that attempts to give an assessment of various artistic disciplines at all kinds of schools.
But in general a BA will have far fewer classes in an art major (1/4-1/3 versus 2/3-3/4 for art school) and have a more theoretical/historical focus. And some applied art classes will include total beginners so if a student is experienced, there may be frustrations.
Has your D ever explored anthropology/forensic science? Medical illustration? Criminal Justice?
There are people who reconstruct crime scenes for a living- they need a strong grounding in spatial relations, photography, sculpture. There are people who examine bones for a living and reconstruct what the person looked like (to help identify homicide victims). There are people who are experts in art valuation who work with Interpol, the FBI, CIA helping to track international money laundering via fine art transactions. There was an entire team assigned to the case of Imelda Marcos trying to trace her assets (held around the world), many of which were works of art, valuable antique jewelry, etc.
Again- dozens of careers which a person with an artistic bent might be interested in.
@compmom My daughter’s degree was a BFA degree in studio art and it was a portfolio-based program. Admission to NYU’s talent based programs is 50% portfolio or audition and 50% academics. But if a student does not pass the talent portion, their application isn’t considered further, despite their academic achievements. But they do want a student body that can take rigorous academic classes, whether within the art major or in other required/ elective areas. She had to fulfill 86 credits in her studio art major–with a majority of the classes applied art/ studio work. But even in those classes, there were assigned readings and class discussions related to those sources. The other 42 credits were in liberal arts and included requirements like foreign language, English, science, math, etc. My D was also accepted into Pratt, but chose NYU because of the academics she would get in addition to studio work.
It’s true that the art classes in a liberal arts college without a talent component for admission may be taught to accommodate beginners…but I think that depends on the program and faculty. In my daughter’s experience, students in the same class will work at different levels based on their skill set and experience. In her program she was expected to explore medium that were outside of her usual experience, so there was always a range of skill even among BFA students.
