<p>Hello- my daughter is a junior this year in high school and we are beginning our college search. She does very well academically and has strengths in math, science and visual and performing arts. She would like to apply to schools with both a strong academic reputation and great visual/performing arts programs. We would appreciate some perspective on Wesleyan's art departments and programs. Thank you.</p>
<p>Not sure if this is what you are talking about but my friend’s daughter majored in art at Wes (art history) then went to Columbia for her PhD in Art-I think full ride</p>
<p>Among elite New England colleges, Wesleyan pioneered in making sure the performing arts had an equal place in the traditional curriculum along with science, social science and the humanities. It was one of the first major American universities to offer tenure track positions to master instrumentalists and other performers from around the world; its Ethnomusicology doctoral degree is one of the five or six strongest in the country.</p>
<p>Similarly, its Film Dept is an offshoot of a decades long collaboration between its English, Theater and American Studies departments, producing movers and shakers in the world of popular culture to a degree that is unique for such a small college. Even a short list of Wesleyan alumni who have graduated over the last thirty years would include the rock group MGMT, producer-director, Michael Bay, television innovator, Joss Whedon, and Emmy Award winning creator-writer of "“Mad Men”, Matthew Weiner.</p>
<p>In 1969, Wesleyan unveiled plans for an unprecedented extension of the campus via an arts complex of enormous polish and and urbanity designed by one of the world’s most innovative modern architects: [A</a> Way of Saying “Here I Am”: Perspecta 40 Interviews Kevin Roche - Archinect](<a href=“A Way of Saying "Here I Am": Perspecta 40 Interviews Kevin Roche | Features | Archinect”>A Way of Saying "Here I Am": Perspecta 40 Interviews Kevin Roche | Features | Archinect). The result was the eleven-building Center for the Arts (CFA), a campus in itself of limestone “temples”, some no more than the size of a tomb. Each building is devoted to a separate art yet unified by its construction material consisting of large limestone blocks placed on top of the other without steel or concrete framing. For this reason, the CFA was once included in a seminar on Greek Revival architecture on the Wesleyan campus: <a href=“http://www.wesleyan.edu/event2002/weseminars/ws14.html[/url]”>http://www.wesleyan.edu/event2002/weseminars/ws14.html</a></p>
<p>Wesleyan’s studio art program is extraordinary, especially for a liberal arts college. My daughter majored in art and received highly personalized attention. There is quite a bit of collaboration amongst fellow art majors and many opportunities to minor or integrate one’s work with other disciplines at the school (i.e. psychology, anthropology, math). The major is relatively small (about 25-30 students per year) and all students are required to do an honor’s thesis exhibition in sculpture, painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, architecture or typography where they show their work in a professional setting at the Zilkha Gallery. The joke was that this was the best gallery space the students will see their work in for many years to come! Wesleyan is one of the few liberal arts colleges to offer architecture and typography which are typically only offered at specialized art schools. Because the department is small, there is only one professor per art genre which can be difficult if the student does not resonate with that particular teacher’s style. But for the most part, students seem quite flexible and multi-media, conceptual work is encouraged. Some notable visual arts alum from Wesleyan include Rachel Harrison, Jeffrey Deitch, Liz Magic Laser and Glenn Ligon.</p>
<p>…and your D in few years. my kid in my dream.</p>