<p>Hey, everyone, </p>
<p>I plan on being an English and Fine Arts double major at Amherst, and Amherst has a decent art program, but I hear that Smith is stronger in that field. So I'd like to possibly take advantage of the 5-college consortium and take some Smith art classes, but could anyone tell me a bit more about Smith's art? </p>
<p>Thank you for your help. :)</p>
<p>Allure, you've just found one good reason for Amherst over Swat. Don't know about the $$$ end of things though.</p>
<p>I was at a presentation by the chairman of the Art department. He was so persuasive and enthusiastic that <em>I</em> wanted to take classes in the department. Don't know about specifics of any classes.</p>
<p>Thanks, TheDad. At first (back in the first week of April when I was going back and forth between Swat-herst), I assumed that Swat would have a better art program. Just from hearsay. And Philadelphia. </p>
<p>But at the Amherst reception I attended on April 11th, some alumni told me that Amherst profs are tops in their field in any given department. Mass MoCA and NoHo were also recommended to me as artsy places. </p>
<p>A salutatorian a couple years back went to Smith. She was very artsy and musical.</p>
<p>I haven't taken any art classes so far at Smith, but I know that the art history department is very highly regarded (studio is good too, but a bit less so). <a href="http://www.smith.edu/art%5B/url%5D">www.smith.edu/art</a> has links to info about faculty and course catalogues.</p>
<p>Smith's art museum and library are both very new and amazing! And there are arts-related classes in lots of fields at Smith, such as Landscape Studies (ties in nicely with architecture) and American Studies (a friend of mine is in a material culture in colonial america seminar, where they look at craft). There was even a cross-listed art and chemistry class about the science of art conservation.</p>
<p>stacy - just curious, how is their studio art "less so"?</p>
<p>Well according to some art major critics, the studio professors don't have standards as high as those in real art schools like RISD and Pratt. Essentially, they make sure everyone passes, even though without talent. The final portfolio is really determined by your efforts, not by your talents or abilities. Which annoys me and why I choose to have my portfolio graded S/U. Why should I get a lower letter grade next to someone who isn't as talented as I am and art isn't of high quality as mine? So essentially, the person next to me could fail at Pratt and I'd be lucky to pass.</p>
<p>But the facilities are just incredible- so much better than my high school's. Clearly, Smith put in a lot of money into this.</p>
<p>Hmm, yeah, I do see how the leniency could be irritating. It makes it sound like high school: A for effort.</p>
<p>What does S/U stand for?</p>
<p>Also, how much artistic development have you seen in yourself since you started with the Smith profs? I assume you must be very good already. I just wanted to know how far I'll be pushed and challenged, that kind of thing.</p>
<p>S/U = Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory</p>
<p>Often used by students to stretch themselves academically without necessarily risking their GPA...think of an Arts major taking math-intensive Physics or something like that.</p>
<p>allure, it sounds as though you're more interested in studio art at Smith, which I don't know anything about, but I can rave about the museum. On one of those visiting days for prospectives, I spent a whole morning in the museum instead of going to the scheduled programs for parents because I got totally seduced by the range of the collection and the choice of works representing individual artists. I found myself being continually surprised by paintings done by artists I thought I knew, e.g., a French landscape by Gauguin (rather than the more familiar images of Tahiti). There is a Monet that is a dead ringer for a famous painting at the MFA in Boston (I was fairly stunned that a small college museum would have such an important work and had to look twice to make sure it wasn't the MFA's version). But my favorite painting in the whole collection is a monumental portrait (think Sargent) of an African-American woman caught in the act of lighting a cigarette just when the match bursts into flame -- an amazing painting by an artist I had never even heard of -- Alfred Kappes.</p>
<p>So even if you don't take any studio classes at Smith (it IS hard to juggle the logistics of travel within the 5-college area with the rest of your coursework), you've got to go spend some time in their museum.</p>
<p>My daughter has been taking the introductory art history class on the western tradition this semester and has been very impressed. Unfortunately, though, it's nearly the end of the term and they have yet to break through to the 19th century!</p>
<p>yes! the museum is wicked cool...if you go check out the bathrooms-- seriously--everything is handpainted, and I mean everything. Its a work of art all on its own.</p>
<p>Yes, I'm already "very good" but I have been pushed at times to improve. I can see improvements in my weaker areas (pen and ink, colored chalk, proportion) over the semester. Not so much when it came to areas I was already familiar with such as self-portraits and perspective. We'll see how my final review goes. I am very glad for the studio experience.</p>
<p>But I have seen amazing improvements in other people. My prof was very good- he just knew how to push my buttons I just needed to find the time to complete my projects!</p>
<p>Art homework can be lonnngggg (yawn). Just a forewarning :)</p>
<p>TMP, from what I can tell, <em>all</em> homework can be lonng. D hasn't pulled an all-nighter yet but getting to bed at 5:30am is pretty close. And what's scary is that she isn't a procrastinator.</p>
<p>Ooh, thanks. Smith sounds really awesome. Can't wait to see improvements in myself. I'll definitely check out all the museums in the area, including the bathrooms too, haha.</p>
<p>How hard is it to juggle the logistics of traveling back and forth? Will it be too time consuming and inconvenient?</p>
<p>Allure, the travel inconvenience depends on your schedule as a whole. Too many variables to give you a set answer. If you have no classes TTh afternoons at Smith and there's one you want to take TTh afternoons at Amherst...no problem. If you have only an hour window between the end of a Smith class and the beginning of an Amherst class and then you have stuff scheduled at Smith afterwards...it's dicey.</p>
<p>Allure - here's a crosspost from another thread, on art at Smith:</p>
<p>We did some research when we were looking at LACs, and so here's the little we found out. Smith has the largest studio art faculty (16) of any LAC we could find in the country (most seem to have 5 or 6; though at the women's colleges, they tend to be larger; at Wellesley, it is 12 as I remember; Williams has 12; Brown, which has a much larger student body, has the same number as Smith.) They also have an excellent new studio arts facility.</p>
<p>However, like virtually all liberal arts colleges these days (and it is even worse at the Ivies, which tend to be less rich in the way of facilities), studio art courses for non-majors or minors are well over-subscribed. Many take these courses as "stress relievers'" (as per Ticklemepink above), or as adjuncts to a more demanding schedule. The profs in those beginning courses know this, and tend to respond to students accordingly.</p>
<p>Depending on section or selection process, some of the courses, even for non-majors, are very demanding. I met students from the beginning "architectural drawing" class and they said it required a huge number of hours (and they all seemed to love it.) And the studio art major and minor is equally demanding. So it kind of depends what one is looking for, and how you communicate your needs (and experience) to the art department.</p>