<p>My neighbor's daughter is interested in majoring in art (sculpture, etc.) and possibly minor in business. However, she has changed her mind a number of times, so they want to pick a college that is broad enough in scope so she could switch to a non-art major later if she wanted to. Also, living in the Chicago suburbs, they want a college within a three hours drive of home. Also, only interested in a small, private college where she could get individualized attention. Any colleges that have a strong art program that fit this description?</p>
<p>I can't think of one that meets all of these criteria. First of all, most LACs don't offer business. The University of Iowa has a very good art program - and a B-school and it's probably 4 hours from Chicago. But it's not small. Knox College has both art and a busines minor, but I'm not sure how good either program is. Could be great...I just don't know. You might try Beloit and Lawrence. I have a daughter more or less in this same situation - and she's probably going to end up at a university - possibly Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa or Indiana. For art, Iowa would be best of these 4.</p>
<p>Here's one that fits the bill: Kalamazoo College. The son of family friends of ours graduated there in art a year ago. He got a fine education overall. K-college is well known for its international and study-abroad programs. It also offers a major in Economics and Business.</p>
<p>This kid, now living in Chicago, recently had his paintings featured in "New American Paintings," No. 53 (in fact his was also on the cover) and he seems to be on the way to getting a lot of national recognition (many galleries calling, he's been asked to design a CD cover, etc.).</p>
<p>Kalamazoo is about 2 and a half hours from Chicago and easy to find. Take I-94 east and you're there.</p>
<p>Here's a link the New American Paintings issue, which I just found online. The cover is one of his paintings. The color isn't quite right in this online image (I've seen the original painting).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.newamericanpaintings.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.newamericanpaintings.com/</a></p>
<p>While not a small college, Wash. U fits your requirements in every other way. The School of Art is relatively small, and students there receive lots of personalized attention. In general, Wash. U offers lots of curricular flexibility and a very friendly, stimulating environment. I think it may be about a 4 hour drive from Chicago - a bit longer than your neighbors mentioned, but still quite doable.</p>
<p>Lake Forest, Beloit, Marquette -- also Art Institute of Chicago for special classes.</p>
<p>You should take a look at Illinois Wesleyan.</p>
<p>Also try Bradley, Butler, Drake, Loras, Wittenberg, Augustana, UNIowa, Alma.</p>
<p>Kenyon has a good art studio department and is wonderful all around for liberal arts. I don't know if they offer business per se but they certainly have economics and other related fields.</p>
<p>People must be driving awfully fast to get to Kenyon, Lawrence, University of Iowa, or Washington U. in 3 hours.</p>
<p>Watch out for Smokey!</p>
<p>Lake Forest within three hours (possibly 20 minutes); Wash U and Kenyon if you use warp speed.</p>
<p>Good point, Mini. I know Kalamazoo is within the desired 3 hour driving distance (I've traversed that distance numerous times). I think Lawrence is on the outer edge of it if you really haul (ca. 180 mi), but I don't know about their art program (I do know about Kalamazoo, as I mentioned above). </p>
<p>St. Louis is more like 5 hours driving from Chicago. OTOH, Madison is less than 3 hours. But neither WashU nor UW meets the OP's small college criterion. Kenyon fits the small school criterion but would be a 6+ hour drive (ca. 375 mi). Faster by helicopter.</p>
<p>topcat, I would suggest that Iowa's art program may not be as good as Indiana's, at least according to my mother, who studied in both. She had wonderful training at Indiana, and found herself rather overqualified in grad school at Iowa, and at Iowa felt in general that the art school was not as good as it looked on paper. Just a thought. It's been a while since she was there-- ten years since Iowa and 20 since Indiana-- but still.
It's more like 5 hours from home, but Oberlin seems like a pretty near match. Also, perhaps Grinnell-- if nothing else, she could study painting with my aunt...</p>
<p>There are plenty of good art programs in the midwest.</p>
<ol>
<li>Univ of Indiana at Bloomington</li>
<li>Kansas Art Institute</li>
<li>School of Art Institute in Chicago</li>
<li>Minneapolis College of Art
<ol>
<li>I think Univ of Chicago also has a decent art program</li>
</ol></li>
<li>Cleveland institute of art ( five year program,with two years of foundation studies)</li>
</ol>
<p>However, the best art programs and schools are on the East and West coast. They are in no particular order:</p>
<ol>
<li>Rhode Island School of Design </li>
<li>Pratt Institute(NY)</li>
<li>School of Visual Arts in NY(NY)</li>
<li>Parsons College of Design(NY)</li>
<li>Ringling School of Art (Fla)
6.Cooper Union (NY) (and free tuition)</li>
<li>Monsarrat College of Art ( I think Vermont but not sure)</li>
<li>Skidmore College ( LAC in NY)</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon in PA.</li>
<li>Univ of the Arts (Phil, Pa)</li>
<li>Maryland Institute College of Art (Baltimore, Md)
12.Moore College of art ( I think all girls)
13.Rochester Institue of technology ( art and design but mostly for design)</li>
<li>Cornell University has decent art program</li>
<li>Art Center College of Design ( Passadina, Calif)</li>
</ol>
<p>This should give you a good start.</p>