Help! New to art school search

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
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<p>Hi to all. I found CC incredibly helpful 3 years ago as my musical son and I began looking for the right college for him. Now his younger sister is coming along and is a talented artist. She is thinking about a career as an illustrator or possibly as an art teacher. I realized with my son that it is never too early to start thinking about colleges with artistic kids! Daughter is a HS sophomore but is already thinking about college. We are East Coasters (Philly area) and she doesn't want to go far from the East Coast (SCAD may be a possibility because a friend was just accepted there for next fall and he'll be coming from Boston.)</p>

<p>I would love to hear from students and parents who have completed their search as to where they decided to go and why, and what they did in high school to prepare for applications and be successful. Also any info/opinions on the merits of art-only schools vs. art departments of top colleges would be helpful.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!!</p>

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<p>We decided on UArts for my S.</p>

<p>It was a no-brainer for us. He knows Philly really well, he did weekend and summer programs at UArts also. </p>

<p>In HS, the weekend and summer programs are very important. Its good education, helps with portfolio building and will confirm your thoughts on talent. And Natl Portfolio Day is a good event to attend. I attended and folks reviewed his portfolio and told us what he should work on for the next year.</p>

<p>Personally, I dont like art departments. A few schools have robust art departments, for example, Temple U. I think a kid that loves art and academics may enjoy that. My S is all about creativity so an art school is ideal for him. An algebra class would be torture for him.</p>

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<p>My D is currently a freshman at Tyler/Temple. </p>

<p>After visiting many different types of schools, she decided she wanted an art school at a larger university in a city. She liked that she could meet people with majors other than art and have a campus with all the activities a larger university has to offer. Another important factor was the cost, Temple is less expensive than most art schools.</p>

<p>I agree with Madaboutx that summer/weekend programs and National Portfolio Days are great ways to prepare. My D did a Portfolio Boot Camp at Tyler and had quite a few nice pieces to put into her portfolio for applications.</p>

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<p>At a non-Art university it is good to note if it has an art department or School of Art. A school of art is usually better resourced, more robust and offers a BFA, not just a BA.</p>

<p>At the Art colleges, they have mostly adjunct vs full-time professors. That would be considered a weakness at a traditional college but at an art school, it can be a strength because the schools usually require all professors to be working artists. My S, for instance, wants to make a living as an illustrator/animator. We agreed it is best to learn from folks that are currently working in those fields vs guys who teach from a theoretical vantage point.</p>

5

<p>One last thing. An art teacher and an illustrator are two completely different things. Let that guide you also. Where do teachers go to school in your state vs where do artists go to school? Those are probably very different answers.</p>

<p>If you have concerns about income for an artist and what it leads to, I understand.</p>

<p>Illustrators are being asked to animate more and more so it’s good for a budding illustrator to pick up some animation skills while in school. I know a guy who makes good money at ESPN as an illustrator but he made a lot more money and travelled the world for a decade as a freelance illustrator. Illustration is global now thanks to the Internet. He gave up the freelance lifestyle for a 401K and health benefits and steady income.</p>

<p>Something to consider is whether teaching is enough for your D or is she entrepreneurial at all.</p>

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<p>Now is a good time to be looking ahead and researching. I agree with others, that illustration and being an art teacher are quite different. I also agree that taking weekend and summer courses are very important, as they will give your daughter a sense of what type of art she likes and doesn’t like.</p>

<p>My daughter started looking at colleges early, around 14, and searched the internet. She wanted to paint or sculpt in the classical realistic manner, but found that colleges did not emphasize that. When she was 15 I took her on an exploratory trip to Florence Italy, where we visited the Florence and Angel Academies of Art. We also visited a famous Italian sculpture school in Pietra Santa. Having visited the Florence Academies, my daughter set her sights on getting into one of those ateliers, as they are called. Back home, my daughter was taking 2-3 life drawing courses per week (all outside of school), plus started going by bus (4 hours each way) to New York City every Sunday for a sculpture class. I told her that if she wanted me to let her go to Europe by herself to study at age 17, she had better practice getting around by herself in the USA first.</p>

<p>My daughter graduated from high school one year early and went to study in Italy. She applied to two colleges in the US, but decided that they would not give her the kind of art training she wanted. She at first went for one year. We thought that might be enough for her, and she could return to the US and go to college. Her first year was an intensive drawing course: 12 hours a day drawing exactly what one sees, usually Saturdays and Sundays too. No general ed courses, no distractions. She did well her first year and wanted to stay to learn to paint, so she returned and completed both the certificate program and another 1.5 years of graduate work. After the first year, she always got scholarships.</p>

<p>Now at 25, she is a successful freelance painter, who does both her own paintings and takes on commissions, usually portraits. She has a 401(k), sets her own hours, and is represented by several galleries. Last year she spent 4 months in Europe, visiting all the museums and art galleries she was too busy to see while she was a student.</p>

<p>She has been asked to illustrate books, but does not take the jobs as it is not what she does nor wants to do. However, her training is very well suited to take this on. She also does not teach, although she may do some of this in the future. She did teach figure drawing while she was a graduate student.</p>

<p>My daughter is very glad she went to a school where ALL they did was art all day, and it was just realistic art–no abstract, photography, nothing else. It enabled her to focus on becoming an expert in her field, in a relatively short period of time–3 years.</p>

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<p>Even though both of my d’s made it through the college application process, I have not yet decided which was worse…applying to musical theatre (vocal performance) programs with D1 or applying to art programs with D2!</p>

<p>You are right to be beginning the process now. Attending portfolio days and summer art programs was extremely helpful. D also took art classes during the school year. The most beneficial were those that allowed her to draw from observation and those that had live models for figure drawing.</p>

<p>Both of my D’s ended up at NYU. Pricey, but truly a perfect mix of performance/talent and academics.</p>

<p>My art major D will be getting a BFA in studio art, perhaps with a concentration in sculpture. She then intends to get her masters in art education. If she stays at NYU, she can do a BFA/ MS art ed program in 5 years.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>Maybe I’m alone on this, but being an art teacher and an illustrator aren’t far off. I know teachers who went to art school undergrad and education for grad. And you don’t need a degree in illustration to be a illustrator. You can teach and freelance in your own time or the other way around. If she wanted to, she really could do both.</p>

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<p>Agreed! Most illustrators work freelance anyway. No reason not to mix the two. And I personally would advise taking ed classes on a master’s level and getting a BFA in a concentration you want to explore in depth. The only down side is that you won’t be able to teach directly after getting your BFA, and will have to get your master’s to gain certification. But with the job market for teachers the way it is…</p>

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<p>I’m an illustration sophomore at CCS in Detroit. I was deciding between CCS and U of M. As a state school, U of M made a lot more financial sense but after looking at the student work of each school I found that the work at CCS was more impressive. I also liked that CCS was involved in a lot of community art projects which I got involved with and let me meet a lot of CCS grads and students.</p>

<p>After spending a year and half at my school, I am glad with the choice I made. All of my teachers are working illustrators who have worked with a lot of big name clients. I feel that this wouldn’t necessarily be true at a state school. As a result, my art skills have improved exponentially since I started.</p>

<p>Concerning art education, I know at my school you can double major in art education. So you pick your major and then add art education as a double major. So by the time you graduate you also get your teaching certification. You can also get your art education certificate as post-graduate, which is what one of my mentors did years after graduating with her BFA. She is currently an art teacher and a practicing fine artist.</p>

<p>[Art</a> Education](<a href=“http://www.collegeforcreativestudies.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/art-education]Art”>http://www.collegeforcreativestudies.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/art-education)</p>

<p>Let me know if you have any more questions.</p>

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<p>I know I said the illustration and art education are very different things but I say that because I don’t believe a student can major on the education side especially at a liberal arts school and crossover well to the professional illustrator side.</p>

<p>I have seen kids go into art education that wanted to be artist but found out too late that their liberal arts colleges focus on therapy and education not professional art development. The result is good artist, some very good but not ingenious artists. I always use my S as an example but his art instructor said to me when he was 13 that she couldn’t teach him anymore and gave me a list of places to go train that could take him to the next level.</p>

<p>I had to learn that art is so much more than being able to draw so that what you draw looks good. Great art can capture an emotion or feeling or moment or thought. It transcends what is on paper or canvass and stirs up something inside. I’m a layman but I studied to figure out what makes one work exceptional versus others that are really, really good.</p>

<p>A career can be had either way but, using my S as an example again, my S says he eats, breathes and sleeps art. He wants money but money is not why he does it. I just pray he does so he can have a family and house of his own one day.</p>

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<p>I can understand where you are coming from. I had art teachers who were like that too. It can really just depend on where you go. I’ve heard of fine art teachers who came from art schools or top liberal arts art departments. My art teacher in highschool went to a state school but one of my friends art teachers went to RISD. Nevertheless, art teachers are so important. While my teacher wasn’t a leading or even working illustrator she was so supportive and encouraging. She let me finish normal class assignments and work freely and she supported me taking art classes out of school. She wrote me a really great recommendation letter for college and was a really great friend. For a lot of art teachers, having a lucrative professional career is not their passion. They just love to make art and they love to work with kids. But if you really want to, you can have a successful career in both. If your daughter is set on art school I’d say she should go for illustration and then when she graduates and has all her opportunities before her, she can decide if she wants to go into education and be the better art teacher for it.</p>

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<p>[BFA/MA</a> in Teaching | MICA](<a href=“http://www.mica.edu/Programs_of_Study/Graduate_Programs/BFAMA_in_Teaching.html]BFA/MA”>http://www.mica.edu/Programs_of_Study/Graduate_Programs/BFAMA_in_Teaching.html)
Might be of interest.</p>

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<p>^^ I was just about to mention MICA’s program. I believe it’s 5 years, so you save some time by doing that. They have an excellent illustration department too. My D is a junior at MICA now and I’m always impressed by what the illustration puts out when we visit. She started out as a painting major and wanted to do the BFA/BA program with Hopkins but changed her mind after her freshman year. </p>

<p>Your son may change his mind too so if he’s set on art, it might be better to go to a full fledged art school where he has more options for what he will focus on. My D right now has a major, 3 minors, and a concentration. Hah, she knows she will have to drop something, maybe two things!</p>