Hello all!
My D is a junior in HS and wants to go for a BFA in Studio arts. I do not think she knows yet what particular area of fine arts she wants to major in, but she likes drawing, printing, and sculpture. My problem is that I am not an artist , and I do not know if I should encourage her or not. She went to a college review session but the reviews she got are mixed. The negative reviews she got made me wonder if maybe I am making a mistake by supporting her choice of career. I would appreciate if more knowledgeable people in this forum would take a look at a few of her pieces at https://www.flickr.com/photos/137679799@N03/
Please let me know what you think.
I like your D’s work, especially the self portraits. What kind of college review session was it? National Portfolio day?
My daughter just graduated with a BFA from MCAD in Minneapolis in illustration. Any of the stand alone art schools are rigorous. Students don’t go there because they like to draw - they go because they HAVE to draw. They need the passion as well as the talent in order to succeed in art school. There is an incredible amount of work and you need to love every minute of it. The first years are the foundation years, where they take classes in various mediums to experience all the choices.
Critiques by both fellow classmates as well as teachers are a big part of the process and since they are based on opinion, mixed reviews are not uncommon.
Her other option is that if she is not sure whether an art career is for her or not, to go to a pre-college program. It will give her a good idea of what to expect.
As an aside, my D is a published children’s book illustrator, and is working on several free lance commissions as well as a her day job at Starbucks. You can see her work at www.inkdoggraphics.com
I see that your daughter draws realistically. IF that’s what she is primarily interested in, she should consider attending an “atelier” and foregoing college. I mention this because school counselors will not tell you about them, as most likely they are unaware of that option. Successful atelier artists do not have “day” jobs; they are full time painters/artists. A list of ateliers can be found here:
I also am not artist and didn’t know what to think when my daughter said she wanted to be an artist, skip college and study in Italy. We let her go and are so happy we did. She is far more successful than if she had attended college. Her website is www.teresaoaxaca.com
Ateliers provide three years of intense training in drawing, then painting, or sculpture. The training is not diluted by taking non-art courses, or abstract art. Students draw/paint for 12 hours per day or more.
Your daughter draws well enough. What she doesn’t have is the training. She should examine what kind of art interests her the most. Then research each school of interest and look at the art produced both by faculty and students. She should be blown away by the quality of the art. Remember that if the teachers can’t produce the art themselves, they can’t teach it either.
The main issue when considering a school is: Does the school have the right expertise to teach my daughter?
I agree with the recommendation to take a pre-college program over the summer.
It looks like your D may be interested in medical and/or natural science art. She may want to consider Medical or Scientific Illustration. If so, rather than going to an Art school, she might want to look at going to a college/university that offers Art majors/minors while getting a good science background - similar to pre-med. Then going for a Masters in Medical Illustration. There are (at least were) a few universities that offered scientific illustration as an undergraduate major back in my dinosaur age. Here is a link for the Association of Medical Illustrators for more information on the field: http://ami.org/medical-illustration/learn-about-medical-illustration
Your daughter is quite talented!!! I agree with the previous comments regarding the benefits of a pre-college program. Those are serious portfolio builders. Pre-college will also help her figure out whether art school really would be her thing. For ideas of where to go, check out the AICAD website: www.aicad.org
My D1 received “negative” comments from two different schools at her first NPD (she was a junior as well at the time). One school gave her some very negative vibes and she realized that it wasn’t the school for her (so crossed it off from her prospect list) and the other school inspired her to improve her work and apply there. She’s now at that school and loving her foundation year. So both “negative” reviews were extraordinarily beneficial.
Another important point–many college academics (not all) are biased against “realistic” art. This may be the reason your daughter got mixed reviews. She should use these comments to improve her work, as Mamelot said, and to choose the school or place that is right for her. My daughter ran into this bias early on when applying for the governor’s school in our state for art. She submitted advanced, realistic art, and some of the judges didn’t want to accept her, resulting in a protest from other judges. That incident caused my daughter to look elsewhere–to the ateliers in Italy–and the rest is history. So I agree–negative reviews are very beneficial.
In HS, realistic art was what was encouraged. It was only when D began to take outside art classes (pre-college classes) that she was able to take her art in a more conceptual/ creative direction. The comments she got when showing her art portfolio as a sophomore and junior was that her artwork showed technical expertise, but was ultimately a collection of assigned school projects using different medium. The summer before her senior year at high school she attended a pre-college summer program at NYU. She met with faculty there regarding her portfolio prior to applying. Basically they told her to re-do half of her portfolio and have her art represent her own voice and tell her own story. She did that and was accepted ED!
D is now a sculpture major in her senior year at NYU and has been recently selected to be in their honors studio. Yes, her art now is quite different than her art was when she first showed her portfolio in high school. It has been an amazing journey!
where do you live? i’ll be following this thread carefully, as our daughter is a year behind yours and also looking at a similar path with realism. last summer, she did an incredible figure drawing class at Laguna College of Art and Design in CAand next summer has her eye on doing a week workshop at Grand Central atelier in NYC. iN a couple of weeks, she’s taking a two day workshop at Kline Art Academy in LA. Kline is a small studio rather than a school, but she learned a lot when she took “painting boot camp” there in August. She toyed with medical illustration, but is now leaning toward a science or engineering degree with an art minor. She loves art and she’s good at it, but I think a combination would be more her choice at least now!
Thank you all for your input! I am a nurse and my husband is an engineer, so we do need all the info we can find in order to support our daughter. @redbug119 , yes, my daughter is very sure she wants to go become an artist. She has no doubt about it. Thank you for sharing your daughter’s website, I enjoyed looking at her work.
@woodwinds , thank you for the recommendations about the ateliers: I was not aware about their existence! I am not sure my daughter wants to do classical art training, but if I were her, I would definitely go to Florence : ). I will talk to her about that idea, and show her those ateliers websites for sure.
@mom4bwayboy, thank you for pointing me in the direction of medical illustration field. Also not aware of that possibility.
@Mamelot , she got good review from RISD and VCU, but very bad from SAIC. SAIC lady said: " I do not get it! Is it just me? I just do not get it! What does it all mean?" It kind of scared me. My D went to a summer pre-college program and she is sure she wants to do art. The 2 still lives are from that summer program.
@woodwinds , my daughter plans to make some pieces over the summer that are installation work ( and wearable sculptures? I am not sure what that means). I was wondering if that is a good idea, so it was very helpful that you told me that the juries want more than realistic works in the portfolios. My D likes to use realistic images alongside symbolism
@uskoolfish thank you for sharing about your daughter. It gives me faith that my daughter’s choice of making her own pieces next summer is the way to go. I will look into the NYU program.
@shoot4moon , you are doing what I tried to do so far. We live in Raleigh, NC and unfortunately there are not many choices when it comes to art classes. She went to a pre-college program last summer, and I will try to send her to another pre-college program next summer, but she is not very receptive. That is because she thinks that she should make portfolio pieces and prepare for the SAT. She thinks that if she makes those pieces at home, they will represent her, and they will not look like class assignments. Maybe I will send her to a short program, like 2 weeks at SAIC, and let her have the rest of the summer. It is very hard to make decisions when I am a total newbie in the path to art college.
I think that this board has many wonderful members that help with invaluable information. Thank you all for the input!
Ah - that explains a lot, @Isichitiu! SAIC is an interesting school - very conceptual. Our impression was that they like to see the thinking develop behind the work as it unfolds - they are very much into “meaning” and seeing all the work tie together to make a statement. Your D was a junior so probably wasn’t there yet, not knowing what they were going to look for and, most importantly, not knowing yet what she wants to be presenting for a portfolio. My D1 did not apply to SAIC - didn’t think it was a good fit - but did incorporate some of their (very similar) feedback into how she presented her work to schools the following year. @GrnMtnMom has a daughter at SAIC and can speak more about the school.
I think it all comes down to fit. Your daughter will find as she progresses in her search that each school is distinct and will offer something a little bit differently (or maybe a lot differently) than the others. She’ll have to figure out whether she likes the very interdisciplinary approach of an SAIC or a MICA or prefers the very structured curriculum of a RISD or a Pratt - or does she like something in between (which is where a lot of schools are). It’s all about how the unique voice of each program speaks to her and whether they seem as excited about her work as she is about them. That’s when you know you have a good fit.