mobility...

[wes9000]

Hey guys,
I'm planning on doing a mobilty study somewhere next semester and I'm just seeing if anyone has any comments or recommendations about schools.

I don't really have a clear idea about where I want to go...I'm mainly looking for schools with a strong fine arts department and also schools that are in a big city.

So, I'm considering the various schools in New York...Cooper Union or Pratt and the others there. Or there's The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston....or the School of the Art Institute in Chicago...or OCAD in Toronto....or schools in california? I really dont know where I want to go. Right now I'm trying to narrow down my list to just 2 or 3 possibilities.

The official list of schools I can supposedly choose from is this : http://www.aicad.org/members.html

So, if anyone has any feedback, comments, recommendations about any of the schools I mentioned or any of the schools on their list I'd love to hear them!

Thanks,
Wes

[Avetice]

check out journeyman's thread, if you want to go into fine art why not an atelier? It's a hell of a lot cheaper than art colleges. They also teach classical drawing/painting from the various masters of different movements and such. He (journeyman) put up a website to the one he is going to which I am looking at as well. Its called Angel Art Academy. www.angelartacademy.com It's in toronto, or the bougie studio in massachusetts...however that state is spelled! Just check out the colleges listed at art renewal center..... heres the section of the site with the list... http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/atelier_list.asp

if you find out any more info about fine art schools post it here cause im interested in this stuff too

I see CCS is on that list...... Don't go there if you want a good fine art program.
Watts Atelier is a good one, as well as many of the ones in massachusetts and new york

[Jason Manley]

the boston museum school and the art inst of chicago is going to be geared more toward modern art than traditional art teachings.

I have visited both. the museum school wasnt a great place to learn to draw in my opintion...it was a great place to learn to "express yourself" using large blocks of wood and rocks and drips of blood from your drawing hand....if you know what i mean. the strength i saw in their program is that they have some really fantastic traditional animation tools and an "openness" to experimentation that is going to be hard to find. Dont look for anyone to be better at their art skills than you are though. Same goes for chicago. lots of openmindedness going on...very little great drawing and painting going on from a traditional perspective.

if that is the kind of "fine art" that you are looking for than you will find plenty of glitter covered classmates and LOTS of excuses why you dont need to learn to draw and paint ...i mean...why would anyone want to learnt to draw and paint when you can experiement with new medias like glue and rice and chunks of bark?

SVA has a great program...more of a balanced openness to ideas and a good amount of commercial practice as well...they are also in the heart of things. They have some very well known teachers as well. would be a good choice. they have really great visitiing artists...skip liepke...etc...

lyme academy will have people who arw very good at drawing and painting in a traditional manner....basically an atelier style traditional school...would be one of my top choices simply because their faculty (unlike most art schools) can actually draw and paint and sculpt. that kind of training would bump you to the next level for sure. if you worked hard at it. I think dean keller teaches there. he paints circles around most art faculty. that guy can draw!

if you want to get into games or film than a very good option would be the laguna art institute. I live in laguna and can vouch for the amount of support for the arts there is in this town. its huge here....there are about 20 game companies within a drivable commute...all the effects houses...all the galleries in LA...the getty museum...the la county museum...laguna has one of the largest gallery row's in the country...not all of it great...but some of it will knock your socks off...particularily the sculpture...the art school sticks to traditional foundation stuff...they have a decent faculty. One of the teachers there "marshall vandruff" was Justin Sweets teacher of art and honestly you wont find one better at helping you with your drawing skills. He has also taught drew strusen and bernie wrightson (i recruited him to teach anatomy at troika games and its a great class of his.) if you dont have a girlfriend than there are more girls in laguna than i have ever seen in one town. its all california girls in this beach town...and art.... it is the best town in so cal in my opinion and i wouldnt live anywhere else. i live about 20 steps from the ocean and am fairly close to just about everything. the only downside is you will need a car. if you do not have a car than stay away from so cal...its all about driving 20 minutes to ANYTHING YOU WANT here. it is also very small. you also need to be very self motivated in so cal...there are many distractions. but at least you would be close to all the opportunity.

good luck


jason

[wes9000]

avetice- Yeah I'd love to go to an atelier at some point, but for now I'm planning on finishing up here....I have a good deal going here right now, I dont have to pay tuition at all, so I dont spend much money at all... Plus theres a good 4 or 5 teachers here that I'm still learning alot from.
As for the mobility thing; ideally I'd like to study in Italy or France for a semester...but that would require me to take a leave of absence, and therefore my scholarship would not cover wherever I chose to go. I cant really afford to do that. So, I have to stick to this list if i want to go somewhere that I can afford (basically go somewhere else for free).
Yeah...I know a bit about CCS...know a guy going there. It's alot like my school...you guys have a bit more in the animation/new media dept. we have a bit more in the fine arts dept. Doubt that I would go there for a semester...im looking more at location (no offense to detroit...) or schools that might have something a bit different than where Im at right now.

jason- thanks for all the feedback! this helps a whole lot,
The Lyme Academy definitly has the program and faculty I'd like to study with...but I'm not sure about the location. I'd really like to be in a nice big city for a semester..New York or Chicago or Toronto or something. I guess the Lyme Academy(and various ateliers) is more of something I'll be looking into after I finish here. Hmm...we'll see, I'll be looking into their program some more.
Thanks for all the information about Laguna, I was hoping to hear your comments about it. They finally got their page working, so i was able to check out some of the student work... the figure sculpture class looks really nice, I'd love to do some life size figure sculpting. But, I have no car and they do not have any on campus housing, so that would make it really tough for me to go there. Really sounds like a nice area and lots of activity though. I'll email them and see what they do as far as helping students find living situations.
Thanks for the tips about SVA too, Ive known that theyre a good illustration school, but thats about all ive known. ive been to their dorms and id love to live in the middle of manhattan...so SVA is very inticing....
And about the fine art programs in Boston and Chicago... heheh yeah...that seems to be whats in these days...i see a whole lot of that here too. i think its pretty much a given that you have to have a lot of self motivation at a good majority of art schools now.
Thanks again for all the feedback, and if you think of anything else I'd love to hear it!

-Wes

[MadSamoan]

I would caution you about Cooper Union. They only charge $300 (per semester or year, I don't remember which) and only accept 300 students. My impression from my limited exposure to their representatives is that this has resulted in a very elitist attitude.

Try the ateliers or heck, try studying in Europe like Ted Seth Jacob's atelier in France or some of the schools in Italy. Just look in the back of an American Artist magazine for some options.

[jrr]

cooper union is the most overrated school, it's good that there are very few students and that it's free but they dont' really teach things that you might need to know. alot of the work i've seen from there are pretty bad too.
i went to SVA, it was kinda nice. the illustration department is almost like fine arts in most places. the actual fine arts department is about 10 years behind what's really going on out there. there are some fantastic teachers in the illustration department.

[wes9000]

mad samoan- thanks for the tips, yeah i know a couple people that go to or have gone to cooper union... it definitely has that elitist attitude. again, like i said earlier id ideally like to study in europe or at an atelier, but that isnt possible yet, im in a strange situtation...

jrr- thanks, sva is definitely one of my possible choices, mainly because of location, but im looking into the school more now. id really just like to be in new york for a semester

[davi]

i'll miss you even though we've never met

[ELEK]

I will staple you to the floor if you try to leave Wes!

Then I will hold your sketch books hostage....