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NYC art and design schools: got any opinions?
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hart
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Nov 12, 2007, 10:33 AM
 
I'm looking for info for a guy going to college in Virginia studying art who is interested in moving to a school in New York. He also happens to be gay which isn't such a big deal in NYC but may be something of a handicap in Virginia so the move to New York has an extra impetous.

Anyway, I've lost touch with the current reps of NYC art schools. For that matter I've gotten a bit cynical about art education in general so I may be the wrong person to ask. This guy is interested in NYU. I was thinking there is also Parsons, the New School, FIT...what else?

Got any recommendations? Advice? Are there any schools that have a particularly encouraging atmosphere? Good community?

usual disclaimer: I did search and can't find any recent discussions on this topic so if one came up last week don't bite my head off. Thank you.
     
Timo
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Nov 12, 2007, 10:55 AM
 
NYU has art? Art history or film, I thought.

Add to your list Cooper Union, and Pratt out in Brooklyn.

***

For me "encouraging atmosphere" or "good community" are not hallmarks of New York City institutions. Parson and the New School are commuter-like schools, Cooper is tight but perhaps a bit hothouse. Don't know much about FIT. Pratt is more "traditional college like" (in feel, not in curriculum) with more breadth than the others (excepting NYU).
     
hart  (op)
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Nov 12, 2007, 11:01 AM
 
I don't know about NYU for art myself. That's a good point tho.

As for being encouraging, my experience in design school was that the school prided itself on grinding you down to a pathetic lump emotionally so I was wondering if there is another option.

Pratt!! that was the name I couldn't come up with. Thanks.
     
Kevin
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Nov 12, 2007, 11:09 AM
 
hart they do that to make you angsty and depressed. It makes you more creative.
     
dcmacdaddy
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Nov 12, 2007, 11:16 AM
 
Originally Posted by hart View Post
Pratt!! that was the name I couldn't come up with. Thanks.
That is in a part of Brooklyn that is becoming quite nice. It's still got drunks in Tompkins Park next to it but the chance of being robbed in broad daylight are pretty much nil. (A co-worker of mine went to Pratt in the late 80s and while he raved about the education he received he had nothing good to say about the neighborhood.) But it is much nicer now.
One should never stop striving for clarity of thought and precision of expression.
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hart  (op)
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Nov 14, 2007, 08:14 AM
 
One can manage depressed and angsty without shelling out $30,000 a year or whatever it is these days.

In any case, I'm beginning to think that "studying" to be an artist is a waste of time. If you really want to be an artist you just gotta do it and also expose yourself to other artists' work and to cultural stuff of all kinds. School just provides a convenient venue.
     
sknapp351
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Nov 14, 2007, 10:09 AM
 
Don't forget Hunter College and SVA. There are a few schools just outside the city in Jersey that have good programs, cost less and have easy access to the city. Montclair State University and Rutgers to name a couple. I went to Montclair State for my MFA. I had critics from Art in America and the NYT in my studios. It is a nice alternative. What part of Virginia is he coming from?

SAm
     
osiris
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Nov 14, 2007, 10:15 AM
 
my own jaded opinion: stay away from NY for art. It once was an artist's haven, but not anymore - too expensive, too tight, too corporate, too sold out.
go to NJ, or the Florida Keys or Venice Beach.
"Faster, faster! 'Till the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death." - HST
     
scottiB
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Nov 14, 2007, 11:21 AM
 
Does he have a concentration (painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, etc.) or is looking for a generalist BFA? If a concentration, I'd narrow the searching to a school that offers strengths in the respective fields and provides good facilities for those fields.

An advantage to NYC, or urban areas in general, is the exposure to many types of art galleries, art openings, museums, whathaveyou. Honing a skill and finding a voice/POV as an artist is the goal of a BFA. Finding a school that has a good curriculum and critiquing process helps those things.

That said, I've heard that Virginia Commonwealth has a strong arts program.
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