Which LaC has the best studio art facilities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Carleton has a required studio art distributional requirement, so they are putting resources into those classes. I went into the building once when my D was taking a class and wanted to show me the space. I was super impressed with the facilities, but I have nothing to compare it to since that wasn't something we looked at on tours.

Every liberal arts college has this requirement that isn't open curriculum

Actually, I don't know of any other LAC that requires every student to take a studio art class. There might be some, but I don't know of any. My other kid at a NESCAC has a few distributional requirements, and there is no art (maybe something in the arts, but art history is very different). STEM majors at every other colleges aren't required to take sculpture or ceramics, etc.

Literally every other one? You sound like you don’t do your research

?? It's true that most LACs don't require a studio arts class to graduate. For one, most colleges don't have the facilities to accommodate a required studio arts course. Second, studio arts will often be considered one of several electives under a broader "humanities" category. So yes, some students will choose to fulfill their humanities requirement with a studio arts class, but most will not simply because studio arts classes are notorious for the amount of time required.

It’s quite unusual for a liberal arts college to pair studio art with the humanities; they’re two separate fields and you usually need a fine arts req, a humanities req, and a social science req for a general education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Carleton has a required studio art distributional requirement, so they are putting resources into those classes. I went into the building once when my D was taking a class and wanted to show me the space. I was super impressed with the facilities, but I have nothing to compare it to since that wasn't something we looked at on tours.

Every liberal arts college has this requirement that isn't open curriculum

Actually, I don't know of any other LAC that requires every student to take a studio art class. There might be some, but I don't know of any. My other kid at a NESCAC has a few distributional requirements, and there is no art (maybe something in the arts, but art history is very different). STEM majors at every other colleges aren't required to take sculpture or ceramics, etc.

Literally every other one? You sound like you don’t do your research

OK - so educate me. Here are the requirements for Carleton, Williams, Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Wesleyan and Grinnell. None of these schools are open curriculum and Carleton is the only one with an explicit studio art requirement. As I said, there may other schools that do have this requirement, and perhaps I am not seeing it if it's called something else, but I have a student at one of these and it is most definitely NOT required.

https://www.carleton.edu/academics/liberal-arts/requirements/
https://catalog.williams.edu/degree-requirements/
https://www.swarthmore.edu/new-students/distribution
https://www.bowdoin.edu/first-year-experience/academics-course-registration/requirements.html
https://www.grinnell.edu/academics/centers-programs/phi-beta-kappa/requirements
https://catalog.wesleyan.edu/academic-regulations/general-education-expectations/

Bowdoin has a distribution requirement of Visual and Performing Arts: These courses help students expand their understanding of artistic expression and judgment through creation, performance, and analysis of artistic work in the areas of dance, film, music, theater, and visual art.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Carleton has a required studio art distributional requirement, so they are putting resources into those classes. I went into the building once when my D was taking a class and wanted to show me the space. I was super impressed with the facilities, but I have nothing to compare it to since that wasn't something we looked at on tours.

Every liberal arts college has this requirement that isn't open curriculum

Actually, I don't know of any other LAC that requires every student to take a studio art class. There might be some, but I don't know of any. My other kid at a NESCAC has a few distributional requirements, and there is no art (maybe something in the arts, but art history is very different). STEM majors at every other colleges aren't required to take sculpture or ceramics, etc.

Literally every other one? You sound like you don’t do your research

?? It's true that most LACs don't require a studio arts class to graduate. For one, most colleges don't have the facilities to accommodate a required studio arts course. Second, studio arts will often be considered one of several electives under a broader "humanities" category. So yes, some students will choose to fulfill their humanities requirement with a studio arts class, but most will not simply because studio arts classes are notorious for the amount of time required.

It’s quite unusual for a liberal arts college to pair studio art with the humanities; they’re two separate fields and you usually need a fine arts req, a humanities req, and a social science req for a general education.

Most college will lump the fine and studio arts with the humanities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Carleton has a required studio art distributional requirement, so they are putting resources into those classes. I went into the building once when my D was taking a class and wanted to show me the space. I was super impressed with the facilities, but I have nothing to compare it to since that wasn't something we looked at on tours.

Every liberal arts college has this requirement that isn't open curriculum

Actually, I don't know of any other LAC that requires every student to take a studio art class. There might be some, but I don't know of any. My other kid at a NESCAC has a few distributional requirements, and there is no art (maybe something in the arts, but art history is very different). STEM majors at every other colleges aren't required to take sculpture or ceramics, etc.

Literally every other one? You sound like you don’t do your research

OK - so educate me. Here are the requirements for Carleton, Williams, Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Wesleyan and Grinnell. None of these schools are open curriculum and Carleton is the only one with an explicit studio art requirement. As I said, there may other schools that do have this requirement, and perhaps I am not seeing it if it's called something else, but I have a student at one of these and it is most definitely NOT required.

https://www.carleton.edu/academics/liberal-arts/requirements/
https://catalog.williams.edu/degree-requirements/
https://www.swarthmore.edu/new-students/distribution
https://www.bowdoin.edu/first-year-experience/academics-course-registration/requirements.html
https://www.grinnell.edu/academics/centers-programs/phi-beta-kappa/requirements
https://catalog.wesleyan.edu/academic-regulations/general-education-expectations/

I see that Carleton has an art requirement but not specifically studio art—where are you seeing that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Carleton has a required studio art distributional requirement, so they are putting resources into those classes. I went into the building once when my D was taking a class and wanted to show me the space. I was super impressed with the facilities, but I have nothing to compare it to since that wasn't something we looked at on tours.

Every liberal arts college has this requirement that isn't open curriculum

Actually, I don't know of any other LAC that requires every student to take a studio art class. There might be some, but I don't know of any. My other kid at a NESCAC has a few distributional requirements, and there is no art (maybe something in the arts, but art history is very different). STEM majors at every other colleges aren't required to take sculpture or ceramics, etc.

Literally every other one? You sound like you don’t do your research

?? It's true that most LACs don't require a studio arts class to graduate. For one, most colleges don't have the facilities to accommodate a required studio arts course. Second, studio arts will often be considered one of several electives under a broader "humanities" category. So yes, some students will choose to fulfill their humanities requirement with a studio arts class, but most will not simply because studio arts classes are notorious for the amount of time required.

It’s quite unusual for a liberal arts college to pair studio art with the humanities; they’re two separate fields and you usually need a fine arts req, a humanities req, and a social science req for a general education.

Most college will lump the fine and studio arts with the humanities.

No they don’t. Two examples that come to mind are Bowdoin and Pomona.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Carleton has a required studio art distributional requirement, so they are putting resources into those classes. I went into the building once when my D was taking a class and wanted to show me the space. I was super impressed with the facilities, but I have nothing to compare it to since that wasn't something we looked at on tours.

Every liberal arts college has this requirement that isn't open curriculum

Actually, I don't know of any other LAC that requires every student to take a studio art class. There might be some, but I don't know of any. My other kid at a NESCAC has a few distributional requirements, and there is no art (maybe something in the arts, but art history is very different). STEM majors at every other colleges aren't required to take sculpture or ceramics, etc.

Literally every other one? You sound like you don’t do your research

OK - so educate me. Here are the requirements for Carleton, Williams, Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Wesleyan and Grinnell. None of these schools are open curriculum and Carleton is the only one with an explicit studio art requirement. As I said, there may other schools that do have this requirement, and perhaps I am not seeing it if it's called something else, but I have a student at one of these and it is most definitely NOT required.

https://www.carleton.edu/academics/liberal-arts/requirements/
https://catalog.williams.edu/degree-requirements/
https://www.swarthmore.edu/new-students/distribution
https://www.bowdoin.edu/first-year-experience/academics-course-registration/requirements.html
https://www.grinnell.edu/academics/centers-programs/phi-beta-kappa/requirements
https://catalog.wesleyan.edu/academic-regulations/general-education-expectations/

Carleton does not have a studio art requirement. It has an arts practice requirement that includes studio art, CAMS (cinema and media production), Music performance, and technical theatre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kenyon, Smith, Skidmore, Hamilton, Vassar

Toured the first two with my daughter. Agree with this, but wasn't focused on Arts. Recall that Bard was also nice.

[Anonymous]

My DC is a studio art major at a top LAC, and we toured a number of LAC studio art facilities.

I was impressed by the facilities at Williams, Skidmore, Pomona, Smith, and Wesleyan. Dartmouth, which is very LAC-like, also had fantastic facilities although my DC wasn't impressed with Dartmouth's art program itself. Skidmore and Wesleyan's facilities aren't as pretty-looking as the others, but they are well resourced, which is more important. I've heard good things about Bard and Kenyon but I haven't seen them myself.

All LACs offer courses in the basics--drawing, painting, basic 3d, photography, etc. But the breadth of courses beyond that can be pretty limited. Oberlin, for example, is reputed to have a decent art program but doesn't have a ceramics studio. Very few LACs offer much in the way of animation, which I think leans more toward craft than art but affords a very employable skill. If your DC is interested in particular mediums, you definitely need to look into what each particular LAC offers.

Studio art classes, at least at DC's LAC, are in high demand. Studio art majors, thankfully, can get into most classes. I can see why many LACs have invested in lavish studio art facilities--they are very marketable to prospective and current students even if the percentage of studio art majors isn't that high. (At DC's school, studio art is probably outside of top 7 or 8 majors, but still more popular than most majors.) The classes themselves demand a lot of time and energy, and DC seems to have close relationships with her professors, some of whom are well-known artists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Colby and Williams have very nice facilities. Amherst had the least impressive academic offerings and facilities of any institution we toured.

Colby:

Williams:


And then....Amherst :

Those print shops are gorgeous, but do they offer other art?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rhode Island School of Design RISD
Univ of Delaware

RISD is an art school, and a highly regarded one with low acceptance rates at that. So unless OP’s kid is serious about art, I wouldn’t bother.

[Anonymous]

When we toured, Pomona seemed to have a lot of resources and a decent amount of studio art majors (for a LAC); we saw woodworking, casting, a print studio, and painting. From my memory by the tour guide, ceramics is done at the women’s college

[Anonymous]

LAC parents are funny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LAC parents are funny.

I prefer it over HPYSM

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LAC parents are funny.

We're funny how, I mean funny like we're clowns? We amuse you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kenyon, Smith, Skidmore, Hamilton, Vassar

Kenyon is still a writers college more than anything.