What are the top art schools in the US?
A vocation in the arts is the preferred choice for those with creative talents. Artistic practitioners have strived to give expression to their vision through various mediums of art.
Art education has become an increasingly academic field since the World War II and most professional artists now take a college degree. For an international student in the USA there are more than 300 accredited fine art colleges to choose from. The choice of college depends on your specific interests and what you would like to pursue such as drawing, painting, photography or acting. The East coast especially New York and Massachusetts has more choices in architecture, fashion and sculpting whereas degrees in Animation, Acting and Film Production is more prevalent in the West coast like California and Washington. It is usually advisable to research on the work of specific faculty members to see how closely the interests match.
International students who wish to receive a professional degree in visual or performing arts usually apply for a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) or BCA (Bachelor of Creative Arts). The BFA degree consists of the study of fine arts as well as liberal arts like literature, languages, history and philosophy. It takes around four years to complete, during which time the student is also expected to do internships with companies for valuable practical experience. The first two years focuses on fundamentals like drawing and painting and the student chooses a concentration such as ceramics in the third year. Art Schools in USA
An MFA program allows students to specialize in areas of fine arts in greater depth. It usually requires two to three years of postgraduate work in areas like visual arts, filmmaking, dance or theatre. An important requirement for admissions is the student’s portfolio, or performance audition. You do not necessarily need a BFA degree to qualify to do a MFA degree. The MFA degree varies from a Master of Arts (MA) degree in that the program focus in MFA is the culmination of the students’ major work or performance. It is often a terminal degree or the highest degree you can attain though some fine arts colleges have implemented the PhD programs especially in fields like creative writing, visual arts and theatre. The PhD is now a baseline requirement for teaching jobs. However, the College Art Association still recognizes the MFA as the terminal degree as very few institutes in the USA offer a PhD in studio art.
Schools like School of Visual Arts, Pratt Institute, Cooper Union in New York City, Kansas City Art Institute, The San Francisco Art Institute and the School of Art Institute of Chicago as well as Princeton and Yale are some of the leading American Art Academies. The art schools in the US range from small, private schools that offer art courses to big private and public schools. A large number of art schools in the US are allied together in a consortium known as the AICAD (Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design). The only state supported art school in the US is the Massachusetts College of Art.
References: Art Schools in USA
