My daughter is a Junior in high school and is very talented in artwork. Oils, pastels, pencils etc.

She is leaning towards pursuing a degree in the arts and I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations or info about Art Institutes across the country?

We are already in contact with The Art Institute of Chicago but would like to know what other schools are out there?

Also, what are these colleges looking for in a portfolio?

Any help would be appreciated, I am technical in nature and don't know very much about art. I can't even draw a stick figure without assistance..LOL..

Savannah College of Art and Design is supposed to be excellent, so I've heard

My younger sister attended CCAD (Columbus College of Art and Design) in Columbus, OH. I have heard many great things about the students that come out of there... well except for my sister :D

just my opinion here - no facts to back it up - but here it is anyway

art degrees don't pay - science degrees do

and given the "fact" that most kids dont really know what they want to do with their lives when they start college and change their major somewhere along the way

point being unless she is real sure that art is what she wants to do with her life

should keep lots of science in the mix too

art degrees don't pay - science degrees do



Who cares. There's more to life than the size of your paycheck.

What kind of art does she like to do?

Illustrators make pretty good money compared to an "artist". We use them quite often on all kinds of projects. Look at http://www.images.com/ to see just a sampling of different styles. There are a million and one different styles of illustration.

Graphic Design (what I do) can offer an artistic career while being more imersed in the business world. I myself am in package design and almost every product in a store you can think of needs it's package designed, and the really big companies spend money redoing them every year or every other year. There are all kinds of other things to apply graphic design to... books, catalogs, websites, TV, movie graphics ,etc.

My brother in Law is going to the ARt Institute of Indianapolis. It is expenisve! Any private school will be big money but they will live and breath art 24/7. If you can find a good program in a state school, then it will be much less. They offer a more rounded education. Iowa State has a good program. I went to Ball State in Indiana and had a great experience.

Savanah is good. I have had a couple interns from there.

Herron in Indy is good too.

just my opinion here - no facts to back it up - but here it is anyway

art degrees don't pay - science degrees do

and given the "fact" that most kids dont really know what they want to do with their lives when they start college and change their major somewhere along the way

point being unless she is real sure that art is what she wants to do with her life

should keep lots of science in the mix too

Science and mathmatics have always been difficult for her, however she has always excelled in art and is very creative.

I think it is one of those left brain , right brain things.

I have a son who is just the opposite.. High honor student and excells in science and mathmatics, but not into art at all..