The 10 Best Art Schools to Attend
College application season can be an intimidating time period, especially when faced with the task of choosing the perfect school to invest you time (and money) into. Things can seem even more complicated for the artistically inclined that want to spend the next four academic years studying a craft that they've grown to accept as a lifestyle. Thankfully, a good amount of schools out there in the brave new world specialize in teaching and preparing you for a career in the arts.
Take a look at the 10 best art schools worth attending for the upcoming fall semester. Follow up with your academic advisor to see if any of the following universities are a right fit for you.
The School of Visual Arts - New York, NY
The School of Visual Arts is located in the center of the art world: New York City. Their offerings include animation, cartooning, fine arts, illustration, photography, interior design, and more. During your senior year, the school also holds open studios and invites dealers and curators to view your work, which may lead to you making important connections in the art world and even getting a gallery show. SVA has been home to a long list of great artists, including KAWS, Keith Haring, Neck Face, David LaChappelle, and Green Label fam Vashtie Kola.
Maryland Institute College of Art - Baltimore, MD
The Maryland Institute College of Art is the oldest continuously degree-granting college of art in the nation, so you know they’ve had plenty of time to get things right. They have 17 different majors you can choose from, including drawing, ceramics, environmental design, graphic design, painting, fiber arts, and printmaking. MICA’s alumni roster includes Jeff Koons, street artist Gaia, and David Byrne.
Rhode Island School of Design - Providence, RI
The Rhode Island School of Design is one of the best-known and most respected art schools in the country. They have all the usual art school majors in addition to some that other schools miss like glass blowing, furniture design, jewelry and metalsmithing, and industrial design. They also have a nature lab with animals, plants and specimens for students to study and reference in their art to make sure all the details are right. If you attend RISD, you’ll be among some great alumni company with Shepard Fairey, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, James Franco, and Kara Walker.
San Francisco Art Institute - San Francisco, CA
If you’re looking for an art school on the West Coast, the San Francisco Art Institute is the Bay Area’s answer. At their School of Studio Practice, you can study traditional subjects like painting, sculpture, photography, or printmaking, or one of their unconventional programs like new genres, which focuses on experimental art that crosses mediums and cultural practices. The San Francisco Art Institute has a long list of notable alumni, including street artist Barry McGee, painter Kehinde Wiley, and photographer Annie Leibovitz.
Fashion Institute of Technology – New York, NY
If apparel is your thing, the Fashion Institute of Technology is a great option in New York City, but they don’t just focus on fashion. They also have toy design, computer animation, fine arts, and interactive media programs. FIT is also a great choice because it’s part of the State University of New York, which means tuition will be a lot less hard on your wallet. You’re probably familiar with a lot of their alumni with Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, Carolina Herrera, and Patrick McNeil of the street art duo FAILE on their roster.
Massachusetts College of Art and Design - Boston, MA
The Massachusetts College of Art and Design offers a bunch of art degree programs like ceramics, graphic design, printmaking and sculpture, as well as art instruction programs like community studio education, which prepares students for working outside of K-12 schools in after-school, recreation, medical, and mental health settings. Painter Maya Hayuk, photographer William Wegman, and art collective Paper Rad all attended the MCAD.
School of the Art Institute of Chicago - Chicago, IL
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago encourages exploration among its students with an open curriculum. In addition to the usual art school classes like painting, drawing and sculpture, they have a diverse variety of course offerings focusing on subjects like public space, DIY, comics and graphic novels, and more. This flexibility seems perfect for creative types, and is probably why world-renowned artists like painter Georgia O’Keefe, illustrator Edward Gorey, and sculptor Claes Oldenburg attended SAIC.
California Institute of the Arts - Los Angeles, CA
If you’re dream is to work for Pixar, you’re going to want to attend the California Institute of the Arts since the company often recruits talent from the school. Also known as CalArts, the school was founded and created by Walt Disney in the 1960s, and has great art, graphic design, photography, film, and character and experimental animation programs. Besides having a long list of alumni who have worked with Pixar, Tim Burton is also a notable graduate. A fun fact is that “A113” appears in every Pixar film, a reference to the character animation classroom number at CalArts.
Pratt Institute - Brooklyn, NY
Pratt Institute’s main campus is located in the NYC borough of Brooklyn where they offer 22 art degree programs to choose from, including advertising, web design, fashion, industrial design, illustration, painting, and more. Their programs emphasize balancing practical skills with artistic vision in the hope of improving the world. Their list of attendees is impressive with street artists like Swoon and Cake, fashion designers Betsey Johnson and Jeremy Scott, and even the character Pam from The Office.
Yale University
While Yale might not be the first college you would associate with art, they have amazing art programs. The school has also educated some artists who are kind of a big deal like Chuck Close, Richard Serra and Maya Lin. The School of Art offers courses in graphic design, painting, drawing, photography, and printmaking, so you can get a really well rounded art education.
College application season can be an intimidating time period, especially when faced with the task of choosing the perfect school to invest you time (and money) into. Things can seem even more complicated for the artistically inclined that want to spend the next four academic years studying a craft that they’ve grown to accept as a lifestyle. Thankfully, a good amount of schools out there in the brave new world specialize in teaching and preparing you for a career in the arts.
Take a look at the 10 best art schools worth attending for the upcoming fall semester. Follow up with your academic advisor to see if any of the following universities are a right fit for you.