18 minute read

Count me In...

from Hartford Art School Viewbook

by University of Hartford

from Hartford Art School Viewbook, page 1

Hartford Art School Viewbook

Build Your Portfolio

Submit a portfolio as part of your application process. This is about you, Let’s take a look!

Your portfolio should contain 10–20 examples of your best work from the last two years.

Choose work that shows the breadth and depth of your art and highlights your ideas and conceptual abilities, as well as your technical skills, in any media. Show us what you believe are your strengths and interests. Experimentation, risk taking, and innovation are all the ingredients you need. Mix those together with skill building, craft, and technique—put it all together with intention.

Find inspiration in this sampling of portfolio submissions from applicants who are now HAS students.

Meet Us…

Go On, Apply First Year + Transfers

We strongly recommend that you arrange a personal portfolio review and campus visit as part of your decisionmaking process. Your individual review, interview, and tour can take place during business hours, Monday through Friday, and during University Open Houses and special Hartford Art School events. Please contact the Hartford Art School Admission Office for available dates and appointments, or refer to our website calendar.

Call us at 860.768.4158 or email artschool@hartford.edu.

To apply, submit your application and portfolio together, using: commonapp.org (preferred) and hartfordartschool.slideroom.com. Find us listed under University of Hartford. Your can also visit hartford. edu/apply, or hartford.edu/art for the UHart application.

In addition, paper applications may be submitted and portfolios shown to Hartford Art School representatives on National Portfolio Days, sponsored by the National Portfolio Day Association (NPDA), on regional portfolio days, or at your high school during our visit. Please contact the Hartford Art School Admission Office for details on dates and locations of NPDA events, or visit nationalportfolioday.org. See our website calendar at hartford.edu/art for all other admission events.

Be sure to include transcripts! Please note that test scores are optional.

Foundation Year First-Year Experience

Our program introduces you to the fundamentals of art making and design, while allowing you to explore specific areas of interest. You will develop at a professional level from your very first day on campus.

Foundation studio class sizes are intentionally small. In our first-year foundation program, you will learn to analyze your work, and to show sensitivity and perception in your response to other students’ efforts and issues in making work. Your mind is developed along with your eyes and hands, so that your ideas can better be translated into form and material.

By the time you’re getting ready for your sophomore year, you will understand the art of classroom critique and discussion, and have a clearer picture of what it means to be a part of the creative world today.

Fall Semester

In the fall semester, you will enhance your visual sensitivity and begin to develop your perceptual, intellectual, and technical skills in fundamental studio courses on 2D, 3D, and 4D design.

Additional courses in Academic Writing and Issues in Art Making will help you learn more about working as a contemporary artist. The semester culminates with the Foundation Program Exhibition in the art school’s Silpe Gallery.

A required 1-credit, First-Year Success Seminar will assist our students to be better citizens of the University and have a clear understanding of services offered to all UHart students. The seminar also focuses on valuable topics like time management for the studio artist and serves as the first step in the Hartford Art School’s scaffolded career readiness plan. Students are introduced to a networking platform called Handshake. You will build your profile and upload a résumé and samples of your work, moving you closer to building your professional network for internships, and employment opportunities.

Spring Semester

Throughout the spring semester, you will continue to develop the core areas that are essential to art making, while also choosing from a series of studio intensives in topic areas of your own interest. Spring semester studio intensives run for half of the semester, allowing you to create work in six different studio subjects. A second semester of Issues in Art Making, Academic Writing, and an additional three-credit academic course in either Art History or a General Education requirement will round out your firstyear experience.

Art History

Major | Subject Area Major | Minor

Why do people make art? Where do you find art? What can art tell us about our world? Why does some art cost millions of dollars? Art History majors grapple with these questions by studying art across history and cultures.

We offer students a wide variety of courses that cover art from around the globe, and across all methods of art making, including architecture, photography, performance, experimental media, and eco-art. Special courses are given in museum exhibition practices, writing, research, and the effects of globalization on artistic traditions.

The faculty’s professional projects introduce students to international artists and scholars, and allow them to access local and regional art collections. Students are urged to take advantage of study abroad programs in Europe, Africa, Australia, and elsewhere around the globe.

Hartford has a vibrant arts community. It is the home of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, the oldest public art museum in the nation with a world-renowned collection. Close by is the rapidly expanding New Britain Museum of American Art. Both offer internships to art history students, as do the Hill-Stead Museum, the Connecticut Historical Society, Real Art Ways, and several college and university galleries and private collections. Our students take advantage of exhibitions in our campus Galleries, and studio courses in the Hartford Art School.

What can you do with an art history degree?

Our art history grads have taken curatorial assistant/curator positions with the following institutions: Charles M. Schultz Museum, Santa Rosa, Calif.; National Scout Museum, Cimarron, N.M.; Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Mass., and The Studio Museum, New York City, as well as commercial galleries such as Pace and Lehman Maupin Galleries, N.Y.

Art and art history majors also work in museum administration positions— including in visitor services and as museum shop managers/buyers— as well as in museum education departments. Others have gone the auction house route while some have ventured into the art publishing market. Our students also work in conservation departments, art libraries, visual resource centers, art advising (for corporate and institutional entities), and in arts organization management.

Ceramics Major | Minor

The ceramics department instructs you in all phases of ceramic art. We provide a varied program that responds to your needs and helps you integrate technical facility with independent and creative thought.

You are encouraged to work with both ceramic sculpture and pottery in the introductory courses, and to realize your personal direction as you advance through the curriculum. All courses emphasize the simultaneous development of aesthetic and technical skills. We maintain an extensive selection of extracurricular learning opportunities, including field trips, exhibitions, and workshops designed to expose you to various modes of thought, work, and artworks by leading ceramic artists in the field.

Pottery, ceramics department head at Clay Art Center, and serve on the board of directors at Studio Potter Magazine.

Where do our students go after studying Ceramics at the Hartford Art School?

Advanced Studies

Our students continue their studies in post–baccalaureate programs at the likes of Penn State University, UMass Dartmouth, University of Michigan, and SUNY New Paltz.

Some have gone on to become artistsin-residence at places such as Archie Bray Foundation, Red Lodge Clay Center, Mendocino Art Center, Guilford Art Center, Clay Art Center, and Worcester Center for Crafts.

Many earned MFAs from Alfred University, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Ohio University, Penn State, UMass Dartmouth, the University of Washington, and RISD.

Working for

We have alumni teaching full-time at the University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Alaska Southeast, Cleveland Art Institute, Plymouth State College, St. Thomas Moore School, Anderson University, and Williston School Northampton.

Others adjunct at Parsons/New School for Design, Penn State, Montclair State College, Wesleyan Pottery, and Worcester Center for Crafts.

Others work as independent ceramic artists, a gallery director at Wesleyan

Illustration Major, Minor, Animation Minor

As an Illustration student, you will develop your illustration abilities to effectively convey visual concepts for clients in the marketplace. Our rigorous illustration program emphasizes conceptual problem solving, technical expertise, meeting deadlines, and other professional practices. We stress drawing skill and knowledge as the basis for all visual conceptualization. Students develop expertise with pen and ink techniques, watercolors, oils, acrylics, and digital media for the professional industry, including the children’s book, advertising, and editorial markets.

Professional standards are taught and maintained through sophomore and junior reviews. Our program prepares you to work at a professional level, giving you a comprehensive understanding of illustration and the ability to merge client needs with your own personal style.

Where do our students go after studying Illustration at the Hartford Art School?

Advanced Studies

Our students further their studies at School of Visual Arts, University of Georgia, New York Academy of Art, San Jose State University, Savannah College of Art and Design, Gnomon, Rochester Institute of Technology, Academy of Art University in San Francisco, and our own Low Residency Illustration MFA Program.

Working for

Graduates currently employed by The Wall Street Journal, American Girl, Scholastic Inc., PlayStation Entertainment, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Random House, Disney Interactive, People Magazine, Gameloft, Aetna, Deloitte, Social Gaming Network, and several other illustration and animation studios.

Our grads also work as freelance illustrators, children’s book illustrators, art directors, teachers, portrait artists, animators, comic book artists, medical illustrators, graphic designers, fine artists, photographers, tattoo artists, gallery coordinators, and even as a cake artist. Our students have been featured on the Discovery Channel’s American Chopper, Cake Boss, and Miami Ink.

Animation Minor

The Illustration department offers an animation minor for students interested in pursuing the animation and gaming industry after graduation. This program blends traditional drawing skills with digital applications including Photoshop, Maya, and After Effects to prepare students for the industry.

Painting/Drawing Major | Minor

Our Painting and Drawing department encourages you to develop personally significant ideas that reference painting’s rich history and contribute to its lively contemporary conversation. The faculty’s diverse points of view create a dynamic, rigorous environment, where you are encouraged to explore technical, aesthetic, and conceptual issues before focusing your work in preparation for a senior thesis presentation.

Drawing and painting are closely linked visual practices—and an understanding of one enriches a maturing practice of the other. The department’s fluid definition of these disciplines underscores our understanding that the contemporary art world is widely interdisciplinary in nature. Students in both concentrations participate in curricula designed to provide your emerging individual voices with the technical and conceptual grounding necessary for effective expression.

Where do our students go after studying painting/drawing at the Hartford Art School?

Painting alums go on to do many exciting things, including advanced studies at institutions like Cranbrook Academy of Art, Northwestern University, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, NYU, University of Pennsylvania, the Glasgow School of Art, New York Academy of Art, Tyler School of Art, Cal Poly, Pomona, and many others.

Our graduates work for galleries, museums, and arts advocacy agencies, and teach at the elementary, secondary, college, and university levels around the country.

Arts In Healthcare

Students in Associate Professor Cat Balco’s Arts in Healthcare course use art therapy to engage residents at Wintonbury Care Center in Bloomfield, Conn. Students apply skills gained from professional artists and art therapists to help them connect with Wintonbury residents, bringing out their artistic sides.

Photography Major | Minor

Our Photography department emphasizes the use of the photographic medium as an artistic tool. While some courses address commercial issues, the focus of our department is toward producing visual artists who use photography as a primary means of expression. A variety of formats are integrated within a curriculum that includes experimental, narrative, and documentary approaches to the medium. You will be trained in blackand-white and color wet processes, studio practices, digital technologies, and a variety of historical techniques. A senior exhibition marks the culmination of the program of study. The Hartford Art School is one of the few schools supporting both analogue and digital photography facilities.

Advanced Studies

Photography graduates have pursued advanced degrees at prestigious institutions that include Yale University, SUNY Buffalo, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Cranbrook Academy of Art, RISD, Lesley University, Hunter College, and Bard College.

Teaching

Many graduates go on to teach in private schools and at the collegiate and university levels. Some work as freelance photographers, photo assistants, and gallery-based artists.

Working for

Alumni have gone on to jobs in arts administration, photo editing positions, and to work in the marketing and advertising industries as art directors and creative directors, and others open their own studios.

Printmaking Major | Minor

Our Printmaking department will provide you with the technical and aesthetic instruction and critical-thinking skills necessary to develop as working print artists. You will create work in a variety of fine art print media to develop a distinctive vision, artistic voice, and professional approach. Printmaking is an extension of drawing; thus, your drawing and compositional skills are developed along with those of printmaking.

You learn the basics of the major print techniques and must achieve mastery in lithography and etching. Color and black-and-white processes are taught in all media within the program. Both old and new technologies are investigated in relationship to the print process.

You will also be encouraged to pursue other areas of the printmaking curriculum, such as relief, monotype, silkscreen, letterpress printing, and book arts. Cross-disciplinary study and minors are encouraged.

Where some of our Printmaking alums go after studying at HAS:

Advanced Studies

Our grads have earned advanced degrees at Columbia College Chicago, Wesleyan University, New York Academy of Art, Quinnipiac University, University of Nebraska, Univerity of Iowa, RISD, Syracuse University, Savannah College of Art and Design, University of the Arts’ and University of Tennessee.

Working for

Alumni go on to work for PACE Editions, Hartford Prints, Tamarind Institute, New Britain Museum of American Art, Mattatuck Museum, Silvermine Arts Center, Jeff Koons Studio, Springfield Museum, Brattleboro Museum, Kate Spade, and Nike. Also, some work at/or own their own private presses: Wingate Press, Ama-Bel Press, and Watermark Press.

Teaching

You will find our graduates teaching at Tyler School of Art, Rutgers University, UGA Cortona, Pensacola State College, Westminster School, and the Loomis

Southern Graphics Council International (SCG)

HAS printmaking students and faculty show off their work for a larger audience at the annual SGC International Print Conference, hosted in a different city each year.

Helen S Kaman Print Study Center

The Center gives students access to 2,000 prints, drawings, photographs, and artists’ books in the HAS collection. Many of the prints in the collection are products of the Art School’s annual Hartford Print Workshop. The workshop brings in artists to work with students and master printers to create editions of work in the HAS printmaking studios.

Sculpture Major | Minor

The Sculpture department recognizes and fosters the broad diversity of styles, techniques, and independent conceptual visions that define the field of contemporary sculpture.

in the art of sculpture and prepare you for a variety of post-grad opportunities, such as employment in related fields or continuation toward advanced degrees.

The Sculpture department primarily focuses on having you develop work that is broadly based—both in concept and execution. Our curriculum promotes independent exploration. Within this framework, you will be taught to develop a strong personal voice, whether that is achieved through progressive interdisciplinary pursuits, or the more traditional means of sculpture making.

Where some of our Sculpture alums go after studying at HAS

Advanced Studies

Our grads have earned MFA’s at Yale University, CalArts, Maine College of Art, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Columbia, Transart Institute, and UConn. And you will find some of them teaching at Otis College of Art and Design, University of Michigan, and the Hartford Art School.

Working For

Our recent graduates work for organizations that assist artists in the production of work, such as Johnson Atilier and Urban Glass and Design. Some have established their own studios/production facilities, such as Murmuration, LLC., and Evari Studio— while others run their own galleries.

Our goal is to provide you sound instruction in a wide range of approaches to sculpture production. We strive to achieve a solid grounding

Visual Communication Design Major | Minor

Visual Communication Design (VCD) teaches you the development of visual language systems for communication. We emphasize practice, theory, methodology, and history, which are the foundations of the discipline. You will learn that the static and interactive products of design are developed with a conscious integration of the human factor, technology, and aesthetics. We encourage you to become designers who function as interpreters of communication in a social context. This requires not only specific vocational tasks, but also critical thinking and intellectual flexibility. Toward this goal, the program is intended to provide you with a broad educational background within a profession.

Most VCD majors enter the field after their studies at HAS

Working For

Alumni have gone on to work for ESPN, IBM, The Hartford, Yale University, Travelers, Oxygen Network, WWE, Moo, DDB/Spike, Rolling Stone, Discovery Channel, ONE campaign, Pentagram, Coach, Tracy Locke, Landor Associates, MoMA, The Met, 92nd Street Y, Design Within Reach, AstraZeneca, Digitas, AOL, META, CVS Health, American Express, NBC Universal, Razorfish, Disney, Digitas, Hill Holliday, Zipcar, AFAR Magazine, Conde Nast, and The Limited Brands, as well as smaller boutique agencies, design, and advertising studios.

After gaining valuable experience in the field of design, many alums have opened their own design studios and agencies in major cities and small towns across the United States.

Advanced Studies

Some have gone on to graduate-level studies at institutions such as the School of Visual Arts, Pratt, Vermont College of Fine Arts, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Fashion Institute of Technology, and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Teaching

VCD graduates have gone on to teach in both tenure track and adjunct positions at Parsons School of Design, University of Cincinnati, Pace University, University of Bridgeport, Manchester Community College, Tunxis Community College, and Northwest Connecticut Community College.

Civic Design

Civic Design is a student-based visual communication studio established to provide professional communication solutions to area nonprofit organizations. It gives students real-life job experience and operates as a realistic professional design studio. The course is open to designers, painters, illustrators, photographers, and creative writers. Clients include the New Britain Museum of American Art, Literacy Volunteers of Greater Waterbury, Friends of Bloomfield Public Library, Interval House, Dog Star Rescue, Friends of Zion Hill Cemetary, the New Britain Youth Theater, The Children’s Museum of West Hartford, the Ron Foley Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer, the Canton Public Library, and The Hartt School.

The liberal arts train students to thrive in subjectivity and ambiguity, a necessary skill in the tech world where few things are black and white.

**Michelle Kreinsen | Painting + Drawing**

This article is from:

Hartford Art School Viewbook

by University of Hartford