<p>I am a high school junior potentially looking at going to art school, who is also protanopic, ie color blind. I know that may seem strange that an artist is color blind (no the world is not black and white, i just have trouble with differentiating green and red when the saturation/brightness levels are similar), but really it i dont find it that limiting at all, i mean especially as a graphic designer (the field im looking into) we are supposed to create designs fully accessible to the color deficient. What better way than to have the designer already that way? :)</p>
<p>My question is what art schools policy regarding color blind students is, should i overlook it, mention it, show the positives/advantages of it, etc?..</p>
<p>I think you should definitely mention it. They will probably consider you an interesting prospective student! I would imagine that you would be exempt from or get special consideration in any color theory classes or discussions. If not, be ready to pull rank as a “disabled” student. Your idea of listing the advantages is a good one.</p>
<p>Ok
I will tell you the biggest secret. my kid is the one. red/green
I am sorry to say this, it is going to be hard to be a commercial artist. because you are expected to do entry level job: correcting, labeling (gasp) colors.
then again, our job had (we make toys) art director who is colorblind but was said most hardest working, pleasant person. I came in after he was gone so I never gotten to talk to him. he did not excuse actual design, he was great people-people and find someone good at all things need to get done. </p>
<p>what we are told by eye specialist is, can not fly jet-plane, better not be interior designer or elementary school art teacher.
It did not stop him being artist of course, matter of fact, folks are generally impressed by his amazing use of (gasp) colors. </p>
<p>everyone, everywhere I met, visited school/art wise I asked the question how should he go about. It depends.
-hide it until grad level, if could help it (elite LAC)
-yes, you can and should pull disability stuff (nurturing art school)
-no problem, use it to advantage (cutting edge art school)
There is this guy used to have big-named gallery in Florida who contributed chapters in few books about art related career.
he said in there being color blind helped him to identify fake Picasso print because he could see subtle difference in black that Picasso never used.
He also paints for fun, and is well regarded by professional artists friends.
I wrote to him asking advice and he said no problem, go for it.
So is the head of museum association in the city, about possibility in museum career.
lastly, this Columbia scientist grandpa said everyone see things differently. "We say it’s red but it is actually not, at all. I say, it’s “yummy”
then he ate the strawberry he was observing.</p>
<p>I stopped worrying and he kept doing whatever. got in OK artschools with decent art merit (I know because GPA is lowlowlow)
so
I would consider bit carefully exactly what kind of job you’d want to do, other than that no worry.
what he does with great ease is, naturally, pen ink marker drawings and printmaking. nice black and white. I do love his crazy colors, too. pity I will never able to see what he is seeing.</p>
<p>I don’t know what made me think the OP was a girl. It’s my first day back at work, after the MCAD retrieve (more about that later). I’m still tired!! </p>
<p>H and nephew both are color blind. In addition D has aphakic bullous keratopathy, which creates halos around lights, makes her unable to work with UV (she couldn’t mig weld in her 3D class), and makes blue lines almost impossible to see. She’s learned to work around it. In 3D she explained the UV thing to her prof, and she let her heat weld instead. She did not pull disability thing, just explained the situation and found out the prof had a similar thing with the UV.</p>
<p>it’s way more common than you think in males. I forgotten stats but it was surprising.
There is some regional bias. Oliver Sacks wrote a book called “The Island of the Colorblind”
in devolved country, usually detected by school eye exam, but some place don’t have the budget or the system and since it does not affect vision, and can drive cars, some boys go live on without ever knowing. (the movie “Little Miss Sunshine”)
I often wonder that’s why some guys can’t dress. (my brother was the one, but fab painter as a kid) it could be genetic. more study should be done and available to un-brain people like me.
in our case, the school exam was when 1st grade and very lax. I hoped it was mistake or he did not follow directions (happened very often) but few years after at Museum of natural History show about vision, he could not see what his friend is seeing and freaked out. I told him it’s OK and he thought sort of cool.( Xmen movie was kind of big)
Then after MICA Italy, it become serious if this is what his life is or not. and (those colors he did was something, it’s plein air painting, aren’t they?)
went to specialist, confirmed but not that hard kind, just red/green
He was not on commercial track anyways, but somewhat affected his choice.
He transfered to academic HS and will be heading to low key LAC/area known to produce musician and cartoonists.</p>
<p>yeah, the prof at LAC ( not the one he is going) was colorblind himself. he came out after I asked the question. he is a ceramist and works professionally as well, his partner choose colors and he follows color chart system they built.
he advised not to tell during undergraduate to avoid stigma that attached to it. Once graduate school, environment is such, stigma is COOL!!!anything a-go!!! (Chuck Close comes to mind)
I can’t recall which UG school he went. It was some university art major.
then again, things must have changed since and if safety is the issue like your case, def. tell.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the insights guys. Mine isn’t a very serious case, in fact I was taking studio art for like five years until my teacher noticed my strange use of red on some evergreens ::)</p>
<p>So, basically it depends on the school how they look at color blind students?</p>
<p>I think so.
When my kid had interview with (cutting edge-sh) art school’s prof who does lots of writings about optical issues, he was told it does not matter at all to study under him. which puzzled me and wonder if cutting edge is a really good thing.
then again, if you do go to some real brain school, you might be able to combine scientific side of your (dis)ability to artsy side. I don’t know how exactly could be done, but it will be groundbreaking study.
If the school got all tech science gadget and specialist each, and way to get hands on science peer reviews around the world, and kids/profs you can team up with.
you’ll be a guinea pig, but so what.
… I was thinking all this ^^until reality hit. my kid won’t be able to get in to MIT CMU HYPS whatnot. but you might, no?
think about it. change the world for those little ones who can not make normal looking Christmas card out of red and green construction papers and crayons.</p>
<p>H did not know he ws color blind until he was about 12, when he got into a fight with some kid who insisted some car was green and he thought it was gray. Came home and his mom said what happened, he explained, and then his parents told him. He was ****ed they hadn’t said anything sooner.</p>
<p>I found this
<a href=“Vision simulator | Causes of Color”>Vision simulator | Causes of Color;
I don’t know if this is really how my kid sees stuff ( he can tell red if red is alone. same as green. only has trouble right next and touching each other to it, but still…)</p>
<p>Sachs did a book where he discussed a painter who had a brain injury and could no longer see any color. Continued painting and the plates/images were fascinating because he/she could still see variations of grays etc. I think it was “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.” The painter was not, however, the man who mistook his wife for a hat.</p>
<p>My son is an art student who is also red/green color-blind. He is currently finishing his third year of art school. He chose not to mention his color-blindness when applying to colleges since it is not well-understood by many people and he was afraid it might hurt his chances. He is a sculpture major and simply cannot use color in paintings or drawings in a way that looks right to most people, although it looks fine to me since I (his mom) am also red/green color-blind. He does lots of drawing with charcoal, pencils, and ink, but avoids the use of color. He was offered a full-tuition scholarship to several art colleges based on his drawings and sculptures from high school. He asks other students for advice if he needs to make any decisions regarding color.</p>
<p>SFL
yours at Massart, right? are you in-state?</p>
<p>you mean several, is more than one or two, correct?
like, how many, and where? if you don’t mind answering.
public or private?
I just told in other thread to this poor kid who wants BFA it is very few art schools that meet full financial need, esp. selective private (cough cough RISD) he is looking into.</p>
<p>I am a bit confused. How do you become an artist or designer being color blind? Yes, you might be able to fool the schools by not mentioning anything,but all foundation years include a course or two on color theory!</p>
<p>This may sound harsh, but even if you can get through some form of art school training, how do you get a job with that handicapp?</p>
<p>Maybe there are art related disciplines that don’t require color theory such as archtecture and City Planning. I would definintely worry about job prospects before you go headlong into an art program.</p>
<p>Color blind is kind of a misnomer, almost nobody sees the world as black and white. And even though I have trouble red/green Ive still done well with color theory before.</p>
<p>As to whether I can get a job, thats a good question. I personally think it’s to my advantage (don’t need to run the color blind filter in photoshop ), but what do employers think?</p>
<p>Yes, my son is at MassArt. We are from out of state. He was offered full tuition at two other private colleges (not including room and board). However, I think full-tuition offers may be fairly uncommon, at least none of the other students from his graduating class at a magnet arts high school were offered them. I have to add, though, that none of the other students applied to the schools that made him these offers. Perhaps it might also be due to sculpture being a somewhat less common major or a desire to attract students from other parts of the country. I think there also may have been some consideration of my income by MassArt, but not by the other schools. My income is very low. By the way, RISD was the only school he was accepted to that offered very little scholarship money.</p>
), but what do employers think?</p>