Year 2 update: This year my son, whose love is film, has chosen to major in design. The film program looks quite poor at PNCA (too wrapped up in “film as art” rather than something more useful).
The design program is superb and the work he’s doing is excellent. He’s challenged tremendously by the projects and is making huge progress.
So, all-in-all, PNCA is turning out to be a very solid experience for him — and far better than the disaster he encountered at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Certainly there are the same kinds of conceptual artists around PNCA and they’d drive him crazy if he was in the general “art” program. But within design he’s learning from the best and doing well.
(Nationally recognized designers thrive in Portland through the extensive consumer goods world/US headquarters or design headquarters here. Nike. addidas. Keen. Columbia Sportswear. Merrill. many more shoe companies. W+K (Weiden & Kennedy) and much more. Great talent pool here for the school to draw on.)