Where else should we look?

brianm02
Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:46:50 +0000

Hey catmom2, I live about three hours south of U of Ill. I have a couple friends who are there for education/accounting/etc. I’ve been on campus a number of times, and last winter I went up to talk to a man about their art education major, I believe he held some type of position with the undergrad art admissions.
I think Illinois’ campus is crazy amazing. The quad is a huge plain of grass surrounded by a lot of academic buildings, and the social life it holds is pretty sweet. Any nice day there are always people out reading, talking, playing catch. If I remember correctly, the fine arts building is still pretty close to the main campus, but off to the side, near the stadium.
About the quality of the department, I’m not too sure. When I visited there was a small show up with medium sized works. I think a mixture of drawing and painting. Coming from MICA, the work seemed to be of the same quality as I’d see on campus, but didn’t have as strong of a presence or concept to it. I was sort of turned off by the guy I talked to. Speaking about the field of art ed. he basically told me with a degree there it wouldn’t be too hard to find a job, because “it’s U of Illinois”. Sure your school should matter, but work should reign in my eyes. I do believe all undergrads get a pretty nice sized studio though. If I’m not mistaken, the department chair got her degree from Illinois as well. I kind of wish they would have brought in someone from somewhere else though. I believe she was suppose to meet with me when I visited, but she was busy, so I really don’t know much about her.
Uhhhh, anything else?