The Best Art Schools in the Country

At least that’s what many people seem to think.

The truth of the matter, however, is that art schools offer the opportunity to learn about life in a much more intimate way than would be learned in a business or technical school. Or even in a medical school.

Art schools are designed to tap into the heart and soul of life. Life of the individual artist as well as the life of the artist’s community or nation, or more. Art captures the pulse of humankind as described by the spirit of the artist.

In order to train an artist to think, and feel, in such a universal language, art schools do teach technique and the mechanics of the medium. But they teach so much more.

Art almost never works without perspective of the history leading up to the work itself. For this reason, history is an important consideration in art schools everywhere.

The science of chemistry is instrumental in art schools, too. Without knowledge of chemistry, it’s almost impossible to mix paints, inks, and other media in the way needed to deliver the desired message.

It’s easy to understand where the study of anatomy and physiology fit nicely into medical schools but art schools, too, rely on knowledge of the human body to make sculpture speak and dance delight.

Psychology plays a tremendous role in both the creation and the interpretation of works of art. This subject is discussed in art schools every day.

And the venerated, and daunting, study of mathematics is instrumental in art schools everywhere. Visual arts are a mess without an understanding of perspective and composition, both of which rely heavily on geometry. Music is simply writing sound in such a way that the whole is equal to so very much more than the individual notes that populate it.

Art schools are fun. And for the serious scholar, they may be a lot more fun than ever anticipated.