franklinartsacademy

© Art Institute of Portland

Seniors at the University of Hartford fine arts college (UHa)must put together a portfolio of their work and prepare for their senior exhibitions prior to graduation.

Bob Machuga is one of these seniors, a Visual Communication Design (VCD) student who is preparing for his exhibition at the end of April. He said the process is stressful but rewarding, because it is motivation to achieve a high level of quality in his work. Machuga finds inspiration for his art in a unique source. He had owned a hedgehog for several years, and over this time he began to realize how bad the packaging for exotic animal food was. The poor packaging and lack of organic options gave him the idea to develop new branding as his senior product. After several months of hard work, his exhibition is coming together nicely.

© Christine Salek

The 2011 U.S. News & World Report on "America's Best Colleges" regarding the top liberal arts colleges in the country has listed Williams College as the No. 1 among the top tier national liberal arts colleges, followed closely by Amherst College and Swarthmore College.
Cornell has improved by 4 places and has been listed as the 80th college out of 250 arts colleges that have been compiled. It has also been ranked 34th on the list of colleges with a strong commitment to teaching. It has also won accolades because it believes in bringing a well rounded individual into the world under the heading "A+ plus schools for B students". Similarly, McDaniel College was also ranked as an A+ plus school for B students by the freshman retention rate.
The University of North Carolina at Asheville was 1 of the only arts colleges to make it to the U.S. News list of stellar schools for undergraduate research/creative projects. St. Olaf College also made it to the coveted list of top arts colleges and was ranked 51st.

© Christmas w/a K

There are plans in the works to build a new Integrated Arts Complex at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. The school already has a fine art college with a long history, going back to 1779. William & Mary was actually the first college in America to include "fine arts" in its curriculum, and in 1936 the college instituted the first "modern fine arts" department in the nation. In 1938, 126 American and European architects competed to build a "Festival Theater and Fine Arts Center" at the college, but after a winning design was selected, it was determined that there were not enough funds available for construction.

This time around, 73 years later, the college will fulfill its commitment to the arts by building the Integrated Arts Complex, which will house the departments of art and art history, music and theater, speech and dance, and would also become a new public entrance for the college.