Is there a school somewhere with a Deco focus?
Michael Kern
Greetings,
Hope I am not being dumb here, but I am trying to help my daughter out
with something. She is a senior here in Portland at Grant HS, and she
has already decided that she's going to to take a year off when she
graduates before she starts college. That's a fine idea I think, no
problem there. But I'm a little worried about her actually getting
things together in that year off. Her interests spawn and die with a
life span of 6-8 weeks usually.
But anyway, the one thing she has been interested in for years and
years is Art Deco design. Furniture and architecture and everything. Is
it possible - any of you out there - that there is a college program
(major/minor/area of concentration/whatever) that focuses on Art Deco
design? I feel like that would be something she could rally around, even
if she ends up doing something else, just something to get her thinking
seriously about school.
Is there hope for us? Abybody heard of such a thing?
Thanks, and have wonderful holidays everyone,
Michael Kern
Sig:
"To philosophize is to doubt."
-Montaigne
"Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things."
-Diderot
Jerry Terper
It's a general resource and not specific to design
schools, but you might try www.collegequest.com.
It's a cllege info sight which also has an electronic
college application system. You could even set it
up and do a lot of the application stuff for her,
if it came to that. <G>
Jerry^
Michael Kern wrote...
Too true, too true.
Daniel Vena
> Greetings,
>
> Hope I am not being dumb here, but I am trying to help my daughter out
> with something. She is a senior here in Portland at Grant HS, and she
> has already decided that she's going to to take a year off when she
> graduates before she starts college. That's a fine idea I think, no
> problem there. But I'm a little worried about her actually getting
> things together in that year off. Her interests spawn and die with a
> life span of 6-8 weeks usually.
Hmmm, sounds like just about ever teenager on the face of this planet :)
Don't worry yourself on that.
> But anyway, the one thing she has been interested in for years and
> years is Art Deco design. Furniture and architecture and everything. Is
> it possible - any of you out there - that there is a college program
> (major/minor/area of concentration/whatever) that focuses on Art Deco
> design? I feel like that would be something she could rally around, even
> if she ends up doing something else, just something to get her thinking
> seriously about school.
Art Deco is a certain style of design. As with any "style," you should
ALWAYS learn the basics first. You should have a robust enough library of
styles you know so that you can draw from many sources, instead of being
stuck in the same old rut over and over again. Her best bet is to figure
out WHAT she wants to design in deco, then find a major. Art deco furniture
and art deco design are pretty unique in and of themselves.
--
daniel vena - click2 media
http://www.click-2.net/
Jester
well i tried to email you Mr. kern but obviously i didn't check the email
and its a Spam free one.
onward......you might want to try the adschool in Miami. its located in
south beach. although this is primarily a graphic design/TV production/art
school/portfolio center, it is in the middle of the largest art deco scene
in the country.
i dont know if you have ever been to south beach, but the whole city is done
in the '50s art deco style. its everywhere.
moreover, the school is very high priced. the former owners of the infamous
portfolio school in Atlanta moved to south beach sold the portfolio school
to someone else and created the adschool. www.adschool.com
from what I've heard jobs are *almost* guaranteed upon graduation. the
people teaching there are THAT good.
hope this helps,
J
William O. Barrett
> But anyway, the one thing she has been interested in for years and
> years is Art Deco design. Furniture and architecture and everything. Is
> it possible - any of you out there - that there is a college program
> (major/minor/area of concentration/whatever) that focuses on Art Deco
> design? I feel like that would be something she could rally around, even
> if she ends up doing something else, just something to get her thinking
Deco is a small, specialized, historical field. That by itself makes
locating thyings difficult. Additionally, there is the question whether
your daughter is approaching this from a historical point of view (does
she want to study it as it was practiced 75 years ago, as in design
history) or does she want to MAKE things now that have a deco flavor?
These are two distinctly different activities from an academic
perspective.
I know of no schools that offer courses, let alone entire programs, in
CREATING deco-like designs. Perhaps there are some, but I haven't heard
of them. There are likely to be some large art history departments that
would teach a course or two in deco history. As one other poster said
above, you can probably get into design activity mainly by studying
design in general (furniture design, product design, architecture,
graphic design, etc) and then adding your own deco flair afterwards,
once the basics are learned. That may be a long way aorund..........
My suggestion, if she is taking a year off, is that try to get an
internship somewhere that has a deco focus. There is a wonderful museum
in Miami devoted almost entirely to deco (can't remember the name, but
can't be hard to find). There may be other museums taht would take in
an intern. If she can locate any design firms with a deco leaning,
perhaps she can approach them too. In the end, whether she is thinking
about the art and design approach, or the historical approach, she will
have to go to a college that will proabbly not offer much, if anything
in the way of deco, and will expect her to go through the regular
curriculum in design or history. She needs to think more long term
about what she is really interested in.........
chris*thornton
>
>It's a general resource and not specific to design
>schools, but you might try www.collegequest.com.
>It's a cllege info sight which also has an electronic
>college application system. You could even set it
>up and do a lot of the application stuff for her,
>if it came to that. <G>
>
>Jerry^
Well what is good about collegequest and also the petersons.com
site it's attached to is that you can keyword-search all program and
school descriptions. You might find soethig just by typing in "deco",
who knows?
I don't know about art deco programs, but here's somebody who
might: http://www.art-deco.org/--it's the art deco society of
California. You're in Portland *Oregon* I'm guessing. But who cares
anyway--it's online. Check their site, then email or call them if you
still need help.
Best luck to you Michael.
-Chris
>Michael Kern wrote...
>>
>>Greetings,
>>
>> Hope I am not being dumb here, but I am trying to help my daughter out
>>with something. She is a senior here in Portland at Grant HS, and she
>>has already decided that she's going to to take a year off when she
>>graduates before she starts college. That's a fine idea I think, no
>>problem there. But I'm a little worried about her actually getting
>>things together in that year off. Her interests spawn and die with a
>>life span of 6-8 weeks usually.
>> But anyway, the one thing she has been interested in for years and
>>years is Art Deco design. Furniture and architecture and everything. Is
>>it possible - any of you out there - that there is a college program
>>(major/minor/area of concentration/whatever) that focuses on Art Deco
>>design? I feel like that would be something she could rally around, even
>>if she ends up doing something else, just something to get her thinking
>>seriously about school.
Randy Gordon-Gilmore
spamless...@anote.com said...
> But anyway, the one thing she has been interested in for years and
>years is Art Deco design. Furniture and architecture and everything. Is
Michael,
I'm not a designer (mechanical engineer, but try not to hold it against me!)
but have a strong Art Deco/Streamline interest. I don't know about schools,
but the single best book on Art Deco design I've seen is "Art Deco Interiors -
Decoration and Design Classics of the 1920's and 1930's" by Patricia Bayer,
published in 1990 by Bulfinch. It is a fabulous resource for both original and
"deco revival" design, and is chock full of photos for inspiration.
Best regards,
Randy
--
Randy Gordon-Gilmore ,----.___________ ______________ _________________
ProtoTrains // = = === == || == == == = || == == == = == =|
Benicia, CA, USA /-O==O------------o==o------------o==o-----------o==o-'
gord...@ix.netcom.com http://www.netcom.com/~gord-gil
de...@islandnet.com
spamless...@anote.com (Michael Kern) wrote:
>
> Greetings,
>
> Hope I am not being dumb here, but I am trying to help my daughter out
> with something. She is a senior here in Portland at Grant HS, and she
> has already decided that she's going to to take a year off when she
> graduates before she starts college.
JOD replies
Michael, greetings and best wishes for the season to you and your daughter.
Let me join in with those who have a partial answer to your daughter's
question. One year is only enough to get to the beginning of an answer. You
might suggest that your daughter drop in at The Bard Graduate Center's home
page http://www.bard.edu/ and, if she is still interested, send off for their
catalog. It is a graduate program but the catalog will give your daughter a
good overview of the different fields in the decorative arts. The second
suggestion would be to start at any of the standard big museum sites - get to
them through the 'arts and entertainment, etc.' sections on any of the big
web search engines - and just follow her interest. After a few hours her
history log will show her what has attracted her attention. Another good
place to start might be at Ragnarok Press' site http://www.ragnarokpress.com/
John Oliver Dendy
Woodcarver & Casemaker
Saanichton, BC
de...@islandnet.com
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