what are the different art schools known for?

[annandale]

Hoping people might be willing to chat about art schools. Not something I know anything about, though I love looking at art. DS it turns out is doing very well at art and at 12 is sure he wants art school. I'm not daft enough to think this is definite obvs, but would love to know what the areas of strength in different schools are. The only course I have seen at closish quarters is the Fine Art at Oxford Brookes course, which seemed very focused on conceptual art and academics, I guess not surprising in a course within a university.

I would think of a specialist art school as 'better' for art, would you agree? Do they specialise further, unofficially or officially?

Bump

I am absolutely not an expert but if you look at the various courses at the University of the Arts London (UAL) you will get a flavour of what is on offer at a specialist art college. Within the individual establishments in UAL, there is a wide variety. Also, look at well known artists and see where they studied. Art Colleges offer degrees, and are part of universities, so it is a case of seeing what type if course your DC will like. He may want photography or even textile design in 5 years time. Lots of courses like students to do a foundation course before they start the degree so that is worth looking at too.

What I would recommend is if he's serious at art, look at your local FE colleges to see what post-16 courses they run which specialise in the arts.

Or after A Levels look at the local colleges' foundation courses for Art.

Talk to the tutors there - if they know their stuff about art they will typically know about the different universities and what they all offer and what their admissions requirements are like.

I don't think you need to be worrying about different kinds of universities yet if it's arts he's interested in - they all tend to interview and look at portfolios, and it's more about potential and attitude than it is years of pre-preparation like the top academic universities can sometimes be.

Just encourage him to create - draw, photograph, paint, digital, whatever it is he likes to do - as much as he wants to.