Art school is a colloquial term for any educational institution (whether secondary, post-secondary/undergraduate, or graduate/postgraduate) with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially graphic design, illustration, painting, photography, and sculpture. They are distinguished from larger institutions which may also offer majors or degrees in the visual arts, but only as one part of a broad-based range of programs (such as the liberal arts and sciences).
If accredited as a college, most art schools grant a Bachelor of Fine Arts, or a Fine Art B.A. in the United Kingdom, and perhaps other degrees.
Art school culture
Students in art school are typically known to have bohemian values and an art school lifestyle.
The art school lifestyle is often characterised with the high sensitivity to implicit or subtextual meanings, contempt for mass media, being sexually provocative, and heavily concerned with social protest and cultural theory.
(see also postmodernity)
Art schools
Art and design schools in the United States
In the U.S. Art and Design schools that offer BFA and/or MFA degrees break down into basic types with some overlap and variations. At the most fundamental is a small, private art or design school. O'More College of Design, Maine College of Art, Montserrat College of Art, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, etc. would all be representative of that model. Add to that the larger private art schools, like the Rhode Island School of Design, Art Center College of Design, Savannah College of Art and Design, Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, Pratt Institute, University of the Arts, Philadelphia and Otis College of Art and Design. Some of these schools belong to a consortium called AICAD (Association of Independent Colleges of Art & Design).
There are also partnerships between art schools and universities such as the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in conjunction with Tufts University, or Herron School of Art at Indiana University. There is one state supported independent art school in the U.S., Massachusetts College of Art.
Next up the scale in size would be a large art or design department, school, or college at a university. If it is a college, such as the College of Design[1] at Iowa State University, it would typically contain programs that teach studio art, graphic design, photography, architecture, landscape architecture, interior design or interior architecture, and art, design, and architecutral history areas. Sometimes these are simply the schools of Art, Architecture, and Design like at the College of Fine & Applied Arts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, or the Yale School of Art. Some variations on that theme can be found. The essential element to know is that programs at universities tend to include more liberal arts courses and slightly less studio work compared to dedicated but independent schools of art.
The final and most common state supported or private program would be at a university or college. It is typically a BA program but might also be a BFA, MA, or MFA. These programs tend to emphasis a more general degree in art and do not require a major in a specific field but might offer concentrations. A concentration is not accepted by some accrediting or professional organizations as enough study in some fields for success as a professional. This is the case for graphic design, where typically the minimal degree is a BFA major in graphic design.
Many of the degree offering institutions do not offer intense training in classical realism and academic painting and drawing. This gap is filled by Atelier art schools (schools located inside an artist's studio) such as The New School of Classical Art.
Art schools in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, an indefinite number of such institutions exist, differing in size, number and administration.
Perhaps those generally felt most applicable to the definition of 'art school', however, are the autonomous Colleges or Schools of Art offering courses across both further and higher education boundaries, of which there are approximately eighteen, under the banner of United Kingdom Art & Design Institutions Association. Others, whose existence ties in indelibly with that of larger, non-discipline-specific universities (such as the Slade School of Art) exist. Most art schools of either orientation are equipped to offer opportunities spanning from post-16 to postgraduate level.
The range of colleges span from predominantly further education establishments to research-led specialist institutes; the Royal College of Art with its degree-awarding arm and singular focus on postgraduate awards being a most singular exception.
Since the 1970s, degrees have replaced diplomas as the top-tier qualification in the field. In the case of wholly freestanding institutions, degree validation agreements in liaison with a university have long been the custom for B.A. (Hons) level upwards. There has been a general trend for all-encompassing Universities to offer programs in the visual arts, and formerly independent art schools have merged with polytechnics and universities to offer such degrees. A few art schools have taken on university status themselves; both London's Royal College of Art and the University of the Arts maintain their specialist focus and offer degrees under their own banner.
Most specialist institutions in the United Kingdom can trace their histories back to the 19th century or beyond, not unusually as Government Schools of Design / Art.