Author Dan Pink said that a Master in Fine Arts is replacing a Master in Business Administration in the modern world. A few seniors this year made the decision to get a degree in art before starting their careers.
Senior Rico Jackson, who is going to the Columbus College of Art and Design, chose art school because of his interest in art from a young age.
He feels that art is one of the areas he has the most talent in.
“People have always told me I’ve been good at art,” Jackson said. “I’ve been drawing since second grade, and naturally you want to do what you’re good at.”
Senior Lydia Hopmann chose art school because of the way art classes are set up.
“I really like the way [art classes] are structured,” Hopmann said. “I will be taking [art] classes where you’re sitting in a circle of people who are all there to create.”
Unlike Jackson, who chose to stay in Columbus, senior Yulia Coburn is going to Parson’s New School of Design in New York, which is the number one school of fashion design in the country.
“Basically, 75 percent of people who work on Seventh Avenue went to Parson’s,” Coburn said.
Hopmann said she is undecided about which art school she is going to attend next year, but she said that her number one choice would be the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.
“[It has] everything I like: it’s in New York, and I want to major in fashion design, and it’s near the center of fashion,” Hopmann said.
Senior Robert Monsarrat is going to CCAD to work on his character design.
“[I will be attending] CCAD because it’s close and because I don’t have to move very far away from my family, and it’s in Columbus, so I know my way around the neighborhood,” Monsarrat said.
Majoring in fine arts is not the only path through art school, Hopmann explained, as she will be majoring in fashion design. She added that she hopes she will eventually become a fashion designer or the creative director of a fashion magazine.
“Everything I like to do is incorporated in fashion design, so even if I don’t end up doing fashion for a living it will help me in whatever I want to do,” Hopmann said. Coburn also plans to major in fashion design at Parson’s because of her love for that art style.
“[Fashion design] is the only passion I have in this life,” Coburn said.
Aside from fashion, there are other majors in art school; Jackson is planning on majoring in illustration because of its lack of boundaries.
“You can be more creative and expressive with illustration than you can with any other means of expression,” Jackson said. “You can draw things that aren’t real, but for example, in photography, you can’t take pictures of things that aren’t real.”
Hopmann was afraid of what her parents would think about her interest in design school at first but found out that her parents support her.
“[My parents] have actually been really supportive, I used to think it was bad to go to a trade school, and I was freaking out, but they’ve actually been supportive and glad I found something I love,” she said.
Coburn said that her parents have been supportive of her decision to attend an art school from early on.
“I’ve been wanting to go [to Parson’s] since eighth grade,” Coburn said. “[My parents] were never the kind of parents who said don’t go to art school because you can’t get a real job.”
Although Hopmann is excited about going to design school, she has some anxiety as to what the future will hold.
“It’s kind of scary for me because it’s going away from what I thought college was about, but I think it will be a good experience, and I’ll get to see if I really love art,” Hopmann said. “Art has such a big influence on society, and I just want to be a part of it.”
Published April 2008. Digitized 2025.
