pre-college : curriculum

Curriculum

You can choose one of five majors - Painting, Sculpture, Ceramics, Photography or Graphic design - and work with that medium in-depth. The curriculum also includes foundation classes in drawing and design that will help you improve your technical skills and strengthen your portfolio for admission to the country's foremost schools of art and design. Studio work is complemented by art history and workshops with visiting artists.  Outside the studio you will have evening and weekend activities that will expand your horizons and introduce you to the environment that attracts artists to Maine year after year.

The ceramics studio at MECA is an exceptional facility and lets you explore a wide range of work. Participants will consider how to translate form into ideas through functional pots, vessels, and even large-scale sculpture using wheel throwing and handbuilding construction techniques. Intensive instruction is also given in surface design and glazing.

Graphic Design increases your visual literacy by exploring the principles of good design and learning to integrate fundamental design elements and typography. You will work with digital tools of the trade. Projects may include posters, maps, signs, brand identity, packaging, and book covers.

Painting investigates color use, composition, and the inventive process involved in producing successful images on paper or canvas. Class sessions will include work from still life, interiors, landscape, and imagination. Focus will be on personal visual expression and the free use of the paint surface

Photography develops one’s visual vocabulary as well as technical proficiency to express a personal vision. The curriculum includes camera operation, principals of exposure, black and white film processing/printing and picture content. (Students will provide their own 35mm manually operated camera in good working condition.

Sculpture introduces you to ways of expressing your ideas in three-dimensional form. Because sculpture is so much a process of working ideas and materials together at varying scales, students develop strategies for reasoning and coping with the unexpected. You may work with a variety of materials including metal and clay.

Drawing from observation is a key component of an artist's training Emphasis is placed on line, tone, value, elements of structure and composition through studies of still life, landscape, and the figure.

Classroom assignments and individual guidance will help to strengthen your drawing skills. Group critique sessions will help you understand drawing as a medium.

Design classes gives one an understanding of fundamental visual elements present in all art making. Two-Dimensional Design investigates visual language through exercises that explore the principles of figure-ground relationships, composition, balance, rhythm, pattern, scale, value, and color.

Many of same considerations apply to Three-Dimensional Design, with a special emphasis placed on the exploration of form and space, and the consideration of mass, volume, and scale. In addition students learn that each material has unique qualities, benefits and limitations, and understanding those parameters is essential in bringing any idea to its successful fruition.

All art has a context, and Art History helps you understand how past and contemporary artists have responded to their surroundings and how they  influenced  culture. Slide lectures and class discussion will be complemented by a visit to the museum.

Portfolio Development

Many Pre-College alumni go on to apply for admission to the country's top colleges of art and design. Pre-College helps strengthen your skills and build your portfolio.

Faculty critiques provide a supportive and valuable dimension to the curriculum. Critiques give you practice in talking about your own work and appreciating the work of others. You have the option of meeting with MECA’s Admissions counselors, who review student portfolios and provide individual feedback. Students are coached in the presentation of their portfolios and receive a CD documenting their portfolio work.

Our Faculty

Pre-College faculty are dedicated professionals and college instructors who teach at Maine College of Art or other art schools and art departments around the nation. Their education and experience reflect the College’s national reputation, its dedication to a solid studio foundation, and the strength of its studio majors. Teaching assistants are advanced students or graduates of Maine College of Art who work with the faculty in classrooms and monitor the open studios.