Photography, Painting, Encaustic, Design
At Pratt I expect to achieve a greater understanding of visual arts and learn the requirements necessary for my selected field of study. Currently, I am a graduate from the College of Wooster looking to focus on Industrial Design. I would like this experience to help me gain the skills necessary for a career in the Design world that build upon my studio art skills. My goal is to leave this program with all the skills that are needed to get a job as an Industrial designer.
Of all the subfields, I am most interested in Industrial and Product Design. I would primarily like the opportunity to do toy, furniture, or general design. In addition to my undergraduate studio art degree, my experience with computers and technology is wide ranging; I have taken two years of basic computer programming and usage classes, and have extensive experience with software such as PhotoShop, Corel Draw, Pagemaker, Illustrator, and AutoCAD. Also, this past summer I worked as a graphic designer, editing, printing and setting up digital labs for professional photographers.
Next to graphics work, most of my art experience has been with photography. I have worked in a professional capacity, photographing children, weddings, and public entertainment. Academically, I spent one semester as a research assistant to a photography professor, and several months with an art photographer in New York. I work in black and white film, particularly with alternative processes, chemistry, papers and manipulation. I have worked with both small and large format cameras in digital and film. My manipulation work has also included building custom lenses, pinhole cameras, modifying found cameras, and integrating printed imagery with paint and encaustic media.
While at the College of Wooster I took advantage of the GLCA art program, traveling to New York City in my sophomore year to experience fields of art in a hands-on environment. Through internships with toy companies, product design firms, photographers, and classes at the Art Students League, I was able to see exactly what field of art would fit me best for a career. After just a few weeks, I went from intern to being a member of a Òworking teamÓ as one employer phrased it; several pieces of my product photography and package design were put into mass production. It was through these experiences that I discovered my interest in Industrial Design.
The field of Industrial Design gives me the opportunity to apply the art skills I learned as an undergraduate student while honing in on 3d design. I feel ID will allow me as an artist to build, design, and create objects for the masses while maintaining the individuality of my artistic style. The modern aesthetic is an always-changing creature; so is the field of design. The challenge to meet this perpetual change, this ever-needed creativity is what drives me as a person, as an artist, and hopefully a designer.
My future hope is to work in a variety of industries such as toys, fashion, science, and media. I am interested in learning about all aspects of not just design, but of being a designer. In the year following my graduation I have done much work and research to decide what I want to do for a career. Industrial Design is a dream field for me, and I have looked carefully for a school that would realize my first undergraduate education is a great base to build upon for a degree in design. Pratt offers foundational as well as highly advanced curricula that make its graduates and departments well known. Graduate School is the final step toward my goal and I am looking for a department that supports, educates, prepares, as well as helps their students realize and reach their dream.