Walking and Talking....

Assessment is something art programs are good at. For every studio art class you take, generally you create a portfolio for that class by the end of the semester. Throughout the semester, we would have weekly or by-weekly critiques of the work that was being made- both students and faculty are involved in this process. I got a lot of good feedback from these critiques- and always felt I knew what direction I was going. Portfolios are a very good way, I feel, to assess work and also have a good "summary" of all the things that you learned that semester.

The biggest assessment process that a Bachelor of Arts Program initiates is the BFA review. This is a BIG review that is for all BFA hopeful students- just because you are enrolled in the classes, doesn't mean you are in the program! This takes place about late sophomore year, and it is a day long event. You wait until you turn, sitting in the hall while clutching the selected items from all the different studio art classes that you have taken, while still having most of the work represented from the field you would like to go into to (in my case, it was photography). Then, someone called your name, and you walked into a room where all the prof were, and they spend an hour or so assessing your work- looking at everything, asking questions, making comments . They want to see if you have been learning while making art- and if you can actually make art! Then, you get notice the next week if you have been accepted into the program....or not. If you don;t make it, you can always try again- revise your work, make new work, learn how to paint/draw/photograph/print BETTER. (thankfully, I made it in the first time!)