Below you will find a draft of my personal intent statement for applying to grad school. Please email me if you have any constructive criticism. Yes, I'm using my blog as a HELP ME FORUM. Thanks in advance lovas.
I started my academic career at UNC-Chapel Hill with the
liberating thrill of being "undecided." I spent my first two years
studying every field the school offered, from documentary theater to chemistry,
anthropology to computer science, even summer courses in philosophy and African
culture. I was already a junior when I fell in love with the 3-hour
studio courses in the art department. My hands were always black with
charcoal, every pair of jeans I owned stained with India ink, but finally, this
was a major worth declaring. I loved having the MFA grad students as
teachers and getting to see what projects they were working on outside of
class. My professors were professional artists touring the country as visiting
artists. I was ecstatic to become a part of this greater art world.
I’d stop into local art galleries
around campus to see what local artists were up to and submitted t-shirt
designs for my sorority events. I frequented the contemporary art museums in my
area and artist lectures to stay current with other artists’ ideas and ongoing
projects. I loved tying it all back to advertising and how people never stop
being attracted to good art. I’d take all the “starving artist” warnings to
come, as long as I got to keep making stuff people wanted to look at.
With 2 years left to graduate, I
would be cutting it close but I planned my last semesters so that it could
happen. I had accumulated a bunch of journalism courses as the
advertising classes kept me coming back for more. More strategy. More creative
thinking. More cool fonts. I was sitting in class "JOMC 272"
one day listening to a guest speaker Bob Ranew recount a day in the life of a
creative director and remember thinking "Yes. This is what I want to
do." I figured I could start by building my studio art portfolio and
securing the minor in advertising.
I was accepted to study at Studio Art
Centers International for a semester in Florence, Italy to gain an
international perspective on art and advertising. I came back and took on
freelance illustration work to develop a professional name. I continued to
maintain a blog where I keep track of my inspirations which are often music and
words. In that space I experiment with different moods and aesthetics and
even practice blog-post layouts to learn what people want to look at and what
it is that makes them want to look at it.
I'm a graduating senior from
Carolina, realizing now that if I knew I wanted a life in art direction all
along, SCAD would have been ideal for undergrad. But four short years ago
I was seduced by the freedom of liberal arts and the pep of college football,
and here I am graduating from Carolina working towards that life anyway. As
I’ve spent the past 2 years building a fine arts portfolio and not an advertising
portfolio, I decided to take some selected studio work (several life drawings
and illustration pieces) and put an advertising spin on them to develop
different campaigns.
At SCAD, I intend to master the Photoshop
skills I'm still developing, evolve my fine arts training as a foundation
to my continued education in advertising, and build a professional advertising
portfolio to prepare for a career in art direction. I'm excited to meet the
other players in the industry, learn their ideas and team up to produce
cohesive campaigns to market to real companies. I want to merge my fine
arts expertise with my professional goals in advertising: travel to take
photos, use my love of music and videography to construct multimedia concepts,
incorporate my passion for writing and text into my creative work. I want to
collaborate with production houses to make ads that say something.
Through SCAD, I intend to achieve these goals and actualize a
professional life in art direction.
