Students breathe arts in 'pre-college' camp

• Several students said they see art schools as a way into careers in fields that interest them
• Most of the students come from Delaware or nearby parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania

In one room of the Delaware College of Art and Design, high school students carefully drew or painted covers of the New Yorker magazine.

In another room, other students huddled around a desk as a teacher showed them how to sketch out plans for interior design schemes aimed at musicians, artists and dancers.

On another floor, students stood in the dimness of a darkroom treating photographs in chemicals and enlarging them the old fashioned way.

Though the projects they're working on were different, each of the 53 students who spent the week living and breathing art at DCAD last week were there for the same reason – they are all seriously considering going to art school after they graduate.

The school's Pre-College program is designed to immerse students in what college life will be like, while also giving them the practice and skills they'll need to craft a competitive portfolio.

"We want this to be an intense and concentrated experience," said Jane Campbell, director of continuing education at the school. "We want them to know what it's like to be a college student."

By day, students practiced for hours under the watchful eyes of DCAD faculty. They spent half their time working on drawing, a fundamental tool most art schools look for in applications, and the other half working on a chosen specialty, including photography, graphic design, painting, interior design and animation.

By night, students did homework, and ate and slept in the school's residential building. The goal, Campbell said, is to mimic a full-time college experience, in which students will "live, breathe, eat and sleep their craft."

Most of the students come from Delaware or nearby parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

But some students made longer trips, one from Michigan and another from Georgia.

Ray Wolfe, a senior from Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania, attended the camp for the second time last week. On Thursday, he was painstakingly drawing out a cover for the New Yorker.

"This is a very nice place to experience all different kinds of art," Wolfe said. "You really feel like you're with people who are passionate about it, and that's a good way to draw inspiration."

Though most of these students are active in the art departments at their schools, the resources available there can vary. And it's rare to find a community of others their age who are as serious about art, several students said.

"I really enjoy the common passion for art, the freedom that we get to amaze and express," said Felipe Rocha, who will be a sophomore at Cab Calloway School of the Arts in Wilmington this fall. "I have really enjoyed being in a place where we basically spend all day together sharing that passion. I feel like I've really made friends here in a short amount of time."

In addition to scratching their creative itch, several students said they see art schools as a way into careers in fields that interest them.

Annie Curtis, from West Chester, Pennsylvania, was one of the interior design students who spent Thursday learning how to draft plans. She had originally planned to be an architect, but further research showed specializing in interior design would be a "perfect fit."

"I feel like this experience has really made it seem real to me," Curtis said. "I know that I need to buckle down and really prepare if I want to be successful in college. But I also know that I have something to look forward to, because I love the environment we've been in over the past couple of days."

Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@delawareonline.com or at (302) 324-2428. Follow him on Twitter @TNJ_malbright.