Anonymous asked: can you help clear up what (besides the hometest) they want me to submit. 'At least five (5) examples of your original art and/or design work. These examples may be drawing,painting, graphic design, printmaking,sculpture...' how are my sculptures or paintings going to fit in the box? if I submit pictures of the peices I wouldn't be submitting the original art... hmm

Home test: the 6 assignments they gave you.

At least 5 examples of original work: anything you’ve been working on during these past few years (preferably most recent work) either in art class or at home for your personal enjoyment or projects.

You have to put in as many of these original works as you can, and if there is something you want to submit but is TOO BIG to fit into the box, you must take a very good quality image(s) of the work and submit it on a flash drive that will GO INTO the box (don’t forget about it!!!!! VERY IMPORTANT!). You would still be submitting the original art, it’s just too big to transport. It’s totally reasonable and the admissions people totally expect you to send a USB with images if your work is too big—heck, they don’t want huge sculptures in their admissions office…

catetopia asked: hi my name is cate and i just sent in my early decision application to cooper (so basically i spend my days biting my nails and somewhere between laughing and crying ya feel?)!! first off your work is amazing and your home test was very clever so a+ on that :) from what i gather you're a photographer.. and you dont really dig drawing...(i am too and its reassuring to see a cooper union i-dont-like-to-draw-photographer..? do you have any hometest advice for photographers? thanks bunches!!

Cooper wants to see your skills in drawing because anywhere you go as an artist, that’s the most basic skill you should have. I would suggest you definitely draw for at least two of the home test pieces. I got away with drawing because I traced something and said that that was a drawing, so I guess that’s one way to do it. 

Don’t limit yourself to just photography on your actual home test pieces—make sure you really push yourself and try something new. Just let your portfolio be filled with photography if you really wanna show that!

thecupcakezombie asked: I'm going to be applying for Cooper Union this year, do you have any advice on applying and the home test? Also, most of my portfolio will be drawings, is that alright? Or is drawing not something to include? Thanks for your time :)

This is going to be lengthy, I hope you don’t mind and that it’ll be of some help! :)

Applying: do it way before the deadline, so that you don’t have to stress out about it (whichever one you choose to do: early or regular). It’s only a general information kind of thing on the CU website, and so it’s very easily done in an hour.

Home test: the minute you receive it in the mail: BREATH. BREATH. BREATH. It’s going to be OK. Open it the same moment it’s in your hands and calmly read through the whole packet. It’s going to consist of 6 prompts/assignments that you’ll have to make, a questionnaire, and a teacher recommendation sheet. Get the teacher sheet done ASAP. In the meantime during the days you wait for your teacher to write you a rec, grab a dictionary and look up all the words for each prompt and write them down in a sketchbook that you’ll be including in your home test. Start thinking of ideas, brainstorm them no matter how ridiculous or genius they are. That’s what I did, and it helps to open up the prompt even more because language has so many meanings and so it could give you more or new ideas. REMEMBER: Don’t stress out! Breath! Do some yoga if you can’t relax or eat something sweet (like ice cream) or do some exercise to get your muscles and brain pumped with oxygen. Keep the sketchbook with you at all times so that when you’re not working on the home test but you’re at school doing, for example, math, you might be thinking about your pieces and *DING* an idea pops into your head. Work on it all the time, but if you feel as though you’re in a block, take a break (for however long you need to). If you like to sleep, then make sure you get enough hours that you deem worthy for yourself—don’t lose a ton of sleep on this, please, because if you get into CU, you’ll be losing plenty during your four years here. Did I say you need to breath all the time? I don’t think so. BREATH! It’s going to be alright! :D Also, just slightly disregard any homework you have because you’ll already be a second term senior, so don’t do it until the home test is done (except for essays, ALWAYS DO THEM O_O; ).

If most of it is drawings, it’s fine. The admissions people want to see that you’re capable of drawing, but you also want to show that you can expand and try other materials. Don’t limit yourself to just drawing. If you think of an AMAZING idea for one of the prompts, and it’s NOT drawing, don’t panic and think that you don’t know how to use those materials or that it’s something you’re simply not capable of, because that’s not true! You have a month to do the work, and it’s only six pieces. Experiment a little to see what’s going to fit your idea best. Maybe all your works will be drawing in the end. That’s OK. But don’t limit yourself. Let the home test be where you experiment and try new things. You’re going to need to include original portfolio pieces (not home test related, they’re supposed to be personal projects and “school work” (don’t tell them that it is, but if it’s good and shows your skills, include it anyway)) and so you can put a bunch of drawings in that part of your package.

I wish you luck on your journey, young one! :D

stojanovich asked: Hey Natalia, I just got my acceptance to Cooper Union and will be there this fall as a freshmen. I'm really excited about it and am so ready to do photography there (along with the other foundation courses). But I was just wondering if you could give me an insiders view of what I can expect next year or any good advice;) I'm assuming from your profile your a photographer...but if I'm wrong I'd love to know what your interests at Cooper Union are too. thanks! Antonia

Photography isn’t really a foundation course, it’s a class you can take soph, junior, and senior years. :-\ (I wish it was though, I was it was!) There are four sections of the first year—it’s to get everyone to be basically at the same level, so they separate the kids into sections where their work/style/method/etc. are similar.

Here are the classes that are in Foundation year:

• Color: Fall term. It’s basically color theory. We learn how colors interact with each other, and a lot of it is painting.
• Basic Drawing: All year. Self explanatory. :-p
• 2DD: All year. 2-dimensional design; some sections are more graphics oriented, some are more conceptual.
• 3DD: All year. 3-dimensional design; it’s like a sculpture class.
• 4DD: Spring term. 4-dimensional design; it’s a very time-oriented class—we do most of our pieces with regards to time and paying attention to it, etc.
• Foundation Project: Spring term. “A course that brings together all Foundation year students around a series of presentations that introduce various artistic practices, critical languages, and criticism. The course intends to present contrasting historical and contemporary models of creating, seeing, speaking and thinking about art.” (taken from cooper.edu).
• HSS1/2: All year. It’s the humanities class (it’s like English class, but not like English class in that you have English curriculum stuff). It’s very analytical of texts and art and such things. Also, this is the only class where you’ll have mixed students: engs, archs, and arts.
• Art History: All year. Self explanatory. Except this year they did it from “Modern to Contemporary” instead of starting from ancient times, so it’s from Jacques-Louis David (pre-French Rev) to today.
• Intro to Techniques: All year. Introduction to all the metal, wood, plaster, and computer shops. If you fail this course, you aren’t allowed to use the metal and wood shops.

I hope that explains everything…!

And yes, I am a photographer for the most part, but I do enjoy doing a lot of things. Actually, 3DD is super interesting and I’m really getting into sculpture, and 2DD is super conceptual for my section, which I’m really enjoying. We just started 4DD, but it looks very promising. :-)

Anonymous asked: Would you suggest including photography in a portfolio if most of the other pieces are drawings and paintings?

Only if you have photographs that you really like and would like to include them in your portfolio. Otherwise, don’t force yourself to do something that you may not enjoy or may not want to do.

Anonymous asked: oh, and one more question, i can submit drawings AND photos so they can see my strengths aside the hometest? i don't know if to just send a portfolio of drawings and photos, but kinda even out the numbers of each so they probably won't have too much to look at idk helpp :(((

Submit EVERYTHING! Have an art teacher look through your work so he/she can pinpoint which pieces really show off your skills and strong points, and include those in your portfolio along with the home test.

Don’t just even out something, if you end up having more of one thing than the other, it’s OK.

Anonymous asked: I've heard that The Cooper Union is a lot of conceptual art. But I love just regular drawing and painting, do they have that stuff too?

Yeah, they definitely have that too. But Cooper is really about pushing yourself as an artist in the conceptual way, and doing painting and drawing are more of a skill to get better at here. 

I don’t know, I’m not entirely sure if Cooper is good for just regular drawing and painting, but we definitely do have that.

Anonymous asked: Hi, just a question. I don't live anywhere close to NYC, and I'm wondering what sort of things they teach at the weekend portfolio class at Cooper? Do they give any tips about applying, sketchbooks and the home test?

The Saturday Program class has the following classes: Architecture, Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Graphics, Sound Composition, and Portfolio Prep. All the classes are for all high school students, except for PP, which is for high school seniors and kids who are after high school (like taking a year off from school before applying to college).

The PP class is specifically designed to help the students improve and/or learn basic skills in drawing and painting, and during the home test time and other critical application/portfolio times for colleges, the teachers give advice and tips on the three things you are asking about. They specifically focus on art and architecture schools and programs in colleges, but they also help with general applications as well.