Program Description

Savannah College of Art and Design


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The Savannah College of Art and Design exists to prepare talented students for professional careers, emphasizing learning through individual attention in a positively oriented university environment. The goal of the college is to nurture and cultivate the unique qualities of each student through an interesting curriculum, in an inspiring environment, under the leadership of involved professors. A balanced fine arts and liberal arts curriculum has attracted students from every state and more than ninety countries, making SCAD one of the largest art and design colleges in the United States; current enrollment is approximately more than 8,000 students.

The Savannah College of Art and Design is a private, nonprofit institution accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097; phone: 404-679-4501) to award bachelor’s and master’s degrees. The College offers Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Architecture, Master of Arts, Master of Arts in Teaching, Master of Fine Arts, and Master of Urban Design degrees as well as undergraduate and graduate certificates. The five-year professional M.Arch. degree is accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board. Online programs are available through SCAD-eLearning.

Degrees are offered in advertising design, animation, architectural history, architecture (professional and postprofessional), art history, arts administration, broadcast design and motion graphics, cinema studies, design management, fashion, fibers, film and television, furniture design, graphic design, historic preservation, illustration (and illustration design), industrial design, interactive design and game development, interior design, metals and jewelry, painting, performing arts (and dramatic writing), photography (commercial, digital, documentary), printmaking, production design, professional writing, sculpture, sequential art, sound design, teaching (art or design), urban design, and visual effects.

SCAD has locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia. The Savannah campus offers a full university experience in one of the largest National Historic Landmark districts in the United States. The state-of-the-art Atlanta facility is situated in a major metropolitan hub for business, the arts, and transportation.

Attractive residence hall accommodations, with meal plans, are provided for on a first-come, first-served basis. Furnishings include drafting tables, and the housing fee covers utilities.

SCAD offers men’s and women’s basketball, cross-country, equestrian, golf, soccer, swimming, and tennis; women’s softball and volleyball; and men’s baseball and men’s and women’s lacrosse. Fencing and cheerleading are offered as club sports.

Campus events such as concerts, lectures, plays, film screenings, and other entertainment, as well as cultural, recreational, and social programs, are planned and produced by the Student Activities Council.

Program Facilities

Architecture, interior design, and historic preservation facilities include an intranet of PCs configured with electronic-design software including AutoCAD, Bentley Microstation V8, Adobe Photoshop, form-Z, 3D Studio VIZ, SURFCAM, and Autodesk Maya and Revit. A video microscope, as well as architectural conservation, metals conservation, and paint-analysis labs, also are available in the School of Building Arts.

Animation, broadcast design, interactive design and game development, and visual effects facilities offer ready access to high-end industry-standard equipment and software, including an intranet of Macintosh G4, Pentium IV, and SGI workstations configured with a diverse range of graphics software; high-end 2-D, 3-D, interactive, and compositing tools, including the Adobe product line; Flipbook, Autodesk Maya, Anime Studio, Side Effects’ Houdini products; Pixar’s Renderman; Discreet 3ds max; the Unreal game engine; and Z-Brush and Shake. Other tools include Lightwave and Macromedia products. SCAD’s cutting-edge computer systems are combined with two green-screen stages, HD cameras, and a Vicon motion capture studio to provide visual effects students with a complete digital production facility.

Fashion and fibers students use computer-aided design workstations and scanners; Juki industrial sewing machines and sergers; a heat transfer press; customized dress forms; weaving facilities, including a variety of four- and eight-shaft floor looms, two AVL CompuDobby looms, and an AVL electronic Jacquard loom; a digital fabric printer and a dye lab; and a screenprinting studio. Fibers students use NedGraphics, an industry-standard software program.

The Gulfstream Center for Furniture and Industrial Design in Savannah is a 43,000-square-foot facility with a woodworking and metals and plastics fabrication lab, bench rooms and design studios, a plastic working area, a welding facility, a three-axis computer numeric controlled vertical milling machine, spray booths and a finishing room, and state-of-the-art electronic design studios configured with the latest versions of design and visualization software, such as Auto CAD, Autodesk Studio, Rhino 3-D, SolidWorks, and Maya. The computer lab has two 3-D printers with capabilities to print polycarbonate or ABS 3-D models of computer-generated designs.

Advertising design, graphic design, and illustration facilities include Macintosh computers with CD and DVD burners, scanners, black-and-white laser printers, light tables, and digital cameras. The Adobe product line; Macromedia Director, Dreamweaver, Flash, and FreeHand; Quark XPress; and other graphics packages are available.

Photography students have access to Macintosh digital imaging labs with extensive peripherals, wide-format inkjet printers, a Durst Theta printer, Imacon scanners, professional RA-4 color print processing machines for both negative and reversal papers, E-6 and C-41 color film processing machines, an alternative processes lab, studios, lighting equipment, view camera systems, medium-format camera systems, and digital SLR systems. Some labs are graduate-only.

Metals and jewelry studios include an FDM Prodigy Plus rapid prototyping 3-D printer with capabilities for ABS or wax models of CAD prototypes, and four-axis CNC milling machines.

Film and television facilities include the Steadicam EFP and Super Panther Dolly, a chroma key/green screen studio, and a sound stage. The department houses Avid Adrenaline, Symphony, and Xpress DV workstations; MiniDV and DVC Pro cameras; Sony digital high-definition television cameras; 16mm, Super 16mm, and 35mm cameras; and an all-digital studio. Sound design equipment and software includes ten DH Pro Tools labs, two dedicated surround sound mix/mastering rooms, a MIDI lab, a recording studio for music production and Foley, two suites for dialog recording and editing, and a professionally equipped location sound cart for film production.

Located next to the High Museum of Art in Midtown Atlanta, the sculpture facility is one of the finest in the Southeast. Designed by architect Renzo Piano, the facility contains a comprehensive wood and metal shop, a foundry for bronze and stainless steel, and studios and support equipment as well as exhibition space.

Performing Arts facilities include the 1,200-seat historic Lucas Theatre for the Arts, the 1,100-seet Trustees Theater, the 90-seat Afifi Amphitheater at the Pei Ling Chan Garden for the Arts, and the 150-seat black box Mondanaro Theater.

Student Performance/Exhibit Opportunities

The College is enlivened by a full calendar of gallery exhibitions, lectures, festivals, workshops, performances, and conferences each year. The College holds exhibitions of a variety of work (including student work) in several on-campus galleries, hosts a spring fashion show and an internationally renowned film festival, and features year-round student theater performances on campus. The College also hosts exhibitions in New York City, Paris, and elsewhere.

Faculty, Visiting Artists, and Alumni

During the academic year, each major field of study may sponsor lectures and workshops, providing students the opportunity to meet and talk with working artists, architects, and designers. Special on-campus programming has included exhibits of work by renowned artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Helen Frankenthaler, Romare Bearden, Andy Warhol, and Miriam Schapiro. Recently, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Audrey Flack, Betye Saar, Benny Andrews, Sandy Skoglund, Judy Pfaff, Maya Lin, Danny Glover, Robert Redford, and Gregory Hines have lectured at SCAD.

Special Programs

The College offers professional and faculty academic counseling, with special programs for first-year students and tutors available at no charge. SCAD also provides an English as a Second Language program for students whose native language is not English. Writing assistance, drawing assistance, and other learning assistance is provided for students as needed.

Internships are available and highly recommended for undergraduate and graduate students in a wide variety of programs. The federal work-study program is also available.

Study trips to major centers of artistic activity provide further opportunities for enrichment. SCAD faculty members direct off-campus studies in locations throughout the world.

Career Planning and Placement

The office of career planning and placement provides career development and professional job search assistance to students and alumni through individual career counseling and exploration of career opportunities in art and design. The office also provides instruction in writing resumes and cover letters, making portfolio presentations, self- promotion, honing interviewing skills, and developing networking techniques to prepare students for the job market. The College routinely attracts major art and design corporate recruiters from companies such as Industrial Light and Magic, Pixar, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Nike, Michelin, Hallmark, and many others.

Application Procedures

Deadline--freshmen and transfers: continuous. Notification date--freshmen and transfers: continuous. Required: essay, high school transcript, college transcript(s) for transfer students, 3 letters of recommendation, SAT or ACT test scores, portfolio for some studio majors. Recommended: interview, portfolio. Auditions held 1 time. Portfolio reviews held monthly on campus and off campus in various cities; the submission of slides may be substituted for portfolios when distance is prohibitive and for international applicants.

Undergraduate Contact

Ginger Hansen, Executive Director of Recruitment, Admission, Savannah College of Art and Design, PO Box 2072, Savannah, Georgia 31402-3146; 912-525-5964, fax: 912-525-5983.

Graduate Contact

Darrell Tutchton, Director of Graduate Enrollment, Admission, Savannah College of Art and Design, PO Box 2072, Savannah, Georgia 31402-3146; 912-525-5961, fax: 912-525-5985.