What should we pay attention to in the collection of works of Parsons School of Design ? Many students may have this doubt. Parsons/Parsons School of Design, the second largest art school in the world and the first largest in the United States, has never been enough to say that it is "TOP". Fashion resources, various design masters and countless well-known alumni have made this place a "dream center". This time, the natural light admissions officer specially invited Amanda, the admissions officer of Parsons, We have brought you the notes for the exclusive collection of works of Parsons Design College, and applied for guidance interviews! Students who want to know about the activity can click here: The official admissions office of Parsons School of Design assists in the application season, and Parsons' current admissions officer tutors the portfolio Now let's summarize the notes of the works collection of Parsons School of Design and Parsons undergraduate basic courses from the official enrollment office of Parsons School of Design with natural light!
Will Parsons Design Institute have any new developments this year?
Amanda: "I think Parsons is always expanding and improving to develop new courses; We have just reopened the production center on 12th Street, and we are very excited to provide all these new equipment for students. ".
Parsons As the No. 1 art school in the United States and No. 2 in the world, its strong fashion specialty and resource background have made it the first choice of Dream School for many people. But like the fashion circle that is constantly updating, Parsons seems to be constantly refreshing people's understanding of it. This is just like the definition of "innovation" and "breakthrough" as the highlight of the existing institutions.
These concepts about innovation are not only found in the official documents or freshmen guides of Parsons School of Design, but are reflected in all aspects of Parsons. Parsons hopes to guide students to view the world in the most creative way, so whether it is teaching content, curriculum, student creation, living arrangements or teaching facilities, Parsons is making efforts to inspire students from all aspects.

What will the basic undergraduate courses of Parsons School of Design meet?
Amanda: "In the first year in Parsons, students will learn how to expand their ideas. They will learn the basics of design, but they will also learn how to become a real artist. Students have a lot of free time to explore different design fields, and they also have a lot of free space to create new things.
The first year is very interesting. Maybe the names of the courses are not interesting, because they are all called similar art studio courses, but the contents of the courses are very interesting, because students have many opportunities to work with different instructors across media, and students can choose whether to work with architecture teachers, interior design teachers, or fashion design teachers in the course, So as to determine which professional project is the direction they will choose ".
First of all, Parsons pays attention to students' innovation ability and divergent thinking ability, but also focuses on the cultivation of students' professional foundation. Therefore, in terms of curriculum, students will still learn a lot of basic professional knowledge in the first year of enrollment, which can be clearly seen from the curriculum of Parsons Design College:

The above four majors are visual design, fashion design, photography and product design from Parsons School of Design. They seem to be majors in almost different fields. In the first year of Parsons School of Design, the basic undergraduate courses are the same. In addition to these four majors, Parsons The curriculum of other majors in the first year of undergraduate stage is all the same as the screenshot above, all of which are basic courses. No matter what major you choose to apply for, in the real sense, the study detailed as "major" starts from the second year. And even in the second year, the school will still arrange certain basic courses for students. These courses are generally conducted in the unit of "project", and students will follow their tutors to explore the project system during class, from which they can gain more comprehensive aesthetic and design gains.
For example, the course of Objects as History:

This course seems to be art history, but it is different from the art history we know before. It mainly explains the general trend of world history to students, and studies the development of art and design by limiting the research object to a particular era or place environment, rather than simply explaining the history of art works.
The course covers prehistoric civilization, large-scale industrial manufacturing, etc. The research objects are not limited to works of art, but include daily necessities, ordinary tools, modern large machines, and design works with extraordinary manufacturing skills or milestones. By studying the production methods, causes, who makes them, how to use them, and what they mean to users, we will conduct a comprehensive discussion, so as to guide students to have a global awareness and concept of art and history.
In these courses, students will personally explore the history and development of art and design, and get inspiration from them, so as to better understand their future development direction and how to become a designer or artist. In fact, Parsons' cultivation of students' innovation awareness, as Amanda said, is also reflected in giving students freedom. Parsons encourages students to work together with classmates or mentors in other majors to conduct cross professional and cross media cooperation, so that students can also start their own professional thinking from other perspectives.

Parsons (BFA) Student Works
What should we pay attention to in the collection of works of Parsons School of Design?
Amanda: "We are looking for students who are closely connected with their own works. What they think about is not only skills and abilities, but also not just simple concepts, but also how concepts are connected with students. We hope that students can not only have strong skills and strong concepts, but also put forward why behind their works.
We never require a specific content to appear in the work collection, so students actually have a lot of freedom, but this may also be the reason why many students feel nervous. We hope that students can tell us, as an artist, who are they? We hope to see students tell us stories. So, what should we pay attention to in the collection of works of Parsons School of Design? The collection of works does not need to be technical paintings, fashion illustrations, or similar things at all, but it must be those works that are most closely connected with them personally, and tell us who they are through the works ".
In fact, it is not just the matters needing attention in the works collection of Parsons School of Design. Most art schools will not put forward mandatory requirements on the theme and content of the student works collection project. In addition, some schools will request to submit some observational paintings in order to investigate the basic ability of students, Most art colleges do not require students to create in some form around a certain topic or theme.
For art colleges and universities, the investigation points for art students to apply for portfolios, especially undergraduate portfolios, tend to be more inclined to students' creative thinking ability and design expression. Many students may have seen some portfolios, and it seems that the degree of completion is only about 90%, or the performance of portfolio projects is not very cool, But I got an offer from a very high-quality art school.
In fact, this is also a mistake in the application for art study abroad, especially for many domestic students, there is a bias in understanding this point. Most of the "collections of works" produced by many domestic students during their schooling are based on "dazzle" finished products, but this is not the case in foreign art schools, which tend to pay more attention to students' creative expression and design thinking.
Creative expression and design thinking display, which is what Amanda said, students can play freely in the content and form of works, but students must show their relationship with the works through the works collection, and how they think as an artist/designer.
If these are Amanda's oral content, Parsons' official website publishes official information as follows:

What should we pay attention to in the collection of works of Parsons School of Design? The school doesn't even restrict majors. What does that mean? That is to say, for example, if you apply for studying abroad in clothing design, you can submit architectural works, film and television works in addition to clothing design projects in the collection of clothing design works. It seems to be very conscious and illusory, so how to show it? Let's take the works collection of the natural light student Parsons Design Institute as an example to see how the following Zeng student interprets "not limited to majors" with the works collection:
The inspiration for this collection of clothing design works comes from the Russian constructivism and geometric abstract artist Malevich in the field of pure art. Malevich's creative style emphasizes the use of simple collection maps and graphics and limited and concentrated colors to highlight the pure artistic perception and the resulting sense of sublimity.

This student extended this constructivist thinking of Malevich into his own creation of clothing design works, fabric panels, clothing style drawings, and clothing color renderings. Each link revealed Zeng's thinking and exploration of this art form. In this process, Zeng also completed self reflection.


In the final garment production, Zeng combined the theme of the work with a deeper combination and extension of pure art, using canvas and acrylic paint. Each piece of cloth was painted with watercolor paint and acrylic paint to reflect the concept of "painting as the inspiration theme".

And Zeng's thinking on this topic is not limited to this. In the Parsons Challenge, Zeng still takes this topic as the starting point, but this time, Zeng's landing expression is video clips. Yes, you are right. Zeng added video clips to the collection of clothing design works.
In this work, Zeng used the acrylic color plate as the creative material, projected the constructivist style painting on the clothes oil painting he created, and showed a rich video clip through the matching changes of images and images.



Amanda
Parsons Admissions Officer with 12 years of admissions experience
12 years of enrollment experience in art design. She received an undergraduate degree in musicals and a minor in film from Columbia College Chicago, and an MBA degree from Argosy University.
Amanda is the most authoritative "expert" in Parsons' school situation, school characteristics, as well as the tendency and detailed requirements of the collection of works. If you want to go to Parson, she will give you the most comprehensive suggestions and tips. Amanda also has a keen sense of smell in the industry for the collection of overseas art works in North America.
It is a rare experience and opportunity to have face-to-face communication with Parsons admissions officers like Amanda, who have had 12 years of experience. In the activity season of natural light admissions officers, 8 admissions officers from 6 art colleges and universities will bring you more work collection review project activity sites. Parsons and SCAD have visited the admissions officers of natural light schools to make presentations, Portfolio Days, Review, and then SVA The admission offices of CalArts, MICA, RISD and other colleges and universities visit the natural light. For details, you can check the relevant recommendations!
Natural light can recommend the works of Parsons School of Design:
Studying Abroad in American Fashion Design, Analysis of Parsons' Experience in the Production of Professional Collections of Fashion Design
International Education for Studying in Arts | The admissions officers of 7 top American colleges and universities parachute natural light to bring you the most direct application guide
This article belongs to the original article of Natural Light International Art Education Team. Without permission, it cannot be reproduced commercially in any form. If it is found, it must be investigated for legal responsibility.