July;
Interesting questions you raise. What is the best course for one to take to complete one's art education? There is no simple answer. As Keith suggested, you could simply go it alone and search out an artist whose work interests you and your daughter. I do know of an artist who took this course, studdying under the well-known painter, Jack Beal. Beal, himself, was a great supporter of the old "atelier" or apprenticeship system. The advantages to such an education include the development of a more intense student/teacher relationship and an opportunity to all the facets of life as a working artist from the cost of raw materials, the stretching or canvases, through the business end of things. On the down side, such an education does not lead to a degree, that (perhaps) meaningless piece of paper that is nevertheless, mandatory for many jobs.
Majoring in art in a university or college offers a far wider course of studies, with the possibility of classes in literature, philosophy, physics, and any number of other disciplines that may or may not interest your daughter (and impact her work). On the negative side, I have seen too many college/university art courses that are lacking in talented faculty, have little by way of in-depth studio experience, have little access to real art (museums, galleries), and expend far to much time on thinking about making art and developing "clever clever" strategies as opposed to actually making art. I am not surprised that you would get such a pretentious response to your daughter's "realist" efforts from a college representative. Many of these, you must remeber, are failed artists and graduates of the same school where they are now employed.
A art school may be something of a balance between these two options. In many cases such art schools offer far more in-depth study in studio art with art history, literature, art criticism to the side. Such art schools are often located in/near major cities (Boston, Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco, Cleeveland, Chicago, etc...), thus offering access to real art in person by way of museums, galleries, and other venues. Even then, I would check into the school... explore whether they offer the sort of education/training your daughter and you are seeking... do they value her interests as an artist, or are they caught up in trying to be hip and promoting the latest conceptual theory out of New York (as if an institution's role is to foster the avante garde)?
I myself, am an art school graduate who was lucky enough to attend such an institute at the time during which there was still a strong foundation in drawing and the other fundamentals of art. I wish, at times, they had offered some access to more contemporary technologies (film, computer)... still, when I look at what this particular school has devolved into (a hotbed of conceptualism...(a school where students pay $28,000 a year to think deep thoughts about art, but rarely create such)... I am glad for what education I did recieve.
Good luck to you and your daughter.
Stlukesguild
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