Vosslings Adventure Book: SCAD

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Part 2- Day 34 SCAD

Day 34

Thursday, July 21, 2016 SCAD

Today was Chandler's big day to take the tour of Savannah College of Art & Design. He was pretty pumped to get the full tour. We definately were in the right place at the right time yesterday. What a blessing. Carmen stayed back at the RV resort with the little boys so we could focus on the tour. Thanks Carmen!

We arrived just before 9:30am and signed in. We took a seat and watched their admission presentation. Who walks up to do part of the presentation.... none other than Laura who gave us the mini tour yesterday and hooked us up with today's tour. It was neat to hear that she is a SCAD alumni and her daughter also graduated from SCAD last year. There were mostly girls on the tour. Chandler was the only male in our group and there were 2 boys in the other group. They split us up based on major. We hopped on a bus and took a tour of different parts of the college. First we stopped at the Freshman Dorms. It was fun to learn that the dorms were part of the movie "Monsters University." The son of the founder of Pixar was a student at SCAD at the time the movie was made. The 3 person dorm room easily accommodated 33 of us in the tour. They were very big with a private bathroom and additional sink and counter space within the room. The College has more security personnel than there are Savannah Police Officers. Impressive.

We then stopped at the upperclass dorms which was right next door to animation design and video studios. When school is in session, the video game designers have TVs set up in the foyer with demos of their current work. Students get to play the games and leave anonymous feedback. There are no windows in this building because they often work into the we-hours of the morning. The girl giving the tour was a tourism major. You could tell! She had a lot to say and didn't skip a beat. She answered questions we didn't know we had. She will soon be a student at SCAD getting her Art Restoration Major. We learned that several SCAD alumni are current employees of Disney Pixar and other big names and they premier big movies like Frozen and Inside Out which were created in part by their alumni. They have a huge Film Festival at the school annually. The tour guide mentioned she ran into Channing Tatum walking down the street in Savannah. He was working on a film. She said you never know who you will run into while at school there. Many films being made in the area will borrow students and/or equipment from the school.

Last Stop was in the Fashion Hall and Illustration Building. The Fashion Hall was pretty cool. They set up the work environment just as you see it in a real fashion design meeting. They thought of so many things to prepare their students for what the real world will look like. There were several excited young ladies in our group. They lit up when we got to the Fashion Department. In the Illustration Building, which we took a quick tour of yesterday, we got a little more information. She showed us the equipment Chandler would be using for the Illustration process and how their Cloud system works. She mentioned his class size would be anywhere from 4-18 kids depending on his schedule and major. Very advanced equipment.

All of the Staff at the school were eager to offer valuable information. They wanted you to feel at ease and comfortable contacting anyone if you have any questions. Chandler will soon have an admissions rep to walk him through the application process because SCAD's application process is different than most colleges and has much to do with your area of interest and portfolio. As of right now, Chandler would like to study advertising, graphic design, industrial design and sculpture. He is torn with sculpture because it is only offered in SCAD Atlanta. Only time will tell. SCAD is a contender for his further education but the hunt has begun. Congratulations Chandler, the future is yours son.

Light bulb tree with students hopes and dreams hanging from it.

SCAD Entrance

Alumni Sculpture

Blue Jean wall

Pencil Wall

Entry Sculpture at Illustration Building

Hall Entrance

Art in Video Studio Hall

Upperclassman Dorm

Entrance to Fashion Hall

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Part 2- Day 33 Day trip to Savannah, GA

Day 33

Wednesday, July 20, 2016 Day Trip to Savannah, GA

One of the conveniences of staying at Hilton Head was the short drive to Savannah, GA. Chandler was excited for our day trip because Savannah is the home of SCAD -Savannah College of Art & Design. He has had interest in going to this school since freshman year.

SCAD College has many buildings situated throughout the city. We weren't able to get on the schedule for a tour of the school because it was last minute so we decided to take a self guided walking tour of what we could. When we got there, Chandler and I ran into the SCAD shop to ask for quarters because in Savannah the parking is all metered. I spoke with the girl who was working the desk and she told me the admissions office was open next door and see if they can get us on a tour. Chandler and I were pretty excited so we ran next door and they told us if we waited around until 2pm we might be able to get a walking tour but for the time being, we could view the inside of the admission office on both levels. There was plenty of art on the walls to look at and on the second floor was the conference room that had an amazing sculpture of a lightbulb tree. Hanging from chains from the tree was the hopes and dreams of future SCAD students. It was an amazing focal feature in the SCAD admissions building. After reviewing all the paperwork they had for students, we still had almost 2 hours to kill before the 2 pm tour and we didn't even know if we would get the opportunity. We started the walking tour on our own. When we got around the 1st block of the closest SCAD buildings, we didn't know what else to do. All the other buildings were scattered out within a 2 mile radius of the admissions building. We stopped and looked at the map pondering our next stop. A woman walked up and asked if she could help us. She saw us with the SCAD map and wondered if there was anything she could do to help us out. I spoke up and told her we couldn't get on the schedule for a tour and only had a few days in Savannah. She said "I think I can get you in, follow me!" She walked up to the closest building and scanned her name tag and in we went! When inside, she told us her name was Laura and she works in SCAD Admissions. She was on her way back from lunch when she saw us outside. What are the odds....

The building she took us in was the Illustration Building. The walls in the building were covered from top to bottom in some form of art. It was amazing to see the work of these students. We took a short walk throughout the building because there were summer classes in session. When we got back outside, she said "be back here at 9:30 tomorrow morning. I'm putting you on the tour bus schedule." She then continued to ask "does anyone play pokemon go? I just thought I might ask because there are some really awesome guys inside the building I've been told." We looked at Chandler and laughed because he is the only one playing it.

After leaving SCAD Admissions, we drove over to the SCAD Museum of Art where many of the students and SCAD Alumni have their art on display. The Museum has a variety of art mediums, all original pieces and art unlike what you see in a traditional art museum. It was fascinating. If ever you are in the Savannah area, it's worth a visit. Support local artists.

After we visited the Museum, we went to eat an early dinner at the Crystal Beer Parlor. It was a nice pub with very friendly people. We were eating early because we wanted to spend the rest of the day at Tybee Island Beach in Savannah. As we were eating the power at the restaurant flickered off and on. There was a storm moving in. As we made our way to the front door of the restaurant, the rain was coming down so hard none of us wanted to go to the car. We all stood there and waited for it to lighten up. It never really did so we ran through the puddles to the car. Well, no beach for us today.