The Difficult Truth About Studying Art at Brown

On the first Wednesday and Thursday of a new semester, the halls and studios of the List Art Building are filled with impatient, fidgeting students asking themselves the same question as they wait for their professors to arrive: “Are you in this class?”. Their conversations hardly evolve, remaining limited to complaints about the Visual Art department, their anxiety about securing a spot, and, what I remember most fondly from my own shopping during my four semesters at Brown, a self-pitying recount of their struggle and failure to get into art classes in the past. My well-rehearsed line, accompanied by a slightly pathetic smile and subtle sigh was “And I’m trying to be a VISA concentrator, too.” My frustration arose from the fact that I was planning to concentrate in Visual Art and had only been able to take one art class in four semesters: VISA0100, the required foundation studio class. 

Every semester the same story seemed to repeat itself: I was first disappointingly unlucky during pre-registration for unrestricted foundation classes. Then I uselessly attempted to send emails to, request override codes from, and meet with art professors explaining my situation and then I futilely hoped that registered students would drop their classes. I finally failed to get into one of the few spots in each ten- or twelve-person studio class by lottery (in which there are at least 15 participants competing for the one or two seats). Time was running out. If I wanted to complete all the requirements for a concentration in VISA, I desperately needed to get into an art class. My situation was particularly unfortunate: I was still deciding between a concentration in Visual Art and Art History, so I hadn’t declared a VISA concentration. I could not enjoy the benefit of unrestricted pre-registration—anyone who has tried to pre-register for a 1000-level art class knows that override requests are deceptive attempts at security as they will never be approved. Perhaps it was naive of me to stay an undeclared concentrator, but reserving the right to declare until halfway through one’s sophomore year should be feasible, even for the greatly in-demand Visual Art department. Much like in all other departments, students should be able to decide on whether they will concentrate in VISA by taking art classes rather than having to declare a concentration in order to take those classes. I was unsure about declaring a Visual Art concentration precisely because I had only taken one very basic art class and was not sure what a concentration in Visual Art at Brown looked like. 

Following the chaos of shopping period, I was able to have more meaningful conversations with some friends concentrating in VISA and realized that my case was not unique. Shopping for VISA classes seems to be dreaded universally—a lot more than shopping in other departments. And even if students are able to secure a spot in an art class for a semester, planning their concentration around the fact that they do not know, especially early on, how many classes they will be able to take each semester causes significant anxiety. 

Taking a VISA class as a non-concentrator, especially one other than the five-section VISA0100, is much harder. A non-concentrator has no priority on any waitlist. Getting into a class is purely a matter of luck, whether that be pre-registering for one of the five foundation classes that don’t require an override code or a declared concentration or securing one of the few open spots in an upper-level class through a lottery.

For both concentrators and non-concentrators alike, it seems that the Open Curriculum is not as open when it comes to Visual Art. It is ironic because art classes are exactly the types of classes with which one would want to open one’s curriculum. Furthermore, prospective art students are arguably the ones who need the Open Curriculum the most: I speak from experience, both my own and that of the friends I have made while shopping in the List, when I say that many of the people considering a concentration in VISA do not have concrete plans regarding their futures.  

Having to fight for a spot in each class and feeling stressed about completing requirements on time make a concentration in art, surprisingly, very stressful. The poor handling of the massive demand for art classes, the lack of studio space, and the shortage of faculty, make VISA a logistical nightmare strikingly dissonant with the values of freedom for creative exploration and expression promoted by Brown’s Open Curriculum and perhaps epitomized by the art department. During my two years at Brown, I have come to realize the difficult truth that it is quite hard to study art here, an epicenter of liberal learning and academic freedom. 

While the logistical difficulties within the VISA department did not play a big part in my decision, I decided to stop pursuing a concentration in art. I was happy to realize how much less hectic it is to organize my schedule in the Art History department. 

(Cover Image: Illustration class at Moore College of Art (1980), AchillesPortfolio)

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