Professional Services

Paier College of Art

20 Gorham Ave.
Hamden, CT
(203) 287-3031
www.paiercollegeofart.edu

There's a lot more to being an artist than having ideas. To better illuminate the path from the sketchbook to the gallery, there are art schools like Paier. The Hamden college was "founded by working artists to make students working artists," says Dean Francis Rexford Cooley. "It's not just having the most talent, it's all the detail things you need to have success."

Paier's instructors, some of whom are Paier grads themselves, are working professionals in their respective fields, which Cooley points out helps students make the connections necessary to land jobs and shows. "No one's going to discover you in your studio," he says, adding that students are encouraged to take internships or enter juried art shows. Of course, mastering form precedes networking, and Paier's instructors emphasize the nuts and bolts of technique. "We teach our students how to be artists in the traditional sense," Cooley says, "and then they can blow up the rules if they want. Picasso understood all the rules he was breaking."