Many students at BSM care about getting into a good college and having a good career in general;because of this, choosing how to fill that single elective spot can be very stressful. In the end, most students who don’t plan on making a career out of art decide against taking art classes. Instead,they lean towards other classes such as Engineering, Journalism, or Biomedical Science because they look better on college applications. For some students, not being able to take an art class is disappointing.

That said, there are other options for students who still want to take art classes but don’t have any electives to spare. The art classes at the Minneapolis Institute of Art are one example.

Witt Siasoco is the Studio and Community Arts Associate at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and he spoke about what kind of art classes are available at Mia in particular. “Here at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, we have three classes in the summer time that are week long classes. They run 9:30 to 3:30,” Siasoco said.

The first of these classes is the Hands on Art History class where students learn some basic art history by traveling through the galleries, and then they also make a piece of art at the end of the day based on what they’ve learned.

In July, there’s another class called Street Art and Graffiti where students learn to cut stencils, use aerosol, and of course, the artists get to experiment with graffiti art as well. “Last year we did big mural pieces, large scale graffiti pieces” Siasoco said.

Next up is the Video workshop in August. There students will examine the multimedia pieces that Mia has to offer. They will conduct studies as well as createtheir own compositions which will be presented at the end of the week.

Another great option for young artists is Mia’s Art Team which is a program where you can apply to be a part of a group of 12 high school students who create events for Mia, one of the specific events that they do is called “Rated T”. “Every four months they produce an event here at Mia for a teen audience,” Siasoco said.

The other interesting thing about Art Team is that it is a selective program where students can apply for the team, so it could help spice up a college application, especially for an arts related degree. “It’s a job, so part of the time you’re actually helping out on Family Day, which is an event that happens every second Sunday, but Art Team become the people who are helping to coordinate the activities, putting on the art labs and working with the artists, so it’s a pretty great job,” Siasoco said.

For artists interested in increasing their technical skills, Siasoco specifically recommended the Hands on Art History class as it gives the best insight to basic understanding of the structure of art movements and also allows students to get hands on experience with different styles.

There are also other museums and organizations that support young artists and offer teen programs that are worth looking into, but it’s definitely a good idea to check out the classes a Mia, they’re definitely worth taking.