Prospective students will find two art colleges located within the state of Rhode Island. The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) is in the state's capital city of Providence. The New School of Classical Art (NSCA) is found in nearby Pawtucket. NCSA is only minutes away (by automobile) from the Rhode Island School of Design, Brown University and downtown Providence. Both schools provide courses in several different types of art mediums and techniques to provide students a well-rounded artistic education.
The New School of Classical Art provides instruction to students in an atelier (which means workshop or studio). The 18-foot windows provide natural light to artists, who may use the room's model area and student work spaces to pursue their artistic projects. The instructor's studio is also located within the atelier. RISD teaches students in a more traditional classroom environment. The large campus holds student housing that includes apartment-style accommodations and more traditional dorm rooms.
The New School of Classical Art provides several different courses for students to pursue. Beginning students take the cast drawing course based upon the work of Parisian artists in the 1860s. Students begin by copying lithographs before they learn how to draw their own pictures. As the course progresses, students begin working with more difficult media like charcoal, white chalk and oil paints. Figure drawing is also studied at NSCA. Students begin the course by working in pencil for three-hour sessions, but as the course progresses they will work with more difficult media for longer periods of time. At RISD, students major in specific art forms like architecture, graphic design, illustration and painting. RISD is a four-year college providing students with bachelor's and master's degrees.
NSCA uses the Sight Size Method for all courses, an artistic method designed for artists who want to create artwork from life experiences. In the Sight Size Method, the canvas and the subject of study are placed side by side. A fixed point is marked many feet away from the subject; from here, the artist observes the subject before moving to the canvas to recreate it. RISD allows students to pursue several different artistic methods through a diverse course list that includes ceramics, apparel design, landscape architecture and metalsmithing.