#csssa 2016

[csssa-weirdo]

February 27, 2017

Well, I never finished this blog. ^^;

But for any curious artists applying this year, feel free to ask me any questions you may have about CSSSA!

I went in 2016 for creative writing. ^^

[greenohlson]

Finally decided to upload my CSSSA Animation 2016 film from last summer after skyping with my CSSSA buds Bleu and Boshi Boy. <3 <3 <3 I fricken love those kids. 

[chewytriforce]

Hi, I've been planning to apply to CalArts in the future once I finish high school! I just have a couple questions, if you don't mind me asking. Are the teachers there pleasant or strict or just kinda boring? And what's day to day life like? Do you have any advice on ways to save up for tuition (since it's so expensive!!)?

hello!!

ooh anon! it sounds like you think i go to calarts, haha! which i don’t, i’m still in high school. that program i did, csssa, it just took place at the calarts campus but it has no affiliation with it! csssa is run by the government of california, and they just use the calarts dorms and facilities to run csssa.

and so that means that the csssa teachers aren’t calarts professors! well, some of them aren’t. like some of them teach there, but not all of them do. actually, a lot of the csssa faculty went to calarts as students though! so that’s pretty cool. (and my design teacher is actually an admissions representative for calarts!)

day to day life is cool, there’s lots of nice places to hang out at on the campus and the calarts campus is SO confusing, there’s always new places to explore. there’s tennis courts, basketball courts, and a swimming pool. and lots of open grassy fields outside. and there’s a little lounge called mom’s cafe, where you can play pool and foosball and board games and a piano. and there’s a coffeeshop on campus called tatum’s cafe where people go to hang or read or use their laptops or buy drinks and food. and every night there’s always showcases from different departments going on, i went to theater showcases, creative writing readings, dance shows, music performances, and animation and film/video screenings. there’s always something to do!

and on the weekends there’s field trips to places like disneyland and the getty museum. but if you don’t go and you stay on campus, there’s movie screenings and the pool is always open.

i really, really enjoyed my free time there because i had so much independence. i could play foosball in mom’s cafe, chill in tatum’s cafe, catch a movie screening, go to a showcase, work on my art projects in the studios, go to the pool, sneak into an empty theater and hang out with friends or play piano by myself, whatever! i miss the freedom so much.

and YEAH man it’s super expensive. my plan is to just… hope that my portfolio is SUPER stellar and i’ll get lots of scholarships. i’m basically hoping that scholarships can pay my way through art school lol.

[chewytriforce]

hi, i just saw your post about your time at csssa and im applying for the 2017 program. i was wondering what reccomendations you had for the portfolio we have to make, as far as content goes.

hello!

btw, i saw your other message about how you’re applying as a painting major. that’s cool, i was a painting and digital media major! so definitely don’t be afraid to ask me about that if you have any questions.

so yeah for your portfolio, definitely have your painting piece be strong, since you’re applying as a painting major. (since all 3 of your pieces have to be in different mediums and 1 of them has to be in the medium of your first choice). so definitely show them that you can paint! i applied with my first choice as painting, and i KNOW my painting wasn’t strong, and i think that’s where my application suffered. (i’ll post my application later and explain)

and for assignment A, the social/political/personal issue one, think of something that they wouldn’t have considered as an issue. don’t do something big and obvious that’s in the news, that’s too straight forward. think outside the box a little and talk about something that you think is important that nobody really thinks is a problem.

[chewytriforce]

heya!! i have a couple questions about csssa, if you don't mind me asking: 1. how is the food? do you know if hey happen to offer gluten-free stuff in the cafeteria? 2. do you get used to being away from home? (i'm kind of around my parents 24/7 so the idea of being away from home is a little scary, haha) thank you!

hey hanna!!

the food was….not….that great..,,,.. LMAO ok well like some days were better than others. the breakfasts usually weren’t that awesome so i mostly ate cereal and fruit and like eggs and bacon and stuff (avoid the french toast). the meals usually got better around lunch and dinner (beware their asian food tho it’s pretty yikes). but the pizza they had at lunch was really good! so yeah like idk overall it wasn’t that great but i always managed to find something to eat every day. i definitely don’t miss it, but while you’re there you get kinda used to it. i don’t know if they offer gluten free stuff? i know they have vegetarian options every day but if you’re looking for gluten free you can always just have the fruit and veggies and protein they offer! but you can also order takeout! lots of people order out and have it delivered and people ordered domino’s like, every night. i swear i saw the domino’s delivery dude like every night.

yeah you definitely get used to being away from home. i really liked the independence i had there and it was nice kind of being away from my parents and running my personal schedule on my own terms. it’s different for everyone tho! i know some people went home for the weekend EVERY weekend, and some people went out with their families on the weekend, and some people never talked to their family at ALL the entire month. for me, i texted my mom most nights and talked to her a few times a week. so it really depends on you! but i know you have lots of fun there if you get out of your room and hang out with people during your free time because csssa gives you so much FREEDOM. you’re practically unsupervised and completely on your own on the campus during your free time, so you’re really independent. (it sounds scary but it’s really not, don’t worry haha)

i’d love to talk to you guys more about it so don’t be afraid to ask about anything!! (i’ve got a lot of stories and lots of stuff from the experience just sitting inside of me and i need to share it with people lol)

[chewytriforce]

chewy @ csssa

ok so i’ve decided to talk a little bit about my time at csssa and also kind of just collect my thoughts about it for myself.

i won’t go into toooo much detail but if you’d like to hear the specifics about anything, don’t hesitate to ask!

i honestly didn’t know what to expect from csssa. i heard mixed reviews about it from people that i know and i’ve heard everything from “absolutely life changing” to “it really wasn’t that great”. my application process got pretty complicated and stressful and it caused a lot of pain and some tears (i won’t really talk about it here since it’s not that relevant to my experience there, but if you wanna know what happened you can totally ask me) so finally getting the opportunity to go to csssa was really exciting.

i can really say that my time at csssa was pretty amazing. i had a difficult time adjusting at first, but after i got into the swing of things i really enjoyed the independence i had there.

i had a rough first week because i had kind of a hard time finding my place there? i spent a lot of my downtime just sitting by myself and drawing. it was weird for me because i saw a lot of people settle in really quickly and immediately develop strong friend groups and adjust really easily, and i was still trying to find my way around and find a consistent group of people i could hang out with.

at csssa, i really learned a lot about how i function independently and how i function in social situations. csssa really confirmed for me that i’m not comfortable in a large group dynamic. in groups of more than like, 5 people, i get a lot more quiet and a lot more reserved and i have a hard time talking to people. i’m a lot more comfortable in small groups and i like hanging out with smaller groups of people at a time.

it was also difficult for me to make close friends with other people in visual arts, mostly because of the way the visual arts department was organized. visual arts was so large and everyone was so scattered, there was nobody that i could consistently see. i ended up making friends with a large group of theater kids and hanging out with a few people from it at a time.

by the second week i was starting to warm up to the environment and the people. and by the third and fourth week i was more comfortable and having a good time. i was hanging out with my theater friends, i was going to shows almost every night, and i was spending almost all of my free time with other people.

and now that csssa is over, i can’t believe how much i miss it. there’s nothing like the csssa environment, it’s an experience that’s purely CSSSA. you can’t get it anywhere else! a month being surrounded purely by ART, in all forms, and being surrounded by people that understand what it’s like to make art. there’s so much respect between departments. people there, in any department, have so much respect for you and your craft. the post csssa depression is real, haha. it was hard coming back to reality after that.

and the people i met, they’re all so amazing. and the person i already knew at csssa (i applied to csssa with a good friend and we both got in), i’m so glad that we got to share this experience together and it made us closer. it’s really humbling to see so many other talented kids out there.

csssa really taught me a lot about how i live when i’m independent and how i make art. i still can’t really believe i did that, i lived on the calarts campus for a MONTH and just did ART 6 days a week!

so yeah i’m gonna stop this before it gets TOO long. if you have ANY questions about ANYTHING- my classes, csssa life, dorm life, my schedule, my teachers, the food, WHATEVER- please don’t be afraid to ask me! if you’re thinking about applying and want some advice or have questions or anything PLEASE ASK ME! i’d love to share my experience with you! (i’ve got lots of stories to share! <3)

tldr: csssa was great

[greenohlson]

Final bits of my CSSSA sketchbook

[chewytriforce]

a video of the final ceremony at csssa this year just went online and i sat right in the front so i can see myself in the video and i’m sad all over again because i mISS CSSSA AND THE PEOPLE AND THE EVERYTHING AND MAN THE CSSSA WITHDRAWALS HIT HARD