Institut Supérieur des Beaux-Arts Saint-Luc de Liège

Courses were ok. I personally had some major issues with the old classic and anti-contemporary vision most of the art instructors there held. But it was no surprise to me when I knew a few instructors happened to be somewhat zealously relgious, so more contemporary ideas of art were mostly pushed to the side when some of us dabbled in it. I admit it did make for interesting heated intellectual conversation sometimes, but it made one tired of defending one's art, intellectual ideals, and reasoning all the time. It did teach me to be a stronger person in regards to my artistic beliefs. But again, some of the instructors I had when I was there have retired or are not there anymore. My best teacher was my Art History instructor who is extremely knowledgeable in her field. She always pushed us toward doing our best and seemed to understand us the best. She was one of the few open-minded instructors that had a vested interest in our more contemporary ideas and endeavors. Also, I used to have my painting, drawing, etching, art history and philosopy classes when we still had facilites at the Rue Ste-Marie location. Since 1995 they moved St-Luc Enseignement Supérieur to facilities located at Boulevard de la Constitution in Outremeuse (now called St-Luc Outremeuse). Now, I can't say if it has improved since.

Being more open to contemporary art, and having more classes that teach more contemportary techniques as well as the classic ones we were taught. It would have been nice to have some instructors who were more informed and interested in contemporary artists and contemporary exhibitions. They need to be less judgmental about what art is "supposed to be" according to them, and more of "what each artist will make of the idea of art according to the current events and ideas of their time."

Telephone costs (local or international calls) in Europe are extremely expensive in general compared to the U.S., housing/apartment accomodations were extremely cheap in Liège, nightlife and drinking in Liège is much cheaper than in the U.S., travel is about the same depending on where you go, what hotels and cities you stay in etc., food shopping and restaurants are about the same price again depending on where you go.

I can't think of anything... Discovery of a new culture and country was the thing I most enjoyed about my whole experience.

Read up as much as you can about the school and talk to former graduates of the area of study you are interested in so you can find out what their impressions were so you can get an idea of the ambiance of the place of instruction and instructors.