Office of Summer Programs
Alumni Hall
Dates
July 12 to July 17, 2026
The Program
This pre-college program is an intensive for high school rising sophomores, juniors and seniors preparing portfolios for art school admissions and for those thinking about entering an art program. The five days will develop students’ concepts and skills to strengthen their portfolios. This program will focus on color. Students will use a wide variety of materials to learn through experience how color interacts with material and form to create experiences for viewers. Students will create a minimum of 2 finished works for their portfolios, as well as be introduced to art work planning and development. Both 2D and 3D formats will be explored. Work documentation for portfolio presentation will be covered.
Level
High School level; Beginners Encouraged
Tuition, Meals & Housing
Program Cost: $1,000
Program Deposit: $100
This pricing includes tuition, materials, meals, and housing. All housing and meals will take place here on Alfred University’s campus.
Discounts
We are pleased to offer a $100 discount off tuition for students whose primary residence is within a fifty-mile radius of Alfred, New York, as well as for children of Alfred University Alumni and returning students from any Pre-College Program at Alfred University. Please contact Pre-College Programs Coordinator Isaac Matson for details.
About the Instructor
Zihao Chen’s artistic practice centers on abstract painting, extending into drawing and hand-papermaking. Through the language of abstraction, his work explores how personal memory, cultural identity, and political tension shape individual experience. Abstract forms and material gestures become vessels for psychological and sociopolitical complexity, revealing the emotional turbulence and contradictions embedded in contemporary life. Zihao currently serves as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Foundations at Alfred University.
