10 Myths About Artists
You Have to Go to Art School to Be a Real Artist
MYTH: You need an MFA to be a real artist!
REALITY: The real proof is in the work.
Getting a degree from an art school has its advantages.
Credentials, for one. A degree says you completed a course of study. It
says somebody deemed you good enough to complete it successfully. Art
school gives you other precious gifts: Time, tools and resources to
actually
make art. You have many opportunities
to experiment with different media and different techniques. Many
students develop important relationships with teachers who become
mentors, and with other talented students.
Art school also allows you to immerse yourself in a community that
supports art. If you come from a family or environment that’s baffled
(or even threatened) by your artistic attempts, this immersion can be
powerful stuff. You may feel like you’ve finally found “your people”.
And of course, there is the confidence and validation you gain from holding a degree that proclaims you an artist.
But there is a downside to art school.
You spend a huge amount of time making work that fits someone else’s agenda and criteria, not your own.
You may find it hard to develop your own style. You are surrounded
by the vision of other teachers and other students, and it can be hard
to figure out what your particular vision is.
Or conversely, it’s all too easy to be influenced by the vision of others.
Or your vision doesn’t get the “strokes” from the group you desire, so you unconsciously begin to modify it so it does.
Or you
don’t modify your style, and suffer the
consequences We’ve all heard the appalling stories of vicious group
“critiques” and the lasting emotional damage they can cause. We’ve all
heard of the nasty teacher who never missed an opportunity to denigrate
someone’s work.
You may fall for the tendency to make high-falutin’, theoretical,
worldly/academic “statements” with your art. Read almost any art
statement, preferably one you barely understand, and you’ll know what I
mean. The actual
approach to your art may be taught as a purely
intellectual or academic exercise. There is value to understanding and
practicing art this way, of course. But I personally feel something is
lost when art is made only to provoke, or satirize, or insult, with no
real emotional connection, personal experience, or “heart” in the
effort.
And the biggest drawback–y
ou may not ever actually encounter any working artists.
I once spent a day giving five high-school art classes a
presentation of the business of art. I opened the first class with this
question: “How many of you believe it is impossible to make a living by
selling your art?”
The
teacher raised her hand.
Some people who teach art do so because they don’t believe they
can be successful selling it. (Though many teach so they can have the
freedom to create the art they want, without worrying about
having selling it.)
You can often tell which teachers are working artists and which ones aren’t. The working ones are
making their art,
at some level–entering exhibitions with new work, selling, taking
commissions, whatever. The ones who gave up are telling you why it’s
impossible to sell your work. These are the ones who make terrible role
models.
Almost as bad are the teachers who convince their students that the art world is out there just
waiting
for them to graduate. Instant success is within their grasp. Famous
galleries in New York City are eager for their work, and the party
starts as soon as you walk out the door. Then, when it doesn’t happen in
six months, or a year, or three, the new grad begins to think she
doesn’t have what it takes–and gives up.
Some art schools now incorporate business skills for artists in their curriculum. Yay!
Either way, the art school experience can make the issue
black-and-white. There are “artists” and there are “non-artists”. There
are “rich/famous/successful” artists, and there are “failed artists”. No
gray. No spectrum. No range.
Know that there are many “levels” of keeping art in our lives.
There are as many ways of making that work as there are artists.
Some will make good money with their pursuits. Others will cobble
together different ventures and venues that makes them happy. Some will
go into fine art. Some will go into design, or graphic arts. Some may
teach. Some may do the show circuit. Some may find gallery
representation. Others may find ways of using the internet to market
directly to customers.
Some may find other work that is rewarding and makes them happy,
and keep their art practice solely for their own enjoyment. And some
will run up against life’s hard walls all too soon, and have to carve
out tiny chunks of time to keep their vision alive.
Maybe we can’t all be rich and famous. But there are many ways to
create a life that includes art as a daily practice. And there many ways
of sharing our vision with others.
So go to art school, if that is your dream. Squeeze every drop of
experience and knowledge you can from it. Revel in your freedom to
immerse yourself in an art community. Learn to protect yourself against
the nay-sayers.
But if you didn’t go to art school, know that you simply found
your life’s work by another path. It may have wound around in the woods
for awhile, it may have taken you longer to get here….
But you simply had a different experience. That’s all.
And those unique experiences are what made you the artist you are today.
