art school drop out that never went to art school...
in theory, yes, you should drop out of art school. and yes, you should drop out of college too. this has been my motto, my chevron, my emblazoned cry of triumph. i'm not saying you should not try going to college, or art school. you should. hopefully you'll find some good reason to drop out though. be it a job that offers lucrative exchanges for the sweat of your brow, or that you just one day decide that you know more than what can be taught to you in books and lectures. that has been my way and it is the way that has made me the man that i am today. the art that i create today is a result of not attending art school. the writing that i scribble out is the result of not graduating with a degree in English. and i am proud of what i produce...
ok, reality check time... if i could do it differently, would i go back to college and do it all over properly? would i have finished a degree in English where i would have read all of the classics that English majors read? the part of me that fails in the marketplace as an accomplished writer, or as someone who believes in themselves that they can make it as an uneducated writer but does not sell books... yes. i would go back in time and look more closely at those days that i decided to ditch class because of my pompous attitudes.
see, i don't come from an educated family or from a family of artists/writers. no one lived before me that lit a path for me to follow. no one shouted at me either, saying "be a writer/artist or we'll disown you!" either... i stumbled into this arena of activity where i make images with a camera and try to write books when i haven't read enough books to really know how a book should be written. but, i'm finding my way. awkwardly.
you want to know if it's worth it going to art school and getting a degree in art? hell yes, it is! at a minimum you will be employable in a variety of markets; advertising, teaching, illustrating... i don't even know what else. the thing is that you will be trained in the systems of employable art. i can apply this scenario to majoring in photography. there is so much more i would know how to do if i had completed a course of education in photography than i know now. i would have spent semesters studying the great masters (and know who they are and be able to identify their styles as evidenced in the work of others - something i cannot do now. i shudder at the chance meeting with a photographer online or in person who will start talking "shop" about formats and studio lighting and PS5 or Aperture, because i have never developed an acclimation to recognize these matters).
i am of the generation of photographers that stumble through their careers from cheap camera to cheap technique, never being able to explain how they do what they do. and when the phone call finally comes from someone that wants to pay you because you made some picture once that intrigued them, you say, "well, i can't remember how i did that..."
if you want to make money as an artist, go to art school and get your degree. if you want to be someone that suffers from alcohol addiction and bad relationships and depression, drop out of art school. better yet, don't even enroll. don't become an English major either. reading all the books that they make you read will most likely make you more afraid to write something original than it will empower you to do so. if you want to make money as a writer, study journalism. but if you need to write for your own sanity, you just have to do that anyway. whether anyone will ever read what you write, well that's a crap shoot anymore. i consider myself lucky. i wrote a book and a few dozen people bought copies and read it! no one buys my photographs though.
i do both arts because they soothe my soul. if i were an art school grad i could probably sell it.
not sure why i felt it was important to say all this. someone on facebook asked her friends if they thought she should go to art school or not. i guess i felt like writing out a full answer rather than just saying yes or no.
ok, reality check time... if i could do it differently, would i go back to college and do it all over properly? would i have finished a degree in English where i would have read all of the classics that English majors read? the part of me that fails in the marketplace as an accomplished writer, or as someone who believes in themselves that they can make it as an uneducated writer but does not sell books... yes. i would go back in time and look more closely at those days that i decided to ditch class because of my pompous attitudes.
see, i don't come from an educated family or from a family of artists/writers. no one lived before me that lit a path for me to follow. no one shouted at me either, saying "be a writer/artist or we'll disown you!" either... i stumbled into this arena of activity where i make images with a camera and try to write books when i haven't read enough books to really know how a book should be written. but, i'm finding my way. awkwardly.
you want to know if it's worth it going to art school and getting a degree in art? hell yes, it is! at a minimum you will be employable in a variety of markets; advertising, teaching, illustrating... i don't even know what else. the thing is that you will be trained in the systems of employable art. i can apply this scenario to majoring in photography. there is so much more i would know how to do if i had completed a course of education in photography than i know now. i would have spent semesters studying the great masters (and know who they are and be able to identify their styles as evidenced in the work of others - something i cannot do now. i shudder at the chance meeting with a photographer online or in person who will start talking "shop" about formats and studio lighting and PS5 or Aperture, because i have never developed an acclimation to recognize these matters).
i am of the generation of photographers that stumble through their careers from cheap camera to cheap technique, never being able to explain how they do what they do. and when the phone call finally comes from someone that wants to pay you because you made some picture once that intrigued them, you say, "well, i can't remember how i did that..."
if you want to make money as an artist, go to art school and get your degree. if you want to be someone that suffers from alcohol addiction and bad relationships and depression, drop out of art school. better yet, don't even enroll. don't become an English major either. reading all the books that they make you read will most likely make you more afraid to write something original than it will empower you to do so. if you want to make money as a writer, study journalism. but if you need to write for your own sanity, you just have to do that anyway. whether anyone will ever read what you write, well that's a crap shoot anymore. i consider myself lucky. i wrote a book and a few dozen people bought copies and read it! no one buys my photographs though.
i do both arts because they soothe my soul. if i were an art school grad i could probably sell it.
not sure why i felt it was important to say all this. someone on facebook asked her friends if they thought she should go to art school or not. i guess i felt like writing out a full answer rather than just saying yes or no.
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