Do You Need an Art Education to be an Artist?
Introduction
“I was educated once - it took me years to get over it." - Mark Twain
Knowledge is never heavy to bear, and while education is usually a good thing, it can have some drawbacks. Despite its lightweight, knowledge can hold us back and stop us from ascending the peak of our skill. It depends mostly on the teacher, and they say that the best way to learn is to teach. When we are tutored under a master of any kind, we can inherit some of their skill, and we can learn from their mistakes, but if we’re not careful, we can also inherit those mistakes and faults.
This blog post focuses on art education and what positives and negatives of studying art. I want to preface that I have no formal art education, and so my perspective of things is from that walk of life. I’ve created for almost as long as I can remember, but in academic pursuits, I never did much with creativity. I instead went into STEM, something which hasn’t brought more joy to my life, but the misery that it brought has turned itself into more art than I think those years of art school would have. While lacking any formality of art education, I have always been interested in culture, and because of this, have spent most of my free time engaging with and learning about different types of art.
Curiosity and love are what have driven me to expand my knowledge about it, and while I am lacking in some technical skills that undoubtedly school can provide, my personality is a poor fit for academia and the structure it provides. With that, I want to highlight that we are fundamentally different as people, and some people will thrive in such an environment while others will not. It’s highly individual, and you have to figure out what works best for you. There is good and bad to art education, and we will begin by looking at the good, then the bad, and finally the ugly.
The Good
There are a lot of good things you can get from any education, and most of the positives apply to an art education as well. Practice, networking and a degree are the big three. Schools offer a structured curriculum to refine one’s skills, and for a lot of people who lack self-discipline or generally find it difficult to maintain a structure on their own, the school curriculum can be really helpful. However for people who struggle with a lack of self-authority and influence can find the structure to be limiting and actively fight against it. Whether or not you go to school, the best way to improve is with consistency, and if you can’t hold yourself accountable for that consistency, then school is a good incentive.
A teacher providing direct feedback and guidance can also be invaluable to improving, and this direct and live tutoring is the most natural way for us to learn. It’s how we learn as children and how we have passed on knowledge for thousands of years. The physical reality and directness of this kind of teaching can’t be reached with following along instructions and digital education. However, the kind of tutoring a teacher provides at university will depend on two main factors: the individual and the number of students. A teacher’s attention divided among 20 people completely negates all the positives of having a personal tutor, and in my experience, especially in higher education. Most teachers at university aren’t teachers by choice; it’s often part of a requirement for their studies and research, or they were once students themselves and got stuck there, never being able to leave campus. If a teacher isn’t passionate about teaching, their knowledge doesn’t matter, and when going for a degree, you won’t get to choose your teachers. If you seek out an internship or an apprenticeship, you might. By far the most valuable aspect of any degree is networking. This is something that can be difficult to find an adequate replacement for if you decide to be self-taught and practice on your own.
Meeting new people can be difficult, and it’s often the most natural for adults to make friends in work settings or during studies. Few people go out of their way to meet new people, and even at mingling and networking events, these relationships tend not to last that long. However, when we work or study for an extended amount of time, we spend a lot of time with the same people and oftentimes form bonds that can last a very long time. There’s another special quality to classmates that we don’t always find with coworkers, and that’s the common interest. We’re all studying the same subject because we have some kind of interest in it. It’s easier to find like-minded and similar individuals in these settings, and when it comes to getting that degree, a lot of classmates will go on to work in the same field. E.g. if you’re getting an art degree, landing a job at the nearby burger place will be easier because most of your classmates will already be there, and if you mingle with other students during your studies, you could even befriend the liberal arts student who will go on to become the local burger joint’s manager. A degree can certainly be useful in finding work.
If you go on to finish your studies, you will leave with better skills, more knowledge, new friends and contacts and finally a degree in your hand. Now, a degree isn’t everything, and it’s not a guarantee for a job, but it can certainly help. There are a lot of galleries, shows, and almost all governmental commission work I’ve seen put out requires a degree or 5 years of working experience. It’s the times when I send out my CV for all these works where I can feel that getting a degree would have been a smart decision, because it can certainly open some doors at the beginning of your career. Ultimately, in my experience, however, contacts and networking outshine your degree every time, and knowing the right people is often more important. So there’s a lot of good that can come with studying and pursuing a higher education. What are some of the downsides, then?
The Bad
School can be good for some, but it can be damaging for others, and it all depends on you as a person. There are three main negatives I’ve seen from people who’ve taken ill with higher education. These three are the monetary incentive, the loss of autonomy and the degeneration of creativity. For some, the first is not even going to be a problem, but for the rest of us, the truth stands:
Nothing in this life is free, and a degree is no different. Even in countries that provide free university courses or some student aid, there is still going to be a cost of living, and a lot of people work while studying to not be overcome with debt or simply to stay afloat. While some may have the luxury of having it all paid for, this is not the reality for most people, especially not these days and age where universities are more open to the public than any other time in history, but still it's gatekept for a lot of people because of its financial costs. An art career isn’t always the most lucrative, and dealing with debt while starting in any artistic and creative career can be challenging. Because the money spent on studies could’ve been spent on creating and running an art business. This requires a lot of autonomy, however, and art education often doesn’t come with the necessary knowledge to run a successful business.
One thing I’ve found in life is that some people like school because they lack autonomy, and I’ve seen in life that studying sometimes worsens this self-authority and discipline of some people. For other’s it may improve as it takes discipline to study and prepare for exams, etc. Some, however, struggle to find their feet after school is done, and some even remain students for the rest of their lives because it’s easier and safer. Some people like being told what to do and how to do it, and others struggle with it. There can be a certain level of learned helplessness that school can bring about in some people. Studying is a relatively relaxed and safe environment, the challenges presented are put under strict deadlines, and the required reading is often clearly outlined. It’s often a matter of repetition or memorisation, and sometimes that’s not really what life is like. You can’t always be told what to do and how to do it, and you’ve gotta figure some of that stuff out on your own. You won’t always have a headmaster making your schedule, you will have to learn how to organise your own time and how to do the things required of you on your own. Having the freedom of choice can be paralysing to some and liberating to others. Developing a strong sense of self-reliance and autonomy can be a good way to cultivate creativity.
I think the biggest danger of studying any kind of art is being stuck in a box and being unable to leave that box. Comfort can be dangerous, especially for creativity. It’s very natural when you learn something like a skill to learn “the best way” to do it and then constantly rely on doing it that way. Schools generally are not a good environment for free-thinking and experimentation, there are exceptions, I’m sure. I’ve found that when it comes to creativity and art, the ones that have taught me the most are the people who haven’t studied anything art-related themselves, and the worst teachers I’ve had have been educated.
The reason for that is the people with whom I’ve made art with, and who have studied it have been set in a pattern which they’ve been unable to leave. Instead of trying to approach creativity and self-expression from a new perspective or way, they’ve been uncompromising and wanted me to do the same as they were taught. They have been rigid and, in a lot of ways, just boring. That’s not to say all of them have been that way, and even then, most of them have outshone me in technical skill and know-how more often than not, but the process just hasn’t been inspiring, and it hasn’t brought joy. Something which I think is essential to the process. Not everyone’s creativity is degenerated by school, but for some people, it’s a death sentence to their self-expression, and they become square, just like that little box they so willingly entered.
The Ugly
The ugly truth is that it can be really difficult to break into social circles, circles which are largely formed around the community of learning. A lot of galleries, shows, and more are simply unwilling to take you in if you don’t have a bachelor's or master’s degree in art, and for me, it’s a simple reason: it’s about class and keeping social hierarchies in check. Universities have been, since their conception, the mark of the elite. To receive an education in a lot of countries is still proof that you come from money or that you’re special enough to receive grants and scholarships. Our entire society is a well-oiled and well-thought-out system to keep itself sustained and keep the hierarchy which it has built up over thousands of years. It’s made in such a way as to ensure that the money flows in a certain way, into specific pockets. Governments make sure to hire from universities because it keeps people paying them, and getting into student debt. Debt ensures compliance with society and ensures you play along. These social circles are thought out and ensure a tight control of how people move between them.
I studied for almost two years before dropping out, and then worked to pay off the debt I acquired over only those two years, and I live in a country where university is free. Most people don’t get that privilege, and for some, an art degree can have them indebted for their entire life. A degree may help you find work, but it’s not a guarantee and an art degree doesn’t offer much value beyond a teaching career. The biggest value beyond the honing of your skills for a degree is the networking. Some would say we live in a meritocracy and only the elite can get away with luxurious pretensions. For the rest of us, you’re judged based on your merits and experience rather than education and degrees. It’s more important to be reliable and hardworking, and having proof of that rather than the name of the school you went to.
Final Words
Whether or not an art education is for you depends on a lot of factors. There are pros and cons to both, and there’s no telling how your experience will be. Don’t be afraid to give it a shot, and if you find a good master, hold onto them and absorb as much knowledge as you can, regardless of whether they’re your teacher or not. The structure a school offers can help some people, but it can also be damaging to others. It’s important to recognise one’s own flaws and strengths to make the best decision possible.
Do you need an art education to be a successful artist? No, but it can certainly help you on the way there. It’s not a guarantee, and it’s not a must, and it can be really helpful or it can be a hindrance. There are times when I’ve been helped by the fact that I don’t have a degree, and others where it has excluded me from some opportunities. Ultimately, the choice is yours, and the best tip I can give is: start as soon as possible.
Whether or not you’re going for a degree in anything, but especially in art or if you’re not at all pursuing higher education. Whatever you want to do, start now and build up a portfolio. Make music, write poetry, self-publish and build up a catalogue of your work. Whether you’re in school or not, start sharing your work with the world, because the sooner you do that, the better. It will only help you, and there are few, if any, downsides at all to it. You can do it cheaply, and on your own or with the help of others. Just get to it and start doing it now. You don't need a degree to be an artist, to be an artist simply means to create art.
The best time to start was yesterday, and the second-best time is now.
