Thank you for this article, Lori. My greatest regret  has been not going to art school and I have been wondering if classes and workshops are enough to learn. Sometimes, it seems to me I never graduate beyond being a student, I dont know if I can call myself an artist while still at the learning process. Your article is so encouraging and gives me hope.

You're welcome Sujatha.

We are all always students seeking to get better. I was a beginning watercolorist not too long ago - I remember the struggle, and even though I knew how to draw, it took years for me to finally get control of the medium. It was worth it!

We are living in a time where opportunities to learn the essentials of art-making are more available then ever before in history. Go for it, and never regret a lack of college degree.

Thank you thats a great blog. Unfortunately thats my same experience, I learned very little in art school. I'm glad to hear others sharing the same opinion.

Denis Byrd

www.denisbyrd.com

This post was mentioned on Twitter by Loriwords: Never stop learning - why a college degree is not necessary for artists http://bit.ly/4EmaW

Lori.  Thanks for sharing this information.  I'm one of those who didn't do art school (I'm a retired attorney).  I've been concerned about how to get what I need to advance my skills.  I agree with Sujatha.  You give us hope.

I often kid that in my middle age I am giving myself the art education I always wanted. I do that by taking classes & workshops with a variety of teachers, learning to use my materials well and trying a variety of styles. I got an Art History degree and always wished I had studied painting while I was in art school. I ran into someone who had gone to the same school and told me that I didn't miss anything by not studying painting while I was were. His experience was much like yours and he thought the painting department was terrible and cliquey. I was glad to hear that but I still wish I could have started painting much earlier so that maybe by now I would have been more knowledge and more confident. C'est la guerre. I've just found your blog and I am looking forward to learning more from you too.

I must have had a very unusual experience, since some of the best art experiences I had *were* in the classrooms.  I received everything from life drawing, to color theory, composition fundamentals, perspective, basic classical drawing skills (comparative, not sight-size), art history, and anatomy, all at a community college, an art school and a university.  You just can't get some of these things in quite the same way, or access the same kinds of resources, out on your own or even studying at an atelier (as ateliers currently exist).  My most valuable training, however, inadvertently came from my physical anthropology courses in osteology and primate anatomy and evolution.  There is nothing like seeing how the primate skeleton evolves from one taxon to another and across time, and how that relates to motion, activity and environment.  There is nothing like learning about the human skeleton from the histological level up to the gross, whole organismal level.   We learned to identify human versus animal bones based on *touch,* as the lab practicals included a 'black box' section where you had to distinguish human bones from animal bones and inanimate objects by reaching into the opaque box and feeling the items within.  I also think one can get a lot from looking at art, whether it's in person, through books and magazines, or online.  And just working every day is equally important.  So take what you can from wherever you can find it!

Thank you Thank you Thank you for writing this! LOL.

When I was in art school I often felt like the only one that could see the eperor had no clothes on!

Your honesty is much appreciated!

Kisu, you were fortunate to have attended schools where they taught you the fundamentals, but it sounds like you're intelligent too - which helped you to get something out of your other courses and add it to your art knowledge.

Thanks for your input.

Juliana, my sentiments exactly... "no clothes". My three D class' professor hardly ever showed up, but he had tenure. One of the students complained and got some of us to sign a petition. That student was expelled from the college. I guess he pointed out that the emperor had not clothes.

Most of my professional artist friends who make six figures do not have an art degree. Some attended art school in Los Angeles, Students Art League, etc. but most learned by taking workshops. One learned entirely from copying paintings out of her books and then she developed her own style.

So if you don't have an art degree, don't worry about it - get on with your art and get the best education you can through other means. Let nothing hold you back! and... if you can't afford workshops, search online, buy books or videos which you can watch again and again. If you're a beginner, I suggest spending a lot of time drawing - understanding values, and how light on objects works. Even in college, I took a year of drawing before I was able to take a painting course - the administration knew drawing came first.

Lori, I would recommend to people who are considering  taking college or university art courses to go and investigate and observe before signing up.  Talk to the instructors and ask very specific questions about the methods used and the content of the classes, look at the student galleries and faculty work first to see what's being generated.  That's probably the best thing to do so that you don't find yourself enmeshed in a program that isn't right for you.  

Kisu, good recommendation. Seems your advice would be useful for any educational venue.

just curious - where did you go to art school, and when did you graduate?

University of Arizona... 1974-1978 Bachelor's degree in Fine Art Education. I had a friend who went to RISD who had the same experience... was the norm for the times. But the UofA still seems bent toward abstract expressionism.

Worked at Digital Equipment corporation (NH) - release engineer 1981-1989

Watercolor classes: Albuquerque with Dorothy Vorhees: 1992-1994

Summer workshops with Sondra Freckelton and Jack Beal: 1995-1999

Other workshops: Irving Shapiro, Clayton Beck, Dennis Sheehan, Richard Schmid, Nancy Guzik, Diane Rath, Donald Demers.

Favorite videos: Richard Schmid (June), Morgan Weistling, Jay Moore.

that about covers it ;-)

Lori, Irving Shapiro was the director of the American Academy of Art when I attended, but I really can't say I remember all that much about him other than my initial interview which is a fuzzy memory now.  Too many years have gone by!

Kisu, my very first workshop was with Irving Shapiro when he came to Albuquerque - I think in 1992. He died shortly thereafter. Clayton Beck says he studied with Irving at the Academy. He painted with watercolors like they were oils - scrubbing sometime with a bristle brush. The thing that caught my attention is that during the workshop he always worked from a value sketch done in charcoal - not directly from a photograph.

Thank you Lori,

This was a very enlightening  to hear. I was always feeling less since I did not attend art school or held a degree of higher learning. Now I see many artist share that  "I wish I had attended art school" . Maybe now I can put that to rest and continue to develope and grow.

Thank you again and thank  all of you who shared your comments.

Paw

Lori, I wish now that I'd had the chance to get to know Shapiro some, but I was very young at the time (sigh!) and I was commuting 3 hours round trip each day to get to the Academy.  We were in class from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., so during the day we were pretty much occupied in the classroom, except for a couple short breaks and lunch.  Seems like another lifetime ago!  The entire morning was devoted to life drawing each day, and among a variety of exercises we did simple still lifes in the afternoon fundamentals class, starting with carbon pencil, moving to a monochromatic watercolor, and then ending with a full color rendering.  The emphasis was, like you mention, on getting correct values more than anything, so I can see that deriving directly from his approach.   There were a couple students that gathered every day after all the classes were over to do portraits from volunteer models, usually students they recruited to stay after school.  I was asked to sit for them one time and forgot to tell my dad who was waiting at the train station at the usual time to pick me up...and I didn't show.  Needless to say, my parents were very upset, thinking something had happened to me in the big city, and I got into a lot of trouble for not letting them know that I'd be late!   Duh!  This was way before cell phones and text messaging.!

Lori, WOW that's a sad story about that non conforming student being expelled....kind of ironic isn't it? He got expelled for not just blindly following a teacher that had no rules himself.

After reading all of the comments from people It occurred to me that many would benefit from reading " Vincent van Gogh : a self-portrait in art and letters"

It's an amazing collection of the letters that Vincent Van Gogh wrote to his brother . He wrote over 700 letters!

Vincent Van Gogh taught himself to first draw and then paint. He talks about the process in his letters and you see his work improve as the book goes along.

The man had an amazing work ethic.  It also shows how intelligent and clear minded he once was. - Not just the crazy guy that cut off his ear.

- Juliana

I totally agree ! The best is to be friend with a better and older artist than yours. If you don't their is the workshops but nothing can beat a personal relationship with an other artist. That is why I found the forum of Artist daily so priceless. I wish tough we were sharing more practical stuff but it is not easy on a forum.

By the way Workshop magazine is a gold mine ! Thank you so much for this magazine !

I would echo what Kisu said.  Here in Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts has a very structured first 2 years that starts with drawing and the fundamentals.  It was featured in Drawing magazine a year or so ago.

They also offer community classes which I intend to take in the spring.  I'd love to jump in and take the 4 years but it's really intense!  One at a time might work better for me.

Thank you for the article!! I had a much different experience as an art student (some 15 years ago!). I did have several instructors that were very helpful to my knowledge as an artist (although I do admit that there were several who were there to teach to paint or draw in their style instead of helping us find our own individual style).

One of my favorite instructors stated on the very first day of class that "...there is nothing I can teach you that you can't teach yourselves...it would just take you a little longer..."

I still think it takes awhile to process what others teach...and then you have to decide what will help you as an artist, and what to toss!!

My experience sounds somewhat similar to yours Lori. I actually fell into computers after graduation. I can relate to the burn-out. I attended a university and majored in fine art and some of the professors did not touch on the basics very much. About the only course I did not take was painting. That was due to the fact that the individual teaching the course had a deep interest in  Picasso. Not that there's anything wrong with Picasso, he was very talented artist, but I didn't want to spend a semester learning how to be Picasso. Not much freedom in that course to explore you own style. But on the flip side I thoroughly enjoyed his drawing course.

An area in which I believe schools came up short when I was attending was the business side of art. We luckily had one art marketing course that was offered. It helped some but there should have been more.

But overall I'm glad I attended college and acquire a degree in art. If I had it to do over again I would have possibly spent my summers attending a painting workshop.

I'm also finding Workshop magazine to be very helpful.

Thanks for the great article.

Robert, thanks for your comment. What I'm gathering is that art academies were fairly good at delivering an academic education in art, while universities were bent towards teaching abstract expressionism. Many students really liked that, but I was born to be a representational painter. I agree, Picasso was good, but not the only way to go.

Fortunately for artists today, there are so many places to get a good education. I'm trying to play catchup, but what a great opportunity for younger artists who are just getting started. They can zoom right in on whom they want to study with or where they can get a good dose of the academics.

Thanks for the great blog! I do not have a degree in art from a university but have studied with some of the best teachers in drawing and watercolor throughout the years. I found that concentrating on one aspect of art a year strengthens that particular area. One aspect builds on the other. Soon I will be ready for abstract art but I don't think you can "go there" until you have basic skills under your belt. Learning is a continuous process and your art matures as you do.

I'm not trying to be contrary, but it's in my science training to find and test the holes or weaknesses in a given perspective or position, so here goes:  isn't  there an equal chance that students who attend workshops with prominent personalities can become clones of that instructor, similar to the complaint that many university art professors seem to pressure their students to go in a certain direction?  I know of some artists who have taken workshops and have come out of it assimilating the instructor's technical tricks and stylistic idiosyncrasies.  Have they improved?  Sure, but they also acquired some mimicry which hopefully over time they should work to move past, but not always.  

Kisu, You are absolutely right - some teachers are apt to make clones while others just teach concepts. But then again, some students are more apt to be clones than others... and some never develop their own way of working.

I paint along side of Richard Schmid throughout the year and while I can paint like he can (although not as well), I do not really like to paint in his style. I more prefer to emulate Nancy Guzik if anyone. It's nearly impossible to study with an instructor and not end up letting some of his or her techniques or approaches creep into your work. Having said that, students have learned by copying from their masters throughout the centuries. The students who take what they've learned and take it a step further by developing their own visual statements and styles are the ones who become the new masters... then a whole new school copies them.

I believe that no matter where one learns skills - from a school, atelier, university or workshop instructor, the artist who develops an individual way of working that's from the heart and not merely just "cloning" is the artist who will achieve greatness.

I may never be great, but one thing is for sure... I'm as stubborn as they get. I take what I've learned and paint the way I want to. Artists are more than technicians... they are engineers with paint.

I totally agree with your statements regarding university-level art classes. I also, was chastized for rendering the figure as I saw it, now as amorphous blobs and shapes on the paper. I also got taken to task for painting blue when I saw blue, or crimson when I saw crimson......... the instructor du jour wanted me to put down ANYTHING but what I saw on the model/still life/landscape. It was no wonder that I said the heck with it and struck off on my own...... a decision that hold no regrets with me. A lot depends upon the instructors as well as the tides of artistic sentiment that are running at the time. Nope, happy with my decision to become a realist.

Yes, yes, yes.  My moto is I always want to learn!  It's one of lifes most precious gifts, to have have been given a brain and to have the capacity to learn so much more.  Learning is one of the most stimulating things in life.  It's challenging, it's not easy, but is it great!