I’m curious: how do you define the term artist? What makes someone an artist? What makes someone qualified to call themselves an artist?
Hi, my name is Carrie, and here on Artist Strong, I help self-taught artists build their skills and develop their unique artistic voice. Today, let’s talk about a piece of paper that too many self-taught artists stress over.
First, I have a confession to make: I don’t have a degree in Fine Arts. I studied Art and Art History and earned a B.A. with honors. I have a master’s degree, but it is not an MFA; it’s an MA in education.
Does that make me any less of an artist?
I’m concerned about messaging that makes people feel less permission to show up for creative interests solely because they don’t have one of those degrees to attach to their name.
What would that degree actually do for you?
The one reason I toy with the idea of returning to school for an MFA is that I always assumed one day I’d teach college-level art, and many, if not all, job postings list an MFA as a minimum requirement.
So, do you want to teach college-level art? Or do you feel deep down that getting some kind of degree will help you feel better qualified to call yourself an artist?
Let’s talk about this word, “qualify.”
After many conversations, I have the distinct impression that many self-taught artists believe they will develop skills they don’t currently have by attending school. Skills usually refer to the degree to which we can draw or paint realistically. Then they become a larger discussion about how we use the elements and principles of art to convey meaning.
Here’s the thing: not all art schools include skill-based foundations as part of their curriculum. Many assume you’ve already reached a level of skill with your art before attending school. Did you hear that? That means not all art schools teach the skills many self-taught artists worry they lack. The same skills that make those same artists think about applying to art school. Or worse, has them stop making art because they’ll “never be good enough.”
Don’t let art school stop you from making your art.
The other terrible truth
The other terrible truth is many art schools have professors who use their positions of power to be verbally abusive in the name of art. Danielle Krysa, famously of the podcast “Art for Your Ear” and blog “The Jealous Curator,” openly shares her experience of being told in her final painting class and final year of being a painting major that she should never paint again.
I have a dear friend who speaks with pride about surviving group critiques at her school and casually mentions the tears and drama that ensued among friends after critique. I’ve even heard stories of professors ripping up artwork they didn’t like in critique.
Not only do you not need art school to be an artist, but you may have also escaped an unhealthy learning environment.
Look, not all art professors are like this. I really felt like the art department at my university had my back. It’s one reason I still think about becoming a professor myself! But you don’t need to attend art school to find amazing, supportive mentors either. It’s just one of many paths towards that goal.
What is this all really about?
This conversation is important because it hides a larger, different conversation. This is really about feeling like an imposter or that we are not good enough to call ourselves an artist. And art school becomes a way to have that conversation without directly addressing the self-belief and expectations we hold for ourselves around our art.
I went to school and studied art, but never got the “better” BFA or MFA. Sometimes I’ve wondered if that means I’m less qualified to teach and make art (and at the time of this writing, I’ve been doing both for 20 years!). And there are artists who have that piece of paper who wonder whether they too are qualified enough to call themselves an artist.
I hope today’s conversation has you reflecting on what you really want for your art. Because when you take the time to reflect and define it, that’s the moment you can begin to take steps forward with your art (with or without that degree).
Thanks for reading today’s conversation! Please sign up to receive weekly emails about posts like this one (there’s a button below) and then tell me in the comments: did you attend art school? Have you taken the time to define what being an artist means to you? Let’s keep the conversation going.
As always, thanks for being here.
Remember: proudly call yourself an artist.
I don’t feel that you need a degree to be an artist at all, however, depending on what you want to do then a degree can be helpful. Like you, I’d like to share my passion for art, though I’d be more likely to be hosting workshops or something for younger people, having a qualification will mean I’m more likely to be taken seriously. But right now, I’m an artist and I haven’t even started university yet.
Cara its great to see you thinking about what you want to do and how a qualification would actually support your goals. That’s the point. Do it because it actually suits your goals, not because you need it to justify your art.
I KNOW I am an Artist but it has taken many long years of self doubt and self discovery to get to this point. It was not until I discovered Artist Strong that I realized that I was not alone in my insecurities and lack of confidence on my art journey. You are so right Carrie to encourage us to reflect and define what being an Artist means to us and might I suggest going one step further and encourage everyone to think about “what is your intention” with your art? Which will really help you to delve deeply into the why of your art journey. Asking myself why I paint has really helped me to come to realize and accept and be able to say proudly that “Yes! I am a self-taught, mixed media Artist! “
An artist is a person who creates art, such as a painting, sculpture, or photograph. An artist is a person who creates art, which can be anything from painting to music to sculpture. An artist is a person with a unique and creative vision who uses their skills and talent to express themselves and their ideas. some possible qualities that may make someone qualified to call themselves an artist include having creativity, talent, and the ability to create art that is unique and visually appealing. Additionally, someone who is qualified to call themselves an artist may have had formal training in art, such as by attending an art school or through other educational programs. I myself am inner guided by the Holy Spirit within me. He guides the brushes and pencils and I apply the paint and he gives me the images. the only challenge I face is my physical disability of which I can still great fine art, but selling my artwork seems to be a bigger challenge because no one in my community buys art. I still remain artist strong because sales or not I am still an artist.
Thank you for sharing your personal definition of what makes art, art! 🙂
Hello I never did art at school either primary or high school. I am now 70 and want to learn how to paint. I’ve done a couple of paintings…but continually keep changing them. So they are never complete. But I never give up.
Cate, good for you for showing up for your art. Da Vinci completed something like only 15 paintings because he perpetually argued they were unfinished. Sometimes sticking with a work is smart. Sometimes, letting it go and accepting the lessons from it can help us make strong artwork the next piece we create! Ask yourself which is best for you right now, trust the answer you hear, and go all in! 🙂
I received a BFA in Fine Arts. It took me 5 years to accomplish this as the curriculum for an art degree required the same amount of lab hours as a candidate for a science degree and I also paid for my courses by working summers which meant stopping and starting a couple of times. That was a time when that was still possible. It was also a time of change in the way art was taught. It was felt that art study had become too static and stifled the natural creative experience of making art. The focus was on teaching students how to explore and learn. Gone were the days of drawing from stone heads and statues, etc. The professors did not focus on technique but stressed theorey. I always felt like they threw the baby out with the bath water. I actually had a professor who walked into class, gave a vague assignment to be performed over the next several weeks without his input and on the big day for a critique of this work he walked in and had a temper tantrum because none of us had performed even moderately well. I remember thinking: well, where were you when we were trying to meet your assignment?
After graduation my sister would often say derogative comments on my “funny” degree as if I had a degree in basket weaving. Imagine what that did for my self esteem.
It wasn’t until I took a class in a private art school that I was introduced to Betty Edwards “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” that I started learning how to draw. It was a wonderful awakening. I began self study collecting art books in all different mediums.
I still deal with the “imposter” feeling but I persevere. I know that realism is measuring tool of defining a “good artist” by the general population yet my brush craves a looseness and splash of color and often a stroke is enough for me.
Do I regret my college experience? Not really. I was exposed to many different concepts and found I had a “can do” attitude sponsored by that ability to think outside of the box taught in my quasi art classes in college.
Karen I so appreciate you. Thank you for sharing this story. I hope it helps others feel more permission in their own art journeys!
I think rudimentary craft skills can be taught, but it is only through PRACTICE that they become fully integrated to be genuinely part of the artist. It’s like driving, when you don’t have to think consciously about the technique, then it all just flows beautifully. Art schools just tend to teach the latest fashion in art. I’ve talked to hundreds of people who’ve been through art school & most, while appreciating the social side of talking with like minded people ended up being frustrated at the curriculum. Drawing was & still is my thing but when I was young enough to consider an art course, people were leaving art school without even being able to draw! No thankyou, down to the library to copy the renaisance masters for me!
But there’s a central, core part of learning art that we ALL knew before we were about seven years old, only to forget!
Look at that hypothetical young lad over there, intensely absorbed in making his marks on the paper with his crayon. Nothing else is in his head, just making the marks to make sense of his world. Here’s Mom, Dad, sister, dog, windows, door, trees, and birds singing in them. There done!- Next one- umm.. school, yer! & off he goes etc, etc… each one is cast aside for the next. Sure Mom might put them on the fridge but the lad isn’t bothered.
Then just a bit later about seven years old, friends at school start judging his pictures. “well it’s not as good as the one Susie did, is it? Hmm.. the young boy became self-conscious about making art, aware of other people’s pictures, craft standards & judgements were being made. Maybe he should give up this whole art thing? although he liked doing it, other people judge it & find his wanting!
Only the determined press on from here, & it’s ALL about craft standards now. A lot of the joy was diluted by the thought of what others might think. He hears people say about others’ work “WOW! that’s so amazingly good, it could be a photo!
Well, that little boy did grow up & people did say that about his art! but the satisfaction was very short-lived because making art was no longer intrinsically motivated. He was working for the shallow fleeting satisfaction of an ego massage! Any kind of genuine deep satisfaction from art had nothing at all to do with that!
He loved art but no longer enjoyed it! he’d soiled it & needed to trace this art thing back to its roots.
Reflecting deeply on his art, he realised that any real art is about self-expression but not that mind made phantom of the ego that is mistakenly called the self. The deeper real spiritual self was the place to find real expression here.
He saw that real art is a journey for the artist BUT the prime motivating reason to make that journey is emphatically NOT about sharing that expression later. He might or might not share later but that’s not important at all, right now. This is purely personal for him, he was doing it cos he loved doing it, cos he loved taking the experimental uncertain journey. Experimental because it must challenge & stretch him, the outcome must be uncertain.
It is done for the joy of the journey, any souvenir /artefact he might return with after the journey is of a very distant secondary importance to him. He understood that if he took that seat of the pants journey, improvising & adapting as he went, it turned out to be exhilarating, energetic, joyful & fulfilling. His art could be alive again!
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I’m glad you feel that way. Thanks!