School vs. Self-Taught

Is a college degree in art even necessary?

It’s that time of year again where acceptance and rejection letters are starting to hit the mailboxes of aspiring college students who are ready to major in some type of art. Families are filling out those FAFSA forms and counting their nickels and dimes to pay for that coveted degree. But how important is it to attain a college degree in art? Does it matter if an up and coming artist attends SCAD or Tisch School of the Arts or if they attend school at all?

Since I started interviewing artists for my multicultural art blog two phrases kept coming up in conversation; – I’m a self-taught artist. – I’m a school taught artist. The school taught artists goes into what schools they went to while the self-taught artists start to explain why they didn’t go to school.

Void in Art

For the last couple of months I’ve been assisting an old high school buddy with taking his art career to the next level. Given that I’ve grown into a social media junkie, I’m also consulting on his social media presence and how to polish up his personal brand and message.

Shades by DWats

No, I’m not an art curator, nor an art expert, but I did take plenty of art history classes in college which taught me how to appreciate the art scene. But, before I could help my friend I had to educate myself on what the art world is all about, specifically the African American art scene. The ultimate goal is to get his work into notable art galleries and in front of the eyes of perspective collectors. Yes, Shades is by DWats. 

Given that I love to read and research, I decided to head to Barnes & Nobles to pick up a couple of books on African American artists. I was surprised that I couldn’t find one book on the topic in B&N’s art section. They probably just sold out…besides I only went to one B&N.