Chapter 13: How to Fail as a Student
"Old School New Art - Craftsmanship: Today's Avant-Garde" - Jeffrey T. Larson
Here are a couple of ways to FAIL as an art student:
Don’t be teachable and don’t listen to the wisdom of your teachers; believe that you know best.
“I’m amazed at just how many students who can’t even really draw or paint yet, have paid tuition and who don’t even know what they don’t know, filter out what we are trying to teach them. Be a sponge, get competent at what you are shown and reassess after you graduate.”
Don’t take responsibility for your education.
“A good teacher knows where you are and what you need when you need it. However, if you do what they say thoughtlessly, you’ll no doubt improve, but will one day find yourself graduated, alone in your studio struggling to identify your own weaknesses without a clue on how you can further improve. What is more frustrating than not knowing how to find the mistakes that you know are there but you cannot see?”
Think of yourself as an artist first and a craftsman second.
(Correlate with an untrained violin soloist.) “Be cautious of becoming overconfident which blinds you to the need for improvement. On the flip-side, don’t be an artist who is under confident, habitually assuming that you will never improve.”
Take yourself more seriously than the art.
“Basically, this will just make you look stupid to most everyone around you.”
Be afraid to make mistakes. No mistakes, no growth.
“No mistakes, no growth. You must always strive to learn from the mistakes you make. Definition of insanity: “doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results”.
Don’t be disciplined, foster impatience, look for shortcuts…
…make excuses, blame others, don’t take responsibility for where you’re at or the direction you’re going. Don’t continually challenge yourself. Fail to live on the edge of frustration.
Let yourself slip over the edge of frustration into depression.
“This goes hand in hand with “don’t take yourself too seriously…” There’s much more to life than painting. Seriously do your best when you’re in the studio but create a fulfilling life outside of it.”
Paint to please others.
“The best painting that you will paint is the work that is most personal. It’s your work, you did it, you trained for it, you sacrificed for it. Own it.”
Paint for fame and money.
“In all things, these are false idols.
If a particular scientist fails to invent something most likely another scientist will, sooner or later. If a particular artist fails to create something, however, it will never exist. Don’t sell yourself short and potentially deprive the world of something uniquely spectacular.
Remember, the number one and the all-time easiest guaranteed way to fail: just quit.
If you do make it through art school:
Chapter 14: How to Fail as an Artist
