I gotta girlfriend, she goes to art school
I gotta art school girlfriend yeah
—Stone Temple Pilots, “Art School Girl“
While browsing “The Steins Collect” at SF MOMA earlier this week, I found myself wondering — as I often do when in fine-arts settings like painting classes or galleries — whether I should go to art school. My art training is very haphazard; I’ve taken classes here and there but never a prolonged course of study of any technique or medium. This often makes me feel inferior to more schooled artists, but I’ve rejected the idea of applying to art school. It’s taken me so long to build up creative self-confidence; I’ve suspected my growing voice would be dampened by the constant critique (and attendant self-doubt) of an academic environment. These days, though, I feel strong enough that I think I could maintain integrity to myself even while absorbing challenges and criticism — which means I feel ready to get pushed a little. So I began again to ask myself, as I walked the galleries of Matisses and Cézannes, whether I should apply to art school.
I got home that night and started looking up schools and MFA programs in our region. They all required courses in theory and art history, and some also demanded that their students teach. They were grooming their graduates to become professors and/or exhibiting professional artists, but neither of those are quite what I want to do with my art. I thought about the two degrees I already have, and of jumping through all those hoops in yet another school, and I just got tired. I left my PhD program because life is too short to spend in fulfilling requirements that don’t serve my goals; I don’t want to start an MFA only to find the same frustrations. I complained to Erik, and he asked the question I should have started with: “What would your ideal program look like?”
I had to think about this. “Well,” I said, “I know I’d want to be in community with other interdisciplinary artists, like at IWL. I’d want to have regular opportunities for conversation, and I’d want us to be supporting, challenging, and workshopping each other’s stuff.” The community is vital, but is probably the part of any program that’s the greatest toss-up, because you never know who you’ll get as your classmates. I would want a community as broadly diverse as the ones at VONA and IWL, and I’d want to respect my classmates as people and not just as artists, which might be the trickiest part of all.
“Also,” I said, “I’d want a lot of studio practice and a lot of mentoring on craft. But I’d want that to be based on what I needed, not on some arbitrary curriculum that might or might not be relevant to my goals. I’d want the freedom and focus of the figure studio at the RAC, only with more guidance from experienced artists.” Getting this would depend a little on the program’s values and a little on the teachers themselves. And of course I’d want the teachers and the program to be as committed to experimentation, diversity, and individuality as I am myself… and generous with the opportunities that come from an institution and from its network.
So should I go to art school? It comes down to (as do all things!) how I want to use my time, and what I’m trading off. At the moment I’m thinking I’d do better to spend at least another year or two working on what I’m doing now, so I’ll have an even stronger foundation — and stronger personal vision — to bring to school with me, should I find the perfect program and decide to apply. And it’s certainly possible that no reputable MFA program would accept me, in which case all this thinking is moot. At any rate, the larger goal is the same as it ever was: to translate my ideas into the strongest and most compelling work I can create, and get it out to the widest possible audience. I can do that always, art school or not.
satsumabug.com | Lisa Hsia 
I’m really loving the figure art you’ve been doing recently. I completely am with you when it comes to self-doubt in terms of fine art, which I believe stems from my high school freshman-year art teacher who straight-out said I shouldn’t pursue art (I was very impressionable at the time, and to this day wish I had ignored her). But when I went back to school at community college for computer animation, they recommended at least one drawing class. I ended up taking an intro class where we learned a variety of media – drawing with pencils and charcoal, painting with acrylics and oils, and basics of how to look at things and put them down on paper. I loved it, and ended up falling in love with oil painting and figure drawing.
Long story short, I’d say it depends on what you want from classes. Is it just to be submerged in the artist community and get feedback and make progress in your skills? Or do you want a degree to show for it? If it’s the former, you may want to try some community college classes and see how those go. I loved that route, and ended up taking a lot of classes with some of the same people, which was great. But I also loved seeing new artists’ work and how much progress I made.
Either way, I absolutely recommend a structured class. Critique is vital to make progress, and it’s important to know how to see your work from others’ viewpoint. More importantly to me was the classtime where I knew we’d be working with life models or learning something new from an experienced teacher, and even looking at other students’ work was instructive. I miss my art classes!
Chelsea! Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. I’ve shied away from community college art classes because I had such bad experiences with them when I lived in LA. I know it’s not fair to judge all such classes on the basis of these two teachers, but boy… mainly they told us to do things, and then they sat back and relaxed while we struggled through without instruction. The first one gave useful tips when he did come around, but the other was either dismissive of you or she played favorites; what disgusted me most of all was that she criticized my work harshly (not in a helpful way) and then, once she learned I had a master’s degree, tried to be friendly. She often left the classroom and didn’t reappear until the end of class. And she was chair of the art department. Frankly, I still feel angry when I think of her, and I think deep down (or maybe not so deep down) I’m scared of critique because I felt so badly burned by those two bad teachers… taking those art classes was a big step for me at a time when I felt very uncertain of my ability and even of my life goals, so the whole experience was just a constant exercise in feeling crushed.
As to your questions, I don’t care whether I get a degree; it’s more important to me to improve my skills and connect with other artists who are doing things I find interesting. You’re right, I need to get more feedback on my work… I’ll keep looking for classes. 🙂
So as someone else’s “art school girlfriend” 😉 I would say that you will probably enjoy the process of the MFA curriculum more if you intend to teach or to exhibit professionally. You will have to develop the skin to take crit (over and over and over) about your work, learn to ignore the crit that you intuitively know is ignorant/anachronistic and run with the insightful stuff. You will work against impossible deadlines and produce work you didn’t know you had in you. You may or may not make friends with whom you can collaborate, but the tools you need to work professionally will gradually become clear. I’m totally available to chat further if you want tips from an insider lol 🙂
Thank you so much for writing, Indira! I’d love to chat with you about this sometime, though it can wait as I know you’re busy and I doubt I would be applying to programs anytime soon. 🙂 My main question (if you have time) is how do you feel as an interdisciplinary artist in an MFA program? I would feel so awkward if I knew I was being groomed to exhibit professionally when I don’t think that’s my end goal. As to crit, yes, that’s scary (as I wrote to Chelsea in the above comment), but it’s something I will have to learn to deal with eventually. 😐 It feels less insurmountable with writing somehow, perhaps because I don’t have that terrible “I’ve never gone to art school” inferiority complex where my writing is concerned.
Art school is cool. You should go!
p.s you are so darn articulate it’s not even funny! 😮 love the self disclosure…..always a pleasure hearing you think aloud 🙂
Ha, thank you so much, Munira. 🙂 It’s always helpful for me to think aloud!!
Hi Satsumaart, I came across you at Girl in the Hat. I posted the video of the train in Berlin Germany. I am glad I dropped in to your blog. Your talents as a writer and artist are magnificient and you should do what your heart desires with no fear. I went to art school for a couple of years, but most of my meaningful training came as a member of an artist cooperative in Philadelphia. It is the creative structure in this kind of environment that allowed me to foster confidence and acceptance. I sometimes regret that I did not finish school, but I know that the pursuit of art, in any form is what matters. Check out my art blog and subscribe if you like my work. I will subscribe to your blog and overtime immerse myself in your creativity. Good luck with what you do
Walter
Hi Walter, nice to meet you! I loved that video — so glad you posted it, and so happy to see you here. Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment. I’ll be following your blog too.
I’m so encouraged to hear you say “you should do what your heart desires with no fear.” That’s what my gut tells me, but my courage can always use a boost! Your artist cooperative experience sounds wonderful and very much what I’m interested in. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for something like that here… or perhaps eventually start it myself if it doesn’t exist!