art college was…interesting

Hi, If you are reading this, you are reading a very old entry from before I launched the website. I wanted to write something that some of you may relate to and maybe a potential cautionary tale. Well, hear me out, there’s nothing totally wrong with art school—that is, if you attend Juilliard or something along those lines. I went to a design school, and the best way I can sum it up is…show and tell. And a lot of essays.

Lots and lots of essays.

Well, I am grateful for the experience, and it taught me a lot of life skills I was too disassociated to learn in high school. Time management, collaboration, stress management…how to pace your sleep schedule enough for frequent all-nighters… But of all else, I learned life just isn’t fair, at least in the art world it isn’t.

I feel like my entire art life I’ve been submitting for some kind of art competition. First it was to see which drawing got a spot in the yearbook, which drawing became a mural, which drawing was going to win a scholastic award, which drawing was going to get you into the music festival downtown, and which drawing would be chosen for professional projects such as Kohl's, Johnsonville, a local magazine, or Carmex.

It then dawned on me as I became a professional. It's way cheaper to pay an amateur student in art school much less than a full-time employee for work. You get me?

Artists will forever be exploited in some ways, and if you aren’t smart enough, you can let that become your entire worth in the art industry. I look back and wonder why I felt so ashamed for never being “picked” by these large projects or companies. Life is way more abundant than that. Your potential in the art is worth more than a show-and-tell critique or an all-nighter project to get your design selected for Collectivo…unpaid. Find your real voice, expand on it and see where it leads you!