Remember and Inspire.

Is anyone really self-taught?

The art world has long debated over which is more valuable, a formal art education or informal where you teach yourself.

Let me be clear at the outset. This is merely my opinion based on reading dozens of articles, blogs, and newsletters and the comments which follow after, and not on hard scientific data.

Here’s what my own journey has taught me. I am neither and I am both. How’s that for clarity?

Let’s start with a few pros and cons.

Formal art education at a university:

Pros: It can push you in ways you might not otherwise push yourself. It can help you create a network of contacts and relationships that might help give your career a boost if you already know how to cultivate those relationships. You will be exposed to a wide variety of mediums you might not otherwise explore. You’ll receive instruction in art history, explore the works of the old masters, learn about light and color, and a whole array of essential knowledge.

Cons: It’s mighty expensive. You spend a lot of time and money learning to work in mediums that may be of no interest to you. You will have to purchase materials you will likely never use again. If you have life events that disrupt your schedule for more than a few days or weeks, you may have to repeat classes. You might even lose those college credits if your hiatus lasts too long. You will not likely be taught how to actually find your ideal audience or how to build relationships with collectors. If you are an artist working in anything but digital/commercial art and your goal is to make a living at it, it’s unlikely that you will receive instruction in that direction. I’ve heard people who have art degrees lament this over and over again.

An informal art education (self-taught)

Pros:  You teach yourself whatever you want to know in the moment you want to know it. If life gets in the way you can simply pick up where you left off when you’re ready. This can free up your time and funds so you can research, explore, and grow in the precise direction you want to go. You learn at your own pace and create what you want, not what you are assigned. There are many free resources for learning just about anything you want to learn. There are also many paid workshops available with accomplished artists who will teach you their techniques and a lifetime of collected wisdom. There are almost unlimited resources for learning how to find the right audience for your work and how to navigate the business side of your art career.

Cons: You have to be very focused, organized, and intentional. It isn’t all laid out for you in sequential order. If you are not committed and focused, it can get messy and disconnected. You might not know where to start. You will undoubtedly miss something important. It’s easy to get sidetracked. It’s often lonely. There are unscrupulous people who have little of real value to teach you, yet claim to possess the secret success formulas you need. And they’ll share them with you for a hefty price once you have wasted your time following their tricky sales funnel. You have to figure out how to tell the difference between authentic learning opportunities and their deceptive lookalikes. You will also encounter those few who feel you are not to be taken seriously because you lack formal training, even if you know just as much as they do. They can make you feel real crumby about yourself if you let them. Hint: Don’t let them.

I said at the beginning that I am neither formally trained nor self-taught. I also said that I am both.

How is that?

I am both because I have actively sought out people who did have art degrees and I picked their brains. I also took a couple of classes once upon a time. But then life got messy and I followed some bad advice that discouraged a career in art. Shame on me for a nanosecond. I regrouped and started from scratch. I made all of the mistakes listed above. All of them! I also learned from them.

Now here’s why I say that I am neither formally trained nor self-taught. NO ONE is EVER completely self-taught. Whatever I learned from articles, videos, newsletters, and art blogs was first mastered and then offered to me by someone who spent hours and sometimes decades pulling together the information and wisdom that took them down many rough and lonely roads to acquire. When I find that information, it is always because someone wiser and more knowledgeable that I put it there for me to find. I didn’t teach myself to paint in oils at all. I found several someones who knew how and I followed their directions.

Here are some examples of what I mean.

I didn’t teach myself about using a split primary color palette. Janet Kondzeila, friend and former president of Artist’s Society Of Dearborn, mentioned it to me during a Gallery Talk I was asked to speak at. I simply asked her to elaborate and then experimented with it.

I didn’t teach myself how to set up a website to showcase my artwork, FASO put all the tools at my fingertips and created tutorials on how to use them. Many of the features are so automated that I don’t even have to think about them. There are real flesh and blood people in there thinking all that stuff up and doing all that for me. Even more amazing is that their tech support team is Johnny-on-the-spot whenever I need them. I didn’t do all that. I just found great people and followed their directions.

I didn’t teach myself to love birds and to cherish fond memories. God alone gets the credit for that one!

And I didn’t teach me how to stand up for myself and be counted as a serious artist regardless of how I got my education. People like my siblings and close friends, Maria Brophy-art consultant, and my fellow ASD members taught me that by their encouragement and loyal friendship.

We rarely learn anything in isolation. We learn when we surround ourselves with those who’ve already traveled the path we wish to follow. Sometimes I think that the rugged-individualism our country seems to cherish and the almost rabid quest for a healthy self-esteem can get in the way of our esteem for others. We credit ourselves with every good outcome in our lives when in fact we did NOT do it alone. Every positive step we take is because someone somewhere lighted the path. So I no longer say that I am self-taught. I say that my training is ongoing.

And one day, if I persevere, I might just find myself a source of wisdom and encouragement for other aspiring artists. That would please me immensely.

What about you? What people have influenced your journey?

Henry David Thoreau coined the phrase, “Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.” I’m not sure how many others said something similar before him, but there were plenty who rephrased that idea since, including Mary Engelbreit, Richelle Goodrich, and Joachim Wall. I found at least fifty others. They meant don’t obsess over things in the past that you had no power over or can’t do over. I get that. What’s more, I partly agree.

But there’s a place for looking back. I do it regularly and intentionally.

When I’m ticked at my faithful spouse for some minor perceived offense, I look back to age seventeen when I ran away with a man twice my age who lied as easily as he breathed. Had I married that man, I would likely NOT be writing this blog post, or anything at all for that matter.

When I get in a snit over some house repair that needs doing because I didn’t take action when I should have, I do a little looking back and realize that if it had not been for good friends along the way who helped us find this humble and comfy little house, I might still be living in an upper flat with narrow uneven steps and no hand rail.

When I ponder too long on past mistakes, things that still haunt me at times, I also remember that He who created me forgave me long ago. Looking back on that helps me be a little more forgiving about the mess others make.

When I look back on all these and more, then the fact that I waited so long to get serious about my career as a painter is meaningless, not even really a cause for sustained regret. Though I'm not proud of the wrongs themselves, I learned a lot from doing things wrong. Maybe life would have been easier if I had done things differently. Or I might have simply been stuck in a secure but thankless job for forty years and not had enough life left in me to know the joy of creating.

The point is that looking back with intention continues to help me move forward.

So here’s my own version of the never look back theme;

"If you must look back, do so with a grateful eye."    –Jan Dale 2020

What about you? How does looking back help you move forward? I read and try to respond to everyone, so please leave a comment.

Jan Dale