To start things off,I did not go to art school.. or even a school that had an art major. Four years ago when I was deciding on which school to attend, art was just a hobby. It was not until my sophomore year that it turned into something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I chose to go to a small private school, Tennessee Wesleyan College.

The school only offers art as a minor, but with the help of the art professor, I am getting an art/education degree. I have taken as many art classes as I can and have worked closely with the art instructors. Although we have conflicting styles, I have learned a lot from them.

As a freshmen, I showed my instructors my drawings. They were impressed, but not like I thought they would be. It was a humbling experience which led to the First thing I learned about art...

I.
Just because you can draw realistically does not make you an artist. Copying from a photo doesn't necessarily count as art. While it is impressive.. it is actually quite boring. This is still something I struggle to understand on a daily basis. I think that there is much to learn from drawing portraits as far as getting familiar with the media, but the style seems very limited.


II.
Art does not always HAVE to mean something. No matter what.. we will NEVER know the meaning behind many works of art. There is no way of knowing.. we can only speculate what the master artist meant in their paintings. In the mean time, it is still fun to guess.

III.
Create from the heart. In my studio class, I had to write my own goals. Much of it had to do with experimentation because I felt locked into my own style. I soon found myself creating.. well... crap because I needed to complete a certain amount of work. That taught me to stick with what works. Experimenting is a great thing, but you don't have to make a radical change. Try to slowly add other ideas into your work just to see what happens.

Quickies

- Composition is everything

- Abstract artists have feelings too

- Don't make art about the money

- Only 40% of artists are gay.. so don't feel too left out.

- Tearing up art is a great way to learn.

- Bob Ross is the Chuck Norris of Art... deal with it.

- Linoleum cuts provide a great opprotunity to pull pranks on teachers...

- Crimson paint with a little water makes for some amazing fake blood.

- I spray painted "Art is Dead" on the wall of the art building and nobody noticed...


Hope this helped some of you guys out there.

-
T001