Today we’ve got a fantastic article written by a guest poster, Kelly McKernan. She was originally featured on this site as an Artist Spotlight, and I’m glad to bring her back again, this time as the author of a great article geared to those artists still in school. It is a great follow up to the post I wrote last week. The original is reposted with permission:

“If you’re in art school, and you feel like you’re wasting your time, then leave. You don’t need it, but if you can benefit from it in some way, make it happen. Just don’t let those years feel like a waste…”

“Don’t do it for the grades. Do it for the experience and what you learn from it. If an assignment is really lame, change it. Make it so that it benefits your growth. If the professor is smart, he/she will understand and respect you for that. As long as you can back up your reasons for changing it. Otherwise, that D will be earned and you’ll feel humiliated.

Take FULL advantage of your resources. If you have access to a darkroom, printmaking presses, a kiln, a computer lab with the latest and greatest software, power tools, lighting equipment, etc. USE IT. It’s not going to be available after you graduate, and it’s m’f'n expensive to find any of that again for personal use. Even if you don’t dabble in half of the resources available to you, at least appreciate that you have access to them.

Okay, so you don’t really like some of your professors and they might suck at teaching and/or you don’t like the way they use their medium of expertise. Get over it. They still deserve your respect. They aren’t your peers and they aren’t your drinking buddies. You don’t have to like them, but it’s pretty likely that they know their stuff and can be valuable resources.

Don’t goof around your last couple years. You’re done being spoon-fed drawing techniques, painting applications, photoshop tutorials, etc. You should know your stuff by now. This is the time when you explore what you’re capable of, if you haven’t been already. That’s the point of the advanced classes… with the guidance of your professor, whomever that may be, you need to assess your strengths and weaknesses, what matters to you and what you want to convey/express, and how you are going to be successful at what you do. It’s NOT the time to be playing around, to become lazy because you’re not handed strict assignments, and it’s not the time to do what you can to get by. If that’s your attitude, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll know how to self-motivate to get anything done as an artist after graduation. Your habits need to begin while still in school, not AFTER graduation. Again, USE YOUR RESOURCES while you have them – that includes the opinions and the guidance of your professors.

Senior Seminar is a complete waste. Don’t expect to learn anything from it. It’s a shame. But, the truth is, no one will hold your hand and tell you how to submit to galleries, write a resume, write an artist statement that MAKES SENSE (ugh), build a website, design business cards, learn how to network, how to promote yourself, how to price your artwork/your services, and how to sell your artwork/services, unless you take the initiative. It shouldn’t be that way. KSU really needs to redesign the senior seminar class and also the portfolio class. The priorities are out of order. The things I listed above are half of what makes an artist successful. Talent and skill are the other half. So, again, get close to your professors and get those questions answered!

Don’t stress out if you don’t know exactly who you are as an artist before you graduate. In most cases, it might be a little premature to assume that you do know exactly what you’re saying with your work. Just make sure you actually seek that out while still in school so that you can hit the ground running (or at least walking) by the time you graduate.

Finally, my best piece of advice is this: You’ve all heard that statistic about how 1 in 100 art students will actually find some amount of success? Don’t be intimidated by that… the solution is to actually be that one person, otherwise… you’re wasting your time, your money, your resources, and your sleep. Half of it is having the confidence to propel you, even if you have to fake it. It’s never about competition… it’s wholly about setting your personal bar just a little higher than you can reach and learning how to jump to grasp it.”

–Kelly McKernan.

What are your thoughts on this? I think it gels quite well with what I’m saying. But what about those of us who got out without getting all of our questions answered? I quest to find the answer to that. More soon! And thanks, Kelly!!