Huh?

Just a BA, actually a BGS in art, art history.

I believe success as an artist is furthering cultural development.

Dave

I come from 2 university degrees and have come to realize that art can be a viable way to earn a living. The perk? You get to wake up every morning, anxious to get at it!

I would not put it "just" this is not intended to be a thread about education just what ones background is and how it might affect your outlook on art. "Furthering cultural development" awesome! Your interest in art history makes total sense with your work!

Marlene your degrees were in what?

BA, Dean's List.

I have a degree in life experience. In this experience, art was a toy that I tripped over one day, and I never recovered from this stumble.

The most important thing to me about what we might agree to call "my art" is that it has occupied my total being in a way that no other approach to life could.

Robert,

I am planning to give up art and become a composer within the next ten years. Wish me luck.

Dave

Ronald,
None of my post secondary eduction is in art. I have an AA degree (but in allied health science) and completed the program at The Mississippi Real Estate Institute. But when it comes to photography I am self taught by reading, asking questions and experimenting.

I have been taking pictures since I was a teenager. Some of those photos were snap shots (vacation, family/friend gatherings, etc.), I did a couple of weddings for family and close friends and my favorite photographs were for the pure pleasure of documenting the beauty I saw around me.

The most important thing about art to me is how it makes me feel and when it makes me think about what I am viewing. I love reading the descriptions that many artists write about their work. Sometimes I have seen or felt whatever emotions they describe and sometimes I have a completely different perspective of the image after reading the artists' descriptions.

I would basically agree with you and say that the communication aspect is very important.

B.F.A., painting major
M.A., fine arts major (painting yet again) I was one of the first to get a master's degree from the school of art in 1971.

One of the main reasons why there are few true child progenies in art is lack of life experience. Visual training is awesome but does not help in this way. I wonder if those who become artist in other ways besides academic training have an advantage in that way?

There's no reason to think there aren't as many child prodigies in art as in other areas. They are just harder to recognize because art has less recognizable benchmarks than, say, math, science or music.

Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

I dont have any degrees in anything. I've learned my drawing and painting chops first from practicing and then when Bob Ross came along I got hooked on oil paints. Im so thankful to my parents that nurtured my painting cravings. I had a great support system and a hunger to learn more. I've been learning lately from youtube and books.

Art has become poetry, to me. So much poetry has been written to me here.....I swoon in indescribable pleasure..........

Don't need a Degree to flourish ,create,be inspired........

But....as a Professor now, our son does earn a comfortable living....a definite advantage these days.

Ph.D. in plate tectonics. I learned photography taking pictures of rocks. Shooting landscapes is so much more fun. :)

BA in graphic design, minor in Journalism, minor in printmaking, concentration in painting. Worked as an art director/creative director. Later I studied in intensives at San Francisco Art Inst, and OxBow School of Art Inst. Chicago.

No formal training at all. Just a drive and need to create as early in life as I can remember. All of my training comes from just doing what I thought may be right and hoping that it is!

Associates in Chemistry. For photography I used my two favorite tool, trial and error.

The most important thing to me is that I love my own work. The harder it is to part with the closer to my mark of perfection it has become.

BA in art education. Haven't tried to teach since I did student teaching semester in college many, many years ago. I learned a lot of techniques in college but also know that you have to develop a good eye and a style all on your own. I didn't do much in the field of art for many years but started up again a few years ago after I was laid off from my office job. I've learned computer illustration within the past few years. I wish I could make a living at art but so far that has been elusive. I'm very much in need of finding an alternate source of income now.

Started as hobby some 8 years part time and posted at Zazzle.com. Currently 79 stores and a steady income. Posters, Greetings, Gifts.

Self Taught on use of Photoshop and Wacom Tablet.. early retired at 55, so listening to devotional music, travelling and photographing, and playing with samples of colors and stripes from my photography and developing them into abstracts, textures and patterns and using them every where I like.

Emphasis on Networking and Social Media Marketing because I have seen dirt also selling provided you reached on top of the search. And very artistic work is eating dirt.

2,000 images in 6 months and over 94,000 views at FAA (some could be real garbage but it is reaching on top of search and few sales made) . Also manage several groups, done blogs and press notes

I am all over Face Book ... manage over 50 groups, 20 pages and also member of 200 groups.

That is me .. NAVIN ... Even in retirement, I believe one should always dream big, do big and PROJECT BIG. ... but do that all with NO STRESS ...and how to avoid stress is a different subject.

NAVIN

I'm not exactly a self taught artist because I've taken courses in design, art history and one art school in my late teens in New Orleans. While I don't have a degree in art, I do have a degree in Computer Science / Systems Science.

There are so many parallels of being an artist and an engineer I cannot begin to explain it. Both disciplines involve design and technical aspects. Some examples are; automobiles are designed with an artistic approach but are very technical whilst an oil/acrylic also has a lot of design but still has a lot of technical points. So, I'm an software engineer and an amateur artist that sometimes sells paintings or I am an artist that sells smart phone apps that look and feel good.

Maybe you have had the experience of working on a painting for weeks where you get a great feeling of accomplishment. Well that's the same feeling I get when I write code. To me there is no difference whatsoever.

Also, you find that many software engineers/artist only get the basics (tip of the iceberg) in college. I can't say if this the same with an art degree but I would image that it is otherwise you'd paint like your instructor. Many of them read countless computer books watch videos... per life of their careers. Just like the canvas and brushes teach you right from wrong so can a software compiler.

I have to credit/blame Miss McCabe my 8th grade teacher, for convincing me that I should apply for acceptance to the High School of Music & Art, NYC.

As a 13 year old, leaving the confines of suburbia at the outskirts of New York City (North Jamaica) travelling every weekday, an hour and a half each way, by bus (Q44) and subway (the E & A train) to 135th St. Harlem, made all the difference in the direction my life followed, for the next 67 years,

Good luck composing, Dave B.

Beware of working for non-profit symphonies that have become so provencial that they have checked their brains at the door when it comes to how to run a business.