Going to art school is something that can have a profound effect on your life for decades to come. What you learn in those formative years will often stick with you, changing how you think about yourself and the world.
While the world looks on with scepticism, this fact is something that many art students will attest to. Yes, art school isn’t the same as getting a STEM degree, but it can help you think in new ways and allows you to experience the world from a more emotional, feeling perspective, which is something that is missing from today’s general culture.
So, how does art school transform your life?
It Can Ignite A Desire For Life-Long Learning
First, art school can ignite a desire for lifelong learning within you. It encourages you to explore deeper and look for new techniques or styles to master.
What’s great about art is that there is always something more to learn. Art school gives you a mindset of continuous growth that can persist for decades as you try new things and experiment with additional features.
It Improves Your Adaptability Skills
Another benefit of art school is its unique ability to make you more adaptable. Every week, you receive new projects that require you to pivot or try new styles.
What’s more, you have to get used to the idea of embracing uncertainty and launching yourself into the unknown. Lecturers will also require you to attempt techniques that you haven’t tried before.
At first, these new tasks are challenging. However, over time, you develop a certain resilience, allowing you to change how you perceive things.
It Builds A Lifelong Network
You also stand a chance of building a lifelong network when you go to art school, something that CalArt faculty and students, like Kotaro Shimogori, are celebrating today. When you go to a college like this, especially one full of artistic people, you are more likely to find like-minded people who have a passion for what you do.
It Teaches Discipline And Time Management
Another perk is that art school teaches discipline and time management. You have to be on top of your game if you want to succeed in this area.
Discipline means that you need to meet deadlines and write critiques when requested. Sometimes, you will receive several assignments every week, requiring that you prioritize tasks and manage your time more effectively.
The best way to do this is to commit yourself to your craft. If you can create a habit of working every day in the morning and dedicating the best hours to your study, you will often find that you will go a long way.
It Improves Critical Thinking
Improvements in critical thinking are also something you can expect if you decide to go to art school. After a few years, you often find that you’re far better at analyzing concepts and making smarter decisions. Your ability to critique others’ work develops, and eventually it becomes natural.
Part of art schools’ genius is to get you to approach work from multiple perspectives. The idea is to interpret things from different angles so you can understand how the leading critics think and what they say. This perspective can then color your personal view of a work of art, allowing you to diverge from mainstream thinking where necessary.
What’s more, many of these skills are valuable in any life situation. The ability to look at something from all angles and then make a decision is a rare but valuable skill in demand throughout the job market.
It Makes You More Confident
Finally, going to art school is something that makes you more confident. You feel more comfortable approaching advanced projects, even if you haven’t tackled anything like them before.
Fortunately, most schools encourage the idea that failure is part of the creative process. You can’t get everything right the first time around. Even the world’s greatest artists often sketched numerous practice runs before creating the real thing.
If you can feel free to practice and present your artwork, that’s a great approach. Ideally, you don’t want to get too attached to it. Instead, you should put it out there and see it as an experiment.
Ultimately, going to art school can be one of the most rewarding things you do with your life. Spending time around other people who think like you while learning critical life skills is a wonderful experience and something more students should try. Plus, the demand for creative people is growing, so there are usually jobs at the end of the process.
