Self-Taught
I started playing with acrylic paint in 2013.
I was halfway through my sophomore year of college, already feeling the heat and frustration of following an educational path that did not align with who I am. Having taken art classes throughout high school, I knew art was “my thing.” Creativity has always been a natural thing for me. Unfortunately, not many people are quick to encourage a career path in the arts, in fact they are most eager to DIScourage it.
I spent a lot of time during my senior year of high school listening to my teachers present power points of ranked majors. Every one of them featured art at the very bottom next to a picture of McDonald’s with the quote, “Would you like fries with that?” It pissed me off, but I let that fear take hold in my mind nonetheless. I decided to pursue marine biology at Hawaii Pacific University.
By the time that second half of sophomore year in college came around, I knew in my heart that I wanted to spend my time and energy on something I cared about (not crying over my math homework). I had been following some local artists in Hawaii and one day I thought “What the hell? I’ll just get some cheap supplies at Walmart and see what happens.” From that point forward, I started teaching myself to paint.
In my experience, the term “self-taught” has seemed to carry a negative connotation depending on who I’m speaking with. Sometimes self-taught artists get a bad wrap. I’ve read enough condescending articles to get the gist: We’re just amateurs that don’t know our way around the art world, making our “folksy” little art projects. I don’t believe that. In fact, I believe we self-taught artists bring a lot to the table.
When teaching yourself to paint, you can have fun and get crazy without outside pressures. You create work that is authentic and true to who you are without some professor telling you what’s good and what’s not. You paint for you, and you decide what you like. You make the art YOU want to make. That creative freedom often leads to new things-exciting things! That’s not to say that artists that attend art school are NOT this way, but art school has failed a lot of students. I have heard so many sad stories of artists that have been told they should stop making art, or being made to paint just like their professors. That takes a huge toll on the artist’s mental health, and that leads to struggles with creative expression.
Self-taught artists definitely go through their own mental health struggles surrounding their art, and I believe it has a lot to do with isolation, lack of a supportive community, and lack of tools and information. I’ve been painting for about eight years now, and I am still discovering new tools and information I’ve wondered about for a long time! I can guarantee that my improved artistic practice is directly related to my involvement in artist communities. There are some really great online communities for artists out there, if you’d like some recommendations just visit my contact page!
I highly suggest involvement in at least one artistic community group, I am actually a part of several. It truly makes a difference to have other likeminded individuals you can ask questions, get advise from, or just have good art-related conversations with!
If you are a self-taught artist, and you can relate to any of this, feel free to reach out to me. I have been thinking about this topic a lot over the past year or so, and I want to start mentoring other self-taught artists. If this is something that would interest you I would love to know! I envision a 1:1 mentoring program and an online facebook group where we can all share what we struggle with and what we have learned. When we help one another, we all thrive!
With love,
Hunter
