Art majors tend to be seen as some sort of magical or strange species of student that has the easiest college experience and won’t ever get a stable job. Although I’m hoping these days some misconceptions are being put to rest, there are still a few that I would like to debunk.
1.
We save so much money
First of all, art history textbooks are the biggest textbooks of them all. Now I use them as paperweights and step stools, so it wasn’t a total waste I guess. Even though we rarely buy textbooks, we are constantly buying supplies for different art classes. Most of the time, we need to go to that really great art store three towns over to find the materials we need. And more often than not, we will take about four trips throughout the semester to get more supplies. It adds up.
2. We’re all the same
We are all either potato-sac-wearing dirt worshippers or latte-loving hipsters. I’ll admit that since we have our creative juices flowing at all times, we tend to be more experimental when it comes to fashion. But that doesn’t mean all of us stand out. We also don’t all LOVE going to art galleries to study every brushstroke of Van Gogh—we all have different tastes.
3. We aren’t smart
Being an art major doesn’t mean we flunked out of all other classes—it means our passions don’t lie in those areas. Art isn’t all just throwing paint down on a canvas either—we learn the fundamentals of different techniques and how to create things that people will be interested in. Art majors are those driven individuals who are after a job that means more than just money. If sitting in a cubicle isn’t going to make us happy, we aren’t going to do it.
4. We don’t have a “real” major
We take classes. We have assignments. Art majors are going to school to learn how to do things. Enough said.
5. We don’t have any work to do
We may not always be sitting at home writing essays or taking written exams, but we are spending hours working with our hands on sculptures, paintings or graphic designs. We have projects due and dreaded critiques, where we show the class our work and talk about the decisions we made for it, while our classmates talk about it. Nerve-racking stuff.
6. We need a backup plan
Any time we talk about our major, someone is guaranteed to chime in with, “What are you going to do with that?” Not every art major wants to, or has to, live in their studio and paint for a living while working another job just to pay the bills. There are so many amazing jobs out there for art majors, and the field is continuing to grow.
No matter what your major is, do what makes you happy and don't let anyone tell you that you won't succeed.
