2015 Oct 17
by Akansha Naraindas
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Artists usually end up unemployed
Sigh, If I could count the amount of times I’ve heard that. Contrary to popular belief, art students can be anything they want to be; an Art student can dabble into the world of media, journalism, academics, law, research, etc Due the critical analytical skills obtained from being an artist. 2/3 of art graduates reported that their first job out of school was a close match for the kind of job they wanted, and contrary to stereotype, only 3% work in food services. (SNAAP)
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Art is for depressed people/ makes you a depressed person
Now although stereotypically artists are portrayed as miserable and addicted to some sort of substance, This may not be the case most of the time. Although, there is a positive correlation between pain and effort levels in art which is why most artists look for pain in order to create more vivid art pieces. Artists are some of the happiest people in the world, this is because art is cathartic and is effective in reducing stress levels. In fact “Art therapy” is widely used around the world to treat depression and has had a higher success rate than other forms of treatment like counseling.
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Artists do art because they’re not good at anything else/ unintellectual / Non Academic
Out of all the ridiculous myths that exist today, this is one of the most incorrect. Contrary to popular belief, art requires strong mathematical and scientific backing; experiments are conducted before any work is done. Interestingly, Art as been proven to activate the same parts of the brain that are active when solving Mathematical problems. Further art requires strong observation skills and critical thinking and is one of the hardest subjects to do as it involves a synthesis of science and creativity.
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Art is very time consuming and difficult
Oh yeah, that’s not a myth for sure! Art requires a lot of time and patience and initially can be quite challenging. But isn’t that the case with anything in life? I would still classify this a “myth” due the negative connotations attached to it which don’t necessarily need to be there. With art it’s easy to lose track of time. There are times when you start an art piece in the morning and, with what feels like a couple of hours, end up in the evening. The thing with art is that until you don’t learn the skill initially, it will continue to be difficult. However, if you take the time to learn the techniques correctly at the start it makes the entire process quite easy and enjoyable.
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Artists are born that way/ “I was not born with that talent”
Fun fact; no one is born talented. All our talents and skills are learned and are a product of the society we are raised in. If you are not “artistic” chances are you grew up in a family of people who were either not interested in art or always pushed you towards a sciencey/mathematical stream of things. Art is a natural instinct we all possess. There Is no one in the world who can’t be an artist if they really want to.
