“Art is a useless subject.”
“You can’t get a job as an artist.”
“Art is just drawing and painting.”
These are things that I have heard many times, whether it be a joke or a serious statement. It is absolutely infuriating because it is simply untrue.
When talking about art, people usually imagine contemporary fine artists with their scribbles on a canvas, or someone painting a portrait of their pet dog. But it is so much more than that. Art covers a wide range of practices, such as graphic design, illustration, animation, fashion design, architecture, product design and even video game design.
Unfortunately, art is very much downplayed in schools. Children are only taught how to paint or make a sketchbook look pretty, not about what opportunities they could have in the future with art. Why aren’t children being taught graphic design? I almost lost all hope in my future as an illustrator until I went to uni, where I actually learnt about the art industry. School did nothing but warp my impression of a career in art.
Without art, this world would have no life. No nice houses to live in, no fashionable clothes to wear, no cartoons to watch and no phones to text on.
So next time think carefully before saying that art is “useless” to a student of the arts; they may be the person who will be designing your new smart phone.
