When students are talented under less talented tutors I have found they start bullying these students. I've seen superb artists destroyed in college that they left. I thought to myself that these talented students will become great despite this. Also I've found that students' ideas are being hijacked by these talentless tutors. You are very positive and forgiving.❤️
My sister was a natural, case in point. I have aphantasia and much less raw talent than her but am passionate about art and very perceptive. We were both slaughtered at different colleges at different times, she was moulded and stunted, l was crushed, and then bounced back years later after further research into the politics of Art.
First of all, I have been watching your videos for years and can’t imagine anyone not liking you! You are very polite, kind and a gifted teacher and artist. I am truly sorry to hear how you were treated by your art teacher and girl friend. I am glad their cruel and rude behavior didn’t stop you from pursuing art. I am amazed at your skill, your gift of teaching and the beauty your art. Thank you for your generous teaching. Your art often reminds me of Holbein and the artists of the late 1800s like Bougereau. I hope you have found supportive artist friends on your journey. I live in an area where there are no artists like you. I appreciate your videos. They are a lifeline for me. I so grateful for artists like you online. Best wishes.
Mark Messersmith!!! I also went to FSU and graduated BA in studio art in 2016...he was my favorite teacher! Your impressions are spot on lmao. I just found your channel to actually learn to paint. What a small world.
It’s amazing to watch you work while you are chatting. Watching a real artist is a privilege and this is such an unusual and fantastic format. I do hope you do a series of these. You are great company!
Your experiences are pretty similar to what I experienced in a small college art department in the early to mid 1980's. If you wanted to be a realist painter you were doomed to disappointment. You could tell when they went to grad school by what style of abstraction they were pushing. Critique day in the studio classes were brutal, as the critique style was full on destructive and personal as the War on Beauty was in full swing. You would never find out how to make something better but would only hear things designed to crush your spirit, quit and then change majors. Yet, I'm still here. What I found out later, there was one professor who really did care about me as a student, but he was caught up in a stupid war amongst the faculty and students were used as pawns or proxies, and it was really hard to see it until my senior show review and he was the only one speaking up for me. (We have since become friends) Students who got the best grades were better art lawyers than artists. It was a lot like the movie Art School Confidential only more vicious. Three of my fellow art majors went on to become college professors or high school art teachers. What they have in common is that they were determined to be the kind of professor they wished they had as a undergrad but never got. Those of us who didn't give up had to learn how to paint somewhere else. I'm still learning, that's why I watch your videos and just subscribed. One of them in a single semester of Painting 101 taught his students more about painting than we knew our entire time as students and it showed in their work. His critique style will have you taking notes because you want to remember everything and left you eager to get up and go paint again the next day.
I had a college art instructor completely paint over my painting, everyone in my class had loved my oil painting, and he completely did this abstract painting over it.
The war on beauty. God help you at State Universities' art programs if you inquired about realism. I got the first Presidential Award for Excellence in Art to attend this place full ride, board, books, tuition, spending money. I lasted three months before I took off for Europe. My niece at the same experience in NYC. She lasted two months. You had to hunt for instruction in those days.
My sister taught art in a Canadian College she privately said only Russian and Chinese immigrant children had had an art education. Same start talent different league. We wuz dumbed down 😉
Thanks for sharing. I took a drawing class from a 'renowned professor in a university art program.' He was incredibly rude and told me I should never pursue art ... and then I had another renowned art professor (photography) who said the work I was doing was too feminine and soft. I was very discouraged by both of them and did not pursue a career in art. However, I could not stop doing drawing, painting and photography despite what they said. I think back on the conceit and arrogance of those men now and wonder how many budding artists they deliberately destroyed. Even crazier, I was PAYING them to discourage me! Unbelievable huh?
Its unbelievable when you consider why they are teaching in the first place. Most of the time this distain is simply bitterness for the fact they are not happy with where they are in their lives.
Very Stalinistic isn't it, they tyranically devour and lay waste to anyone with mere discernment, you've no intention or motive for calling them out, but you could, potentially, at some time, in the future! So paranoid l always think of that terrible Goya painting of the baby son being devoured by his father.
I think the phrase "The best experts sometimes make the worst teachers" apply to your experience. Being good at something and being good at teaching that particular thing are two entirely different beasts.
@@alastorkunn Most experts are too busy producing to be teachers. Art Teaching is a refuge for fantasists. There were a few introverted but highly talented artists in my college one was a ceramicist, Ex drummer in a rock band who developed arthritis, one was a technician, who had done engravings for collectable books, one a political cartoonist, all were horribly bullied, and scraping by. The Head of Dept at my local college had a lifelong career path that went school > local college > teachers training college > tutor at SAME local college > Head of Dept. That guy 's proudly proclaimed "lived experience" was, that his dad had worked in steel foundry! 😂 No shame. When one of his pet students ( rich) once dryly pointed out that it must be hard to be "working class" on his Head of Dept. salary . No one laughed, everyone got the joke.
Brilliant post! I can totally relate. Going through high school in the early 1970's I couldn't draw or paint a face without other students asking "who is it?" with a lot of sniffing disapproval from the art department. Going into my two years of studying art as a subject it was so different however. Had a new Mr Brown, a brilliant teacher and very approachable. Plus I was the only boy in a class of 14 girls which my teenage self appreciated yet delivered a lot of envious looks from my peers! This post took me back to then because it was just like one of his classes! You share the same manner, engaging, open chatting while like's of us were actually being educated and encouraged! You have a very precious talent, not only artistic and accomplished ( amazingly so) but also enabling it reachable in our own ways too. Thank you!
Dear Scott, thank you so very much. My daughter and I decided that we were going to watch ALL of your videos this summer and try hard to emulate 1 percent of your truly exceptional painting. Somebody (I forgot who it was) once said a painting must have at least two dimensions to it to be good. Technical perfection alone makes for appallingly boring, hollow pictures. There are plenty of those. You, Scott, with all your incredible technical mastery add a living soul to the people in your paintings, an existential depth and a message about what we are - the greatest masters of the past would have respected you as their equal. Much love and gratitude to you from Europe. .
I don’t hear many stories where artists have said that they had a positive experience in art school or class. It’s always a struggle and competition and art is highly subjective. You are super talented! Do what you love and I will definitely be adding you.
I know you say you studied in the 90s/2000s but as a current art student in Australia graduating this year... everything you are saying is EXACTLY what it's like now!
I had exactly the same experience at Uni in Sydney NSW. College of Fine Arts. Went in with the wonderful expectation that I would actually learn to paint the realism I had very little idea about how to do well. My brain was full of ideas I wanted the tools to actualise. And though it was a fun experience I found that this art school was more about helping you conceptualise ideas rather than teaching art. I’ll never forget one of the painting teachers telling is that if we wanted to learn anything about painting to leave uni and go travel to Europe and study the great masters. “What the hell am I doing here then ?” I though to myself. I left to go my own way after a year. But it has taken me a long time to find the way to painting realism. Thanks Scott ( you do not look like a Randy.. teeehee) I’ve very only recently, through serendipity, found your webisodes and have benefited greatly from your teaching. You are easy to listen to and make me laugh and are very relatable. I appreciate the effort you’ve gone to to help other artists learn the things you strove for as well. I salute you from afar. 😊
I can relate after my own bad experience at art school. Particularly irritates me as these people must know how important self confidence and belief is in the creative process, and different students are at different places in their art journey, and all with different destinations. As the saying goes, those that can't do, teach art, very badly.
I have been meaning to comment on this video. I used to be a classmate of Scott's at FSU. For a small time we hung out outside of class. Scott was a talented painter at a program not focused on teaching classical techniques. He was leaving the BFA program as I was getting accepted. I admired his abilities, and he had a lot of influence on my practices and a lot of other students at the FSU art department at the time. To get one thing straight, Mark Messersmith loved Scott. I was jealous of the weekend painting group that Scott got invited to, and the respect they shared for each other. Mark didn't invite just anyone to his painting group. Btw, Scott's impressions of Mark are so spot on, and he would do them back in school (sometimes in class in front of Mark), and I forgot how funny they are. Mark is a sweet guy, and anything he said about "Randy" was usually in a playful sarcastic way. Congrats on the channel Scott its great. I don't watch every webisode but I very much enjoyed this one, and I am looking forward to watching the Florence Academy or Art webisode.
I didn't expect to actually stay for the whole video. My attention span is embarrassingly short these days. But you roped me in. Appreciate your humor and candor. And whether intentional or not, there's some good life lessons in your stories. Hopefully the young people that watch your videos are able to decipher them and use them to their advantage.
Railroad Square is still here, in all its glory. And FSU is still one big giant eyeroll. Well done for getting your degree and moving on to greater things.
I went to FSU before it coalesced into its own school and had proper facilities. My studio was a grim horrid basement of the dining hall but I had a fabulous experience and amazing professors there..all of them. I was the first grad student in MFA sculpture. 1967 or 1968... My professor Fred Holschuh was a Bauhaus graduate and a wonderful perceptive man and was as much a father figure as a stern uncompromising artist and gave me the gift of undiplomatic art criticism from which I myself learned so much and as a professor later, his words resonated. My art history lectures from Dr. Gulnar Bosch and Dr. Stephen Bertman changed my life opening my mind to so much. I am always glad to see how FSU grew to a real university of excellence.
Oh my gosh, but did this one ever take me back to my days in the studio art degree program at my university! It was years before you went, but it was just as abstract and non-representative and inexplicable as your experience. Took me years to learn the actual techniques that they never taught. Loved your stories, love watching you paint. Hold...hold...hold... ha ha ha ha haa!
Yes, Mindy - my experience exactly in the BFA program. Bullying profs, few that actually helped me along (one was the wonderful Jacob Lawrence) - me, a rookie with precious little art education/classes when I hit university. Two of the "revered" profs were super bullies. Got criticized in class because my watercolors were "too pretty" (g*d forbid!), another time because I was doing an independent study class with one of the more financially successful and helpful profs and the critiquing prof was obviously jealous of that prof. I was ridiculed in front of the entire class. Just brutal. It was all abstract/non-representational then (70's) - not my style at all. I do remember one lone 5th or 6th year student who was into photo-realism and was doing wonderful paintings. I am never ungrateful for my experience but it did shut me down artistically for decades. The bully voices never leave my head as soon as I pick up a brush or pencil...
Mi maestro de pintura falleció en septiembre. Eres quien me ha hecho volver a tomar un pincel. Gracias de corazón. Ah y por cierto, a pesar de lo poco que entiendo de inglés puedo decirte que tu maestro era un envidioso de tu talento. Abrazo enorme desde México 🇲🇽
Thank you for sharing your incredible skill, you are very generous, I have added cad orange to my palette so wonderful. Who knew you were so entertaining and funny as well? Love your work
I did an art major at school and i always found the program lacking in technical instruction. They went over the basics like line and value. But they always wanted us to paint alla prima and skipped entirely over underpainting and layers and rules like fat over lean. Stuff I would have found interesting and helpful but they were more focused on abstract art. They'd read into things a student hadn't intended and talk about how clever it was. Like I get abstract art has it's place and concept is important, but I never felt like those were things that could really be taught and the energy would be better spent on our technical skill so then we'd be able to make the art we actually saw in our heads. They told us just to paint and we'd figure it out ourselves... like I don't need to go to school for that.
I'm so grateful that I came across your video's. Not only are you a great artist but a great teacher too. I'm a beginner and I'm struggling finishing my portraits the right way. Thank you for being so generous with your knowledge and time. Bless you 🙏
Scott, I know this is perhaps will not be readed by you, and the fact that I been following you as one of my topfive fab artist, it is funny cz, I enjoy so much your speeches, cz you are a real professional and that what you reflects...so If someone hates you, thats mean that person has a poor persepction not just of himself but whatever appear in front. You are a master and a master is a master period. Those who appreciate professionalism, wil allway follow a master, with respect and admiration, not matter how you look, or whats your name, btw Scott Wadell sounds very, very professional for me. Respect.!!!
Im glad you stuck with it. When i was a kid i drew a portrait and my construction partner screamed at me why are you drawing a woman you can never get. And even earlier the picture i drew in class everyone said i didn't.
I TOTALLY enjoyed watching this video, Scott (or is it "Randy"? Ha!) You are such a likeable person, regardless of what Messersmith may have indicated! :) Both of my sons (Thomas M. Thomson and Ron Thomson, both successful representational artists) graduated from FSU, and both had some similar experiences as you describe! You may remember me, as I took one of your on-line classes in portraiture. You were a great instructor, giving lengthy and very helpful critiques throughout the entire program! I truly enjoyed it. In this video, however, I felt that I really got to know you more as a person! It was truly entertaining!
Mark's the best! Good impersonation!! I am lucky I got to teach at FSU for 15 years with him. I went to FAA but arrived as a professor after you left. Great video. Now I am in charge of Painting and Drawing and I share your work all the time with the students and tell them you are an alumni. We are not allowed to rename students anymore btw. :)
Braveheart reference- because you really are a Scott and what is all this "Randy " nonsense! Just because the college lost it's way did not keep you from finding your authentic self! Bravo 👏
Sometimes it's not whether a teacher picks on you, but how they pick on you. Sometimes I think it's just to light a fire under your butt to get you motivated. Basically they pick or prod in a way that rather than discouraging - aggravates you enough to prove them wrong. Which is kind of what they wanted, but they obviously don't tell you that because they don't want you to slack off. I found in classes around creative subjects, it seemed the teachers that were either indifferent or otherwise giving non-answers in regards to feedback were the ones that didn't want to teach you anything or see you succeed. Also the teachers that were too nice (although everyone liked them), tended to let you slide or otherwise slack off in the quality of your work. Of course there is some threshold there. Sometimes there's difficulty in reading people or they just press too far and of course somebody could end up dropping out when that may not really have been the intent.
Your paintings are beautiful and inspiring..I love your sense of humor and openess..The teacher who called you Randy was disrespectful in refusing to call you scott..I love your stories you cracked me up so much..More please , you are an entertaining teacher and " I was upset and I overcame" Randy sounds like a triggering name...Thank you Scott for laughing at yourself and being real and raw ..I am playing rewind again..😂😂.. More video's please...
my god you makke me nostalgic of when i did art and design in high school... i had a teacher who i really admired even her critique who turned out to be my nemesis, i had a teacher who substituted nemesis teacher sometimes and really cheered me on when i did anything rebelliousand annoying to nemesis teacher so well, and then i had a number of classmates who really made it their business to really make me a passe-michelangelo of the school, always telling me i was in the wrong place, that i should just quite school and really go for it ...and then there was my art classmates who pretty much made me feel like i overdid my homework hahah, n the clasmate that kinda had a crush on me which i kinda encouraged, until i saw her with some other girl n i just really hated anything like her... that was when i ruled the world
Wild stories (cylindrical room and sticks--!). Marc/Mark just sounds like a prick. I admire your emotional intelligence or reserve or whatever quality it is you possess that made you not piss in his coffee. Loving your sense of humour and art skills and--kittens! 💖 Super inspiring painting; I'm mainly working on representing volume and value with basic forms in pencil right now. Anyway, thank you so much! Subscribed!
Oh my gosh I had such a similar experience. Teachers fawned all over students who glued trash to canvas-they loved it. One guy went out to the public mall area in the heart of campus and stuck plastic forks in a grid pattern in the grass. He got rave reviews for his brilliant art installation. When I expressed a love for Realism and asked how to “make paint look like skin” my Prof rolled his eyes and said “that’s been done”. I struggled through because I thought I needed the BFA, and although the Art History Minor was beneficial, I didn’t learn much about studio art/painting/drawing until I finished college and searched out workshops through various Ateliers. If I had it to do again I would skip the Uni setting altogether and go straight to Florence Academy or Michael John Angel Academy or Toronto Academy, etc. There are much better places to spend time and money than in a BFA/MFA program unless you want to teach in a public school.
Railroad Square is still there. There is a monthly event called "first friday" . It is the first friday of each month. All the art shops open for wandering guests up to night time.
I teach art and am also a psychotherapist. I'm interested very much in the psychology of teaching and am always looking for new ways to improve my teaching. I'm fascinated by the re-naming thing, I've encountered it several times with the same pattern: a person declares someone else they've just met 'doesn't look' like their given/actual name and the person is now going to give the second person a 'new' name of their choosing. I've seen it happen in supposedly playful contexts - ie at a party or informal gathering, and in slightly more serious workplace setting. I obviously can't speak specifically to your teacher's situation. Human beings are very heterogenous, and I can't know why one person I've never met has done something in a situation where I wasn't present. But more generally, the 're-naming on first meeting' thing seems to me an indication of a highly narcissistic/insecure need to exert dominant control over a situation. As humans, from childhood, our names and how people call us are extremely significant to us as part of our essential identify. Recieving nice packages and envelopes with our names on them is very exciting. Seeing our names misspelled or hearing them mispronounced is very frustrating. When we forget someone's name we get very anxious. If someone quickly becomes significant to us we are far more likely to remember their names. Cruel nicknames given by bullies are especially hurtful because they undermine our identity. Conversely affectionate nicknames given by close family members and friends can generate warm feelings. There's no getting around it - deciding out of the blue that you're unilaterally going to re-name someone you've just met, without their consent, because you think they're name is incorrectly matched to their identity, and declaring you're going to stick to the new name is exceptionally rude. So I think it's indicative of a very strong desire to maintain absolute control over a situation. I've also noticed a correlation with the re-naming and a very finely neurotic response to art and creativity. For example, they may have a very elaborate, intense and sometimes unpredictable system of likes and dislikes, such as feverishly worshipping a particular musical act, but regarding another very similar act in the same genre, demanding the television be switched off if they appear, requesting CDs be taken out of sight, and getting irritated almost to the point of leaving if they are played in a bar. I had they experience - a long, long time ago at a picnic in a grand setting full of people I had just met where a beautiful girl was holding court, obviously close to the centre of attention. in a beautiful cut-crystal English accent, she humourously declared I didn't look like my (Irish) name (Cian), that I looked like a 'Billy' and from henceforth she shall call me Billy. I was surprised at how irritated I was, but anyway, jokingly, I replied she could call me whatever the hell she wanted - Jasper - Lord Fotheringhay the Exquisite - Seamus the Leprechaun Who Rides On Irish Wolfhounds, but I'd only answer to the name my folks gave me. She actually became upset at how 'rude' I was to her.
Good grief! The comment section isn’t the place for your very long comment, nobody reads them. You should vlog if you want to impart long winded experiences with paragraphs 🙂
I attended UCF (then FTU) back in the early 70's. Nothing was taught. We did have an adjunct professor who conducted some drawing classes with live models, but it was oriented toward gesture drawing . . . nothing with any real degree of finish. Other than that, you were on your own. I'd had 4 semesters at a junior college where I received what instruction in oil painting I'd ever get, and for which I'm grateful as it got me started. The chairman of the art department at UCF and I got along well, but a couple of the others would fight me because my stuff was representational.
😂 Small world. I graduated from UCF in 1990 with a BA in Art Education. We called it U Can’t Finish University because they were growing so fast and didn’t have enough teachers.
New viewer. First: exceptional natural representative art - the portrait in progress. Second, glad to know I wasn't the only chaotic art student, in terms of grades 😄.
In my case ,never had a help about Art Teaching. What I learned about oil painting was here on TH-cam, watching many painters, techniques and tutorials on this issue. As a self taugh painter, I`ve learned a lot. In last 15 years my progress in oil painting, was always without any help. After all just to say, mabe was better like that.
I gave you the 994 in likes from the 993. That painting is plush my friend. I'm looking at this painting and I'm filled with inspiration. I'm a painter as well and I'm looking at this brilliant painting and it's really nice. I like the angle of the subject , it's very slight and subtle . I'm very heavy handed and that's ok for a muralist but in this kind of fine art you have to keep it very clean. No dust in your studio because one dust particle thats painted over can give the person in you painting a pimple. Well my paintings it's worst that acne , they have the plague hahahaha.
I went to art schools (UK) in the late 70's. I then taught art in high schools for around 40 years. The whole art educational scene is something of a house of cards IMO. No-one seems to really know what it is they're supposed be teaching or learning anymore. I feel this is a consequence of the modern art revolution of the early 20th century and all it's subsequent styles clashing with the ordinary (artistic) views of most of the general population.
In my art university they put a HEAVY emphasis on intent and personal artistic experimentation. I can count the times on one hand that an instructor actually showed us something first hand in a classical art sense. There was a lot of direct instruction in the more technical aspects like photoshop and Maya. But when it came to painting, drawing, colored pencils, markers etc- they almost never did direct instruction. They were much more concerned that you find the solution yourself. But in that pursuit I think a lot of aspects of my education suffered for it. The only instructor that broke the rule was my drawing teacher my freshman year and they fired him for it. And ironically it’s the class I felt benefitted me most.
"Go on You Tube" said the tutors who lacked any basic skills, were winging it, and got aggressive when their hollowness was inadvertently challenged. . You could do that in any trade school, for a while! First they made Art conceptual, it's just any idea that pops in your head, then they made it so that people could pay artists to quietly produce and then slap their brand on it. We wuz robbed
Most of art teachers are grifters who don't know any useful technical stuff. They teach you nothing because they can't AND because they want to maintain the illusion of being a professional artist who knows better than you. Because that illusion is what gave them their job in the first place. That's why your teacher was fired. Not simply because he knew some actual techniques. But because teaching his student those techniques would undermine the revelancy of his fellow colleagues.
“a HEAVY emphasis on intent and personal artistic experimentation.” sounds to me like a fair and actually a common sense mission for a place where the question is, ultimately, what are students expecting to learn? 1. Do you expect teachers to make the decision for you of what your passions are that you will pursue? (Because as is generally comprehended -the “art world” is as open and limitless as a barn door swinging wide in a hurricane ) 2. If you have already refined your interests into being at a level where you’re aware of just what technical skills you hope to acquire, then you need to locate the school(s) that specialize in that realm. Not knowing what the hell you want to do with yourself and then blaming it on bad instructors seems to me like kind of a cop out. Even in the video above, we see Scott (who I adore & respect) describe two contradictory things at once. The first being how he was a miserable young person due to miserable young person syndromes like having your first big romance fall apart. And the other classic, thinking your were going into one creative pursuit (movies) to then change tack (painting). It was the program at that school that facilitated Scott into being Randy and finding his self described “first great art mentor”. As much as he’s downing it, he’s doing so with a little loving smirk, because that school’s program actually put him into the trajectory of doing exactly what he’s doing now. -side note: Funny thing is, is he’s still doing “movies”, in a sorta way, which is storytellling on TH-cam. In the voice of the great Ferris Bueller teacher …hello?…anyone?…anyone?
I agree with the comment that sometimes teachers are bullies; I had an art teacher I deeply admired who was one. That said, even the best teachers sometimes have trouble with positive affirmation and their only communication comes as critique, which is also to say, if they’re talking to you at all, they like you or see some value in what you’re up to or they wouldn’t bother trying to help you get better. FWIW, I had a painting teacher who would come up behind me, make grunting noises, then compare what I was doing to some obscure artist I’d never heard of (wise attempt to get me to look them up?), then he’d share some inappropriate story about a personal/family health problem or surgery gone wrong. Sometimes artists (art teachers) have the social skills of high school oboe players, what can ya do?
Interesting video monologue. I enjoyed hearing what you had to say. u.S teacher here w/ a life / art skills question. Have heard many stories in decades past about the art skills of slavic school children. Was wondering if you'd weigh in on some things I was once, told. Q: Given what you now know about art, life, art skills, and how one goes about (painting) art; do you think someone of your skill level could ever cut it in a Russian style art school environment in which by the time many have reached the age of 8 or 9 yrs of age students, art 'abilities' are considered H.S. or college-aged advanced?
Laughing out loud regarding the self portrait story where you circle back to your interpretation of yourself ....or Randy! BTW your skin tones are fantastic! If I use watercolor, what colors would you recommend?
Mentorship and apprenticeships are the best path. I have a minor in studio art, because before I threw my hands up at the art department and changed to computer science I had already earned enough for a minor. 2 really good mentor-tier profs. The rest were kindergarten fingerpaint tier, possibly talented but their minds ruined by postmodernist laziness ideology. The first good prof was for drawing 1, and she taught at each student's levels. Saw kids who could barely draw stick figures to doing decent caravaggio master studies in charcoal in 1 semester. 2D design prof was BRUTAL but had a good sense of humor. Our grades were docked if we said anything nice about another student's work. Nobody left that class with an inflated view of themselves. But the rest were just babysitters for weirdos with ideas. Not mentors who talk to their students about those ideas and teach them the techniques to execute them.
When students are talented under less talented tutors I have found they start bullying these students. I've seen superb artists destroyed in college that they left. I thought to myself that these talented students will become great despite this. Also I've found that students' ideas are being hijacked by these talentless tutors. You are very positive and forgiving.❤️
My sister was a natural, case in point. I have aphantasia and much less raw talent than her but am passionate about art and very perceptive. We were both slaughtered at different colleges at different times, she was moulded and stunted, l was crushed, and then bounced back years later after further research into the politics of Art.
did you see that film, Art School Confidential. no one i know has seen it, but it was fantastic, had john malcovitch and angel houston in it.
Exactly my story. Just now, after 10 years, I’m starting over.
Happened to me in high school, I actually almost completely stopped for awhile from it.
It is a hit to the ego to be surpassed by your students. Only a few mentors can be happy about that. One of which was Sergent's mentor I believe.
I don’t just love your art and teaching. I enjoy your sense of humour so much😂. It’s my entertainment for the week. Thank you
First of all, I have been watching your videos for years and can’t imagine anyone not liking you! You are very polite, kind and a gifted teacher and artist. I am truly sorry to hear how you were treated by your art teacher and girl friend. I am glad their cruel and rude behavior didn’t stop you from pursuing art. I am amazed at your skill, your gift of teaching and the beauty your art. Thank you for your generous teaching. Your art often reminds me of Holbein and the artists of the late 1800s like Bougereau. I hope you have found supportive artist friends on your journey. I live in an area where there are no artists like you. I appreciate your videos. They are a lifeline for me. I so grateful for artists like you online. Best wishes.
Mark Messersmith!!! I also went to FSU and graduated BA in studio art in 2016...he was my favorite teacher! Your impressions are spot on lmao. I just found your channel to actually learn to paint. What a small world.
It’s amazing to watch you work while you are chatting. Watching a real artist is a privilege and this is such an unusual and fantastic format. I do hope you do a series of these. You are great company!
Probably jealousy because you are amazing artist!!
Your experiences are pretty similar to what I experienced in a small college art department in the early to mid 1980's. If you wanted to be a realist painter you were doomed to disappointment. You could tell when they went to grad school by what style of abstraction they were pushing. Critique day in the studio classes were brutal, as the critique style was full on destructive and personal as the War on Beauty was in full swing. You would never find out how to make something better but would only hear things designed to crush your spirit, quit and then change majors. Yet, I'm still here.
What I found out later, there was one professor who really did care about me as a student, but he was caught up in a stupid war amongst the faculty and students were used as pawns or proxies, and it was really hard to see it until my senior show review and he was the only one speaking up for me. (We have since become friends) Students who got the best grades were better art lawyers than artists. It was a lot like the movie Art School Confidential only more vicious.
Three of my fellow art majors went on to become college professors or high school art teachers. What they have in common is that they were determined to be the kind of professor they wished they had as a undergrad but never got. Those of us who didn't give up had to learn how to paint somewhere else. I'm still learning, that's why I watch your videos and just subscribed. One of them in a single semester of Painting 101 taught his students more about painting than we knew our entire time as students and it showed in their work. His critique style will have you taking notes because you want to remember everything and left you eager to get up and go paint again the next day.
I had a college art instructor completely paint over my painting, everyone in my class had loved my oil painting, and he completely did this abstract painting over it.
The war on beauty. God help you at State Universities' art programs if you inquired about realism. I got the first Presidential Award for Excellence in Art to attend this place full ride, board, books, tuition, spending money. I lasted three months before I took off for Europe. My niece at the same experience in NYC. She lasted two months. You had to hunt for instruction in those days.
My sister taught art in a Canadian College she privately said only Russian and Chinese immigrant children had had an art education.
Same start talent different league.
We wuz dumbed down 😉
Thanks for sharing. I took a drawing class from a 'renowned professor in a university art program.' He was incredibly rude and told me I should never pursue art ... and then I had another renowned art professor (photography) who said the work I was doing was too feminine and soft. I was very discouraged by both of them and did not pursue a career in art. However, I could not stop doing drawing, painting and photography despite what they said. I think back on the conceit and arrogance of those men now and wonder how many budding artists they deliberately destroyed. Even crazier,
I was PAYING them to discourage me! Unbelievable huh?
Its unbelievable when you consider why they are teaching in the first place. Most of the time this distain is simply bitterness for the fact they are not happy with where they are in their lives.
Very Stalinistic isn't it, they tyranically devour and lay waste to anyone with mere discernment, you've no intention or motive for calling them out, but you could, potentially, at some time, in the future! So paranoid
l always think of that terrible Goya painting of the baby son being devoured by his father.
I think the phrase "The best experts sometimes make the worst teachers" apply to your experience. Being good at something and being good at teaching that particular thing are two entirely different beasts.
@@alastorkunn Most experts are too busy producing to be teachers. Art Teaching is a refuge for fantasists. There were a few introverted but highly talented artists in my college one was a ceramicist, Ex drummer in a rock band who developed arthritis, one was a technician, who had done engravings for collectable books, one a political cartoonist, all were horribly bullied, and scraping by.
The Head of Dept at my local college had a lifelong career path that went school > local college > teachers training college > tutor at SAME local college > Head of Dept.
That guy 's proudly proclaimed "lived experience" was, that his dad had worked in steel foundry! 😂 No shame.
When one of his pet students ( rich) once dryly pointed out that it must be hard to be "working class" on his Head of Dept. salary . No one laughed, everyone got the joke.
Brilliant post! I can totally relate. Going through high school in the early 1970's I couldn't draw or paint a face without other students asking "who is it?" with a lot of sniffing disapproval from the art department. Going into my two years of studying art as a subject it was so different however. Had a new Mr Brown, a brilliant teacher and very approachable. Plus I was the only boy in a class of 14 girls which my teenage self appreciated yet delivered a lot of envious looks from my peers! This post took me back to then because it was just like one of his classes! You share the same manner, engaging, open chatting while like's of us were actually being educated and encouraged! You have a very precious talent, not only artistic and accomplished ( amazingly so) but also enabling it reachable in our own ways too. Thank you!
Dear Scott, thank you so very much. My daughter and I decided that we were going to watch ALL of your videos this summer and try hard to emulate 1 percent of your truly exceptional painting. Somebody (I forgot who it was) once said a painting must have at least two dimensions to it to be good. Technical perfection alone makes for appallingly boring, hollow pictures. There are plenty of those. You, Scott, with all your incredible technical mastery add a living soul to the people in your paintings, an existential depth and a message about what we are - the greatest masters of the past would have respected you as their equal.
Much love and gratitude to you from Europe.
.
I don’t hear many stories where artists have said that they had a positive experience in art school or class. It’s always a struggle and competition and art is highly subjective. You are super talented! Do what you love and I will definitely be adding you.
I know you say you studied in the 90s/2000s but as a current art student in Australia graduating this year... everything you are saying is EXACTLY what it's like now!
This video had me rolling. I teach at UNF in Jacksonville, so I know these professors. 😊
I had exactly the same experience at Uni in Sydney NSW. College of Fine Arts. Went in with the wonderful expectation that I would actually learn to paint the realism I had very little idea about how to do well. My brain was full of ideas I wanted the tools to actualise. And though it was a fun experience I found that this art school was more about helping you conceptualise ideas rather than teaching art. I’ll never forget one of the painting teachers telling is that if we wanted to learn anything about painting to leave uni and go travel to Europe and study the great masters. “What the hell am I doing here then ?” I though to myself. I left to go my own way after a year. But it has taken me a long time to find the way to painting realism. Thanks Scott ( you do not look like a Randy.. teeehee) I’ve very only recently, through serendipity, found your webisodes and have benefited greatly from your teaching. You are easy to listen to and make me laugh and are very relatable. I appreciate the effort you’ve gone to to help other artists learn the things you strove for as well. I salute you from afar. 😊
I love all your videos. Please don't ever stop making them ❤️
I can relate after my own bad experience at art school. Particularly irritates me as these people must know how important self confidence and belief is in the creative process, and different students are at different places in their art journey, and all with different destinations. As the saying goes, those that can't do, teach art, very badly.
Yes. Railroad Square is still there but it had changed a LOT
I have been meaning to comment on this video. I used to be a classmate of Scott's at FSU. For a small time we hung out outside of class. Scott was a talented painter at a program not focused on teaching classical techniques. He was leaving the BFA program as I was getting accepted. I admired his abilities, and he had a lot of influence on my practices and a lot of other students at the FSU art department at the time.
To get one thing straight, Mark Messersmith loved Scott. I was jealous of the weekend painting group that Scott got invited to, and the respect they shared for each other. Mark didn't invite just anyone to his painting group. Btw, Scott's impressions of Mark are so spot on, and he would do them back in school (sometimes in class in front of Mark), and I forgot how funny they are. Mark is a sweet guy, and anything he said about "Randy" was usually in a playful sarcastic way.
Congrats on the channel Scott its great. I don't watch every webisode but I very much enjoyed this one, and I am looking forward to watching the Florence Academy or Art webisode.
I like this video. Stirs up all my college hatreds. I think I have to add "Randy's" teacher to my list. Loathsome.
So happy! I love Douglas. I am truly grateful for you.
I love your sense of humour and your humility. You are very talented. Thanks for making these videos.
I didn't expect to actually stay for the whole video. My attention span is embarrassingly short these days. But you roped me in. Appreciate your humor and candor. And whether intentional or not, there's some good life lessons in your stories. Hopefully the young people that watch your videos are able to decipher them and use them to their advantage.
Wow! I’m so speechless with your lovely painting sir.☺️❤️
Keep safe and God bless you.🙏🏻
Railroad Square is still here, in all its glory. And FSU is still one big giant eyeroll. Well done for getting your degree and moving on to greater things.
You do t need to feel less then! You’re a marvelous artist👏👏
I went to FSU before it coalesced into its own school and had proper facilities. My studio was a grim horrid basement of the dining hall but I had a fabulous experience and amazing professors there..all of them. I was the first grad student in MFA sculpture. 1967 or 1968... My professor Fred Holschuh was a Bauhaus graduate and a wonderful perceptive man and was as much a father figure as a stern uncompromising artist and gave me the gift of undiplomatic art criticism from which I myself learned so much and as a professor later, his words resonated. My art history lectures from Dr. Gulnar Bosch and Dr. Stephen Bertman changed my life opening my mind to so much. I am always glad to see how FSU grew to a real university of excellence.
Stunning.... And you are so amusing to listen to!
Love your teaching and explanations, wish you wrre here in Ireland and doung workshops.
Oh my gosh, but did this one ever take me back to my days in the studio art degree program at my university! It was years before you went, but it was just as abstract and non-representative and inexplicable as your experience. Took me years to learn the actual techniques that they never taught. Loved your stories, love watching you paint. Hold...hold...hold... ha ha ha ha haa!
Yes, Mindy - my experience exactly in the BFA program. Bullying profs, few that actually helped me along (one was the wonderful Jacob Lawrence) - me, a rookie with precious little art education/classes when I hit university. Two of the "revered" profs were super bullies. Got criticized in class because my watercolors were "too pretty" (g*d forbid!), another time because I was doing an independent study class with one of the more financially successful and helpful profs and the critiquing prof was obviously jealous of that prof. I was ridiculed in front of the entire class. Just brutal. It was all abstract/non-representational then (70's) - not my style at all. I do remember one lone 5th or 6th year student who was into photo-realism and was doing wonderful paintings. I am never ungrateful for my experience but it did shut me down artistically for decades. The bully voices never leave my head as soon as I pick up a brush or pencil...
@@catsinhouse There is definitely a pattern here isn't there, post after post after post, stay real and unique, always.
Mi maestro de pintura falleció en septiembre. Eres quien me ha hecho volver a tomar un pincel. Gracias de corazón. Ah y por cierto, a pesar de lo poco que entiendo de inglés puedo decirte que tu maestro era un envidioso de tu talento. Abrazo enorme desde México 🇲🇽
Mutual respect and appreciation for art industry. Salute you sir.
You are just great...Scott/Randy! Great Artist with terrific humor! 👏
Dear Scott, thank you very much for being colourful and funny, absolutely delightful. 8:30
Thank you for sharing your incredible skill, you are very generous, I have added cad orange to my palette so wonderful. Who knew you were so entertaining and funny as well? Love your work
I don't know if I look like a Scott either. Maybe, I'm a Randy?
Love your portraits, thanks for sharing and your stories too
I did an art major at school and i always found the program lacking in technical instruction. They went over the basics like line and value. But they always wanted us to paint alla prima and skipped entirely over underpainting and layers and rules like fat over lean. Stuff I would have found interesting and helpful but they were more focused on abstract art. They'd read into things a student hadn't intended and talk about how clever it was. Like I get abstract art has it's place and concept is important, but I never felt like those were things that could really be taught and the energy would be better spent on our technical skill so then we'd be able to make the art we actually saw in our heads. They told us just to paint and we'd figure it out ourselves... like I don't need to go to school for that.
I'm so grateful that I came across your video's. Not only are you a great artist but a great teacher too. I'm a beginner and I'm struggling finishing my portraits the right way. Thank you for being so generous with your knowledge and time. Bless you 🙏
Scott, I know this is perhaps will not be readed by you, and the fact that I been following you as one of my topfive fab artist, it is funny cz, I enjoy so much your speeches, cz you are a real professional and that what you reflects...so If someone hates you, thats mean that person has a poor persepction not just of himself but whatever appear in front. You are a master and a master is a master period. Those who appreciate professionalism, wil allway follow a master, with respect and admiration, not matter how you look, or whats your name, btw Scott Wadell sounds very, very professional for me. Respect.!!!
Im glad you stuck with it. When i was a kid i drew a portrait and my construction partner screamed at me why are you drawing a woman you can never get. And even earlier the picture i drew in class everyone said i didn't.
Watching you paint is so satisfying 😂 ❤😊. I want to learn your techniques. I love how your portraits are so smooth and realistic.
First time here. Beautiful painting and you made me laugh!😄
I TOTALLY enjoyed watching this video, Scott (or is it "Randy"? Ha!) You are such a likeable person, regardless of what Messersmith may have indicated! :) Both of my sons (Thomas M. Thomson and Ron Thomson, both successful representational artists) graduated from FSU, and both had some similar experiences as you describe! You may remember me, as I took one of your on-line classes in portraiture. You were a great instructor, giving lengthy and very helpful critiques throughout the entire program! I truly enjoyed it.
In this video, however, I felt that I really got to know you more as a person! It was truly entertaining!
Mark's the best! Good impersonation!! I am lucky I got to teach at FSU for 15 years with him. I went to FAA but arrived as a professor after you left. Great video. Now I am in charge of Painting and Drawing and I share your work all the time with the students and tell them you are an alumni. We are not allowed to rename students anymore btw. :)
Braveheart reference- because you really are a Scott and what is all this "Randy " nonsense!
Just because the college lost it's way did not keep you from finding your authentic self! Bravo 👏
Sometimes it's not whether a teacher picks on you, but how they pick on you. Sometimes I think it's just to light a fire under your butt to get you motivated. Basically they pick or prod in a way that rather than discouraging - aggravates you enough to prove them wrong. Which is kind of what they wanted, but they obviously don't tell you that because they don't want you to slack off.
I found in classes around creative subjects, it seemed the teachers that were either indifferent or otherwise giving non-answers in regards to feedback were the ones that didn't want to teach you anything or see you succeed. Also the teachers that were too nice (although everyone liked them), tended to let you slide or otherwise slack off in the quality of your work.
Of course there is some threshold there. Sometimes there's difficulty in reading people or they just press too far and of course somebody could end up dropping out when that may not really have been the intent.
My fav video so far! Your stories are everything, so funny 😂
more of these type of videos , with the cam view on the paint blending process, great stuff man
Your paintings are beautiful and inspiring..I love your sense of humor and openess..The teacher who called you Randy was disrespectful in refusing to call you scott..I love your stories you cracked me up so much..More please , you are an entertaining teacher and " I was upset and I overcame" Randy sounds like a triggering name...Thank you Scott for laughing at yourself and being real and raw ..I am playing rewind again..😂😂..
More video's please...
Beautiful rendering Randy.
my god you makke me nostalgic of when i did art and design in high school... i had a teacher who i really admired even her critique who turned out to be my nemesis, i had a teacher who substituted nemesis teacher sometimes and really cheered me on when i did anything rebelliousand annoying to nemesis teacher so well, and then i had a number of classmates who really made it their business to really make me a passe-michelangelo of the school, always telling me i was in the wrong place, that i should just quite school and really go for it ...and then there was my art classmates who pretty much made me feel like i overdid my homework hahah, n the clasmate that kinda had a crush on me which i kinda encouraged, until i saw her with some other girl n i just really hated anything like her... that was when i ruled the world
I thoroughly enjoy you’re musings and humor ~ so relatable ~ so personable ~ ❤️🙏 🌹~
A lovely video Scott,I always like your video’s..this one no exception..😃👍🏻
Wild stories (cylindrical room and sticks--!). Marc/Mark just sounds like a prick. I admire your emotional intelligence or reserve or whatever quality it is you possess that made you not piss in his coffee. Loving your sense of humour and art skills and--kittens! 💖 Super inspiring painting; I'm mainly working on representing volume and value with basic forms in pencil right now. Anyway, thank you so much! Subscribed!
This is great!!!! Reminds me of my experiences some. The painting is great and you're awesome ☺️🌸
You are blessed, i will say no more no less!!!
One of your best videos! More natural explanations, less scientific words.
My god you are funny! I would watch this just for the laughs, but your art is so beautiful and you do such a wonderful job of explaining everything.
Love your honesty and humor dude :)
Oh man this reminds me of college
Oh my gosh I had such a similar experience. Teachers fawned all over students who glued trash to canvas-they loved it. One guy went out to the public mall area in the heart of campus and stuck plastic forks in a grid pattern in the grass. He got rave reviews for his brilliant art installation. When I expressed a love for Realism and asked how to “make paint look like skin” my Prof rolled his eyes and said “that’s been done”. I struggled through because I thought I needed the BFA, and although the Art History Minor was beneficial, I didn’t learn much about studio art/painting/drawing until I finished college and searched out workshops through various Ateliers. If I had it to do again I would skip the Uni setting altogether and go straight to Florence Academy or Michael John Angel Academy or Toronto Academy, etc. There are much better places to spend time and money than in a BFA/MFA program unless you want to teach in a public school.
Railroad Square is still there. There is a monthly event called "first friday" . It is the first friday of each month. All the art shops open for wandering guests up to night time.
You're a funny rascal, 'Randy'. The clay sculpture story is hilarious 😂
I teach art and am also a psychotherapist. I'm interested very much in the psychology of teaching and am always looking for new ways to improve my teaching.
I'm fascinated by the re-naming thing, I've encountered it several times with the same pattern: a person declares someone else they've just met 'doesn't look' like their given/actual name and the person is now going to give the second person a 'new' name of their choosing.
I've seen it happen in supposedly playful contexts - ie at a party or informal gathering, and in slightly more serious workplace setting. I obviously can't speak specifically to your teacher's situation. Human beings are very heterogenous, and I can't know why one person I've never met has done something in a situation where I wasn't present. But more generally, the 're-naming on first meeting' thing seems to me an indication of a highly narcissistic/insecure need to exert dominant control over a situation.
As humans, from childhood, our names and how people call us are extremely significant to us as part of our essential identify. Recieving nice packages and envelopes with our names on them is very exciting. Seeing our names misspelled or hearing them mispronounced is very frustrating. When we forget someone's name we get very anxious. If someone quickly becomes significant to us we are far more likely to remember their names. Cruel nicknames given by bullies are especially hurtful because they undermine our identity. Conversely affectionate nicknames given by close family members and friends can generate warm feelings.
There's no getting around it - deciding out of the blue that you're unilaterally going to re-name someone you've just met, without their consent, because you think they're name is incorrectly matched to their identity, and declaring you're going to stick to the new name is exceptionally rude.
So I think it's indicative of a very strong desire to maintain absolute control over a situation. I've also noticed a correlation with the re-naming and a very finely neurotic response to art and creativity. For example, they may have a very elaborate, intense and sometimes unpredictable system of likes and dislikes, such as feverishly worshipping a particular musical act, but regarding another very similar act in the same genre, demanding the television be switched off if they appear, requesting CDs be taken out of sight, and getting irritated almost to the point of leaving if they are played in a bar.
I had they experience - a long, long time ago at a picnic in a grand setting full of people I had just met where a beautiful girl was holding court, obviously close to the centre of attention. in a beautiful cut-crystal English accent, she humourously declared I didn't look like my (Irish) name (Cian), that I looked like a 'Billy' and from henceforth she shall call me Billy. I was surprised at how irritated I was, but anyway, jokingly, I replied she could call me whatever the hell she wanted - Jasper - Lord Fotheringhay the Exquisite - Seamus the Leprechaun Who Rides On Irish Wolfhounds, but I'd only answer to the name my folks gave me.
She actually became upset at how 'rude' I was to her.
Good grief! The comment section isn’t the place for your very long comment, nobody reads them. You should vlog if you want to impart long winded experiences with paragraphs 🙂
In the UK Randy means the same as horny in the US. So pretty annoying.
I didn't leave, so it was still a good video :) I enjoyed the story telling. Keep up the stellar work!!
How the hell?...that level of painting is so freaking beyond human
The five o'clock shadow on the subject works for me.
WE LOVE YOU SCOTT
I attended UCF (then FTU) back in the early 70's. Nothing was taught. We did have an adjunct professor who conducted some drawing classes with live models, but it was oriented toward gesture drawing . . . nothing with any real degree of finish. Other than that, you were on your own. I'd had 4 semesters at a junior college where I received what instruction in oil painting I'd ever get, and for which I'm grateful as it got me started. The chairman of the art department at UCF and I got along well, but a couple of the others would fight me because my stuff was representational.
😂 Small world. I graduated from UCF in 1990 with a BA in Art Education. We called it U Can’t Finish University because they were growing so fast and didn’t have enough teachers.
Love your sense of humour. 😂 Thanks for the great content.
I literally laughed out loud when he renamed you Randy 🤣 omg.....hilarious. Art teachers can be "quirky" 😉
more of these please, thanks!
New viewer. First: exceptional natural representative art - the portrait in progress.
Second, glad to know I wasn't the only chaotic art student, in terms of grades 😄.
In my case ,never had a help about Art Teaching. What I learned about oil painting was here on TH-cam, watching many painters, techniques and tutorials on this issue. As a self taugh painter, I`ve learned a lot. In last 15 years my progress in oil painting, was always without any help. After all just to say, mabe was better like that.
thanks for sharing ...really enjoyable...school for art was challenging for most of us. Do a web site showing your art? Thanks
You are one of the artists that I hope to paint like soon.
I gave you the 994 in likes from the 993. That painting is plush my friend. I'm looking at this painting and I'm filled with inspiration. I'm a painter as well and I'm looking at this brilliant painting and it's really nice. I like the angle of the subject , it's very slight and subtle . I'm very heavy handed and that's ok for a muralist but in this kind of fine art you have to keep it very clean.
No dust in your studio because one dust particle thats painted over can give the person in you painting a pimple. Well my paintings it's worst that acne , they have the plague hahahaha.
Thank you for your great lessons ♡
I went to art schools (UK) in the late 70's. I then taught art in high schools for around 40 years.
The whole art educational scene is something of a house of cards IMO. No-one seems to really know what it is they're supposed be teaching or learning anymore. I feel this is a consequence of the modern art revolution of the early 20th century and all it's subsequent styles clashing with the ordinary (artistic) views of most of the general population.
Your stories made me think of the movie , Art School Confidential :)
Is it ok to not use ivory black, ever? And replicate it with raw umber + any strong blue pigment + crimson red/vermillion?
In my art university they put a HEAVY emphasis on intent and personal artistic experimentation. I can count the times on one hand that an instructor actually showed us something first hand in a classical art sense. There was a lot of direct instruction in the more technical aspects like photoshop and Maya. But when it came to painting, drawing, colored pencils, markers etc- they almost never did direct instruction. They were much more concerned that you find the solution yourself. But in that pursuit I think a lot of aspects of my education suffered for it. The only instructor that broke the rule was my drawing teacher my freshman year and they fired him for it. And ironically it’s the class I felt benefitted me most.
"Go on You Tube" said the tutors who lacked any basic skills, were winging it, and got aggressive when their hollowness was inadvertently challenged.
. You could do that in any trade school,
for a while!
First they made Art conceptual, it's just any idea that pops in your head, then they made it so that people could pay artists to quietly produce and then slap their brand on it.
We wuz robbed
Most of art teachers are grifters who don't know any useful technical stuff. They teach you nothing because they can't AND because they want to maintain the illusion of being a professional artist who knows better than you. Because that illusion is what gave them their job in the first place.
That's why your teacher was fired. Not simply because he knew some actual techniques. But because teaching his student those techniques would undermine the revelancy of his fellow colleagues.
@@-Zakhiel- “those who can’t do- teach” 🤷♂️ lol I always felt this applied to PE teachers in school
“a HEAVY emphasis on intent and personal artistic experimentation.” sounds to me like a fair and actually a common sense mission for a place where the question is, ultimately, what are students expecting to learn?
1. Do you expect teachers to make the decision for you of what your passions are that you will pursue?
(Because as is generally comprehended -the “art world” is as open and limitless as a barn door swinging wide in a hurricane )
2. If you have already refined your interests into being at a level where you’re aware of just what technical skills you hope to acquire, then you need to locate the school(s) that specialize in that realm.
Not knowing what the hell you want to do with yourself and then blaming it on bad instructors seems to me like kind of a cop out.
Even in the video above, we see Scott (who I adore & respect) describe two contradictory things at once. The first being how he was a miserable young person due to miserable young person syndromes like having your first big romance fall apart. And the other classic, thinking your were going into one creative pursuit (movies) to then change tack (painting).
It was the program at that school that facilitated Scott into being Randy and finding his self described “first great art mentor”. As much as he’s downing it, he’s doing so with a little loving smirk, because that school’s program actually put him into the trajectory of doing exactly what he’s doing now.
-side note: Funny thing is, is he’s still doing “movies”, in a sorta way, which is storytellling on TH-cam.
In the voice of the great Ferris Bueller teacher …hello?…anyone?…anyone?
Being from Tallahassee I love this.
New subscriber, you are so funny! Love it!
I agree with the comment that sometimes teachers are bullies; I had an art teacher I deeply admired who was one. That said, even the best teachers sometimes have trouble with positive affirmation and their only communication comes as critique, which is also to say, if they’re talking to you at all, they like you or see some value in what you’re up to or they wouldn’t bother trying to help you get better. FWIW, I had a painting teacher who would come up behind me, make grunting noises, then compare what I was doing to some obscure artist I’d never heard of (wise attempt to get me to look them up?), then he’d share some inappropriate story about a personal/family health problem or surgery gone wrong. Sometimes artists (art teachers) have the social skills of high school oboe players, what can ya do?
Interesting video monologue. I enjoyed hearing what you had to say. u.S teacher here w/ a life / art skills question. Have heard many stories in decades past about the art skills of slavic school children. Was wondering if you'd weigh in on some things I was once, told.
Q: Given what you now know about art, life, art skills, and how one goes about (painting) art; do you think someone of your skill level could ever cut it in a Russian style art school environment in which by the time many have reached the age of 8 or 9 yrs of age students, art 'abilities' are considered H.S. or college-aged advanced?
That was a very interesting ramble. Reflected many of my own experiences. Beautiful portrait.
good stuff as always, randy
That was hilarious! Delightful video!!!!
Laughing out loud regarding the self portrait story where you circle back to your interpretation of yourself ....or Randy! BTW your skin tones are fantastic! If I use watercolor, what colors would you recommend?
You are a fantastic painter!
Mentorship and apprenticeships are the best path. I have a minor in studio art, because before I threw my hands up at the art department and changed to computer science I had already earned enough for a minor.
2 really good mentor-tier profs. The rest were kindergarten fingerpaint tier, possibly talented but their minds ruined by postmodernist laziness ideology.
The first good prof was for drawing 1, and she taught at each student's levels. Saw kids who could barely draw stick figures to doing decent caravaggio master studies in charcoal in 1 semester. 2D design prof was BRUTAL but had a good sense of humor. Our grades were docked if we said anything nice about another student's work. Nobody left that class with an inflated view of themselves.
But the rest were just babysitters for weirdos with ideas. Not mentors who talk to their students about those ideas and teach them the techniques to execute them.
Hahaha! Made my day !…I’ve reason to believe he hated me…he said he hated me..!😂😂👌🏽… Loving your stuff Randy!
I totally asked for this video. 😊
Good job, Randy!
Subscribed instantly. 🙌✨ You are hilarious and very talented.
Being a lefty, why don't you have your pallet on the left side of your canvas instead of having to always reach over?
Thanks for sharing your story. Always great to hear from a fellow alumnus. Go Noles!
Who is she?