There’s sometimes a rank desperation that comes with being an artist. You have the technical expertise and the background. You’re blessed with a few good ideas you successfully execute and show work. And then comes the big ask, “Why the ------ is my work not taking off? What have I missed, what do I still need to do to promote myself to the next level, what hill do I need to climb or what connection do I need to make?”
Not Need Art School?
I never got an art degree. Maybe you don’t need art school. It’s estimated that 90 % of art school graduates never become working artists. Basquiat never made it out of high school.(source)
Unlike art school instructors, coaches and mentors dial in their talents like a tractor beam on their charges' needs.
A picture of attendees at my recent 55th high school reunion includes Coach Ron Read. He’s small and a bit thin with a somewhat defiant expression. He’s no longer the barrel chested tough I remember from my social studies classes. (Athletics were beyond me). American history was the closest I came to being coached back then.
Today I pay to be coached. My art coach is vibrant and gregarious, accomplished and well-read with an impressive background as a professional artist and a certified art coach. I’ve also worked with a series of mentors and coaches, some older, some younger. All had a willingness to share and support me.
After high school and Coach Read, I became a cabinetmaker then, somehow, an artist. This is a story of mentors, coaches and others who help us along our path to what we truly need to be in our lives. Hopefully before time runs out.
Why an Art Coach or Mentor
I decided to get an art coach because I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I frequently asked in my head the exact questions quoted in the first paragraph: “Why not me.”
The glories of self pity aside, I found myself Googling “art coaches” and “life coaches” and “coaching artists.” I chose my first mentor/art coach based on his expertise and his ubiquity. I found references to him all over the internet. He ran cohorts-Zoom calls of 15 or 20 people where you hoped what others had to talk about would relate to your own art challenges. Then you prayed for not too much codependence when it was your turn to tell your progress and ask new questions.
I learned a great deal I never could have made up on my own. I learned that gallery owners are definitely not interested in cold calls by artists. I practiced cold-calling on non galleries for opportunities to display work. I learned to write a blog and a newsletter from the same copy. And, I learned that even the most enthusiastic coach/mentor might someday go AWOL. I fired him. With the help of my credit card company, I clawed back a portion of my money.
My brother is a certified life coach and practicing psychologist/therapist and I picked his brain for who and where to turn next. What to look for and what certifications are important when vetting an art coach? (My brother has little experience with “art” coaches but the certification process is the same as for a “life coach.”) I chose a new art coach and we work well together.
The Famous Artist and Their Famous Mentor
So what’s the difference between an art coach and mentor? “The job of a coach is wider, deeper and more extensive than the role of a mentor, and coaches usually receive far more training in order to become a coach (or at least they should).” On the other hand, “A mentor is an insider in a system, an expert in a field, who supports a novice.”(source) The Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton mentored Jackson Pollock for two and a half years at the Art Students League in New York City.(source)
Regardless, clarity counts, go for an agreed upon understanding of what’s involved for the giver and the receiver. You need, “...a clear (and written) definition of roles, but these need to be discussed between coaches/mentors and coachees/mentees to ensure clarity.”(source)
I’ve had the good fortune of working with both mentors and art coaches. My oil painting mentor taught me tons over the course of about a dozen studio visits and never once let me make him a meal (my favorite form of “thank you”)
My current art coach probably won’t ever meet me in person. In some senses she is the best of both worlds with a thriving art practice of her own (oils) and certification as a life coach through The Life Coach School. The work with her is promising, her approach is methodical but open. She provides a great deal of structure while permitting students the freedom to pick and choose from her learning tools as they see fit.
I’d like to say my path to an actualized artist state of nirvana is: clear, guaranteed and suffused with financial gain. That sentence reads like a come-on by a would-be art expert with their hand out and I’ve read a few.
I truly have no idea what’s ahead for me. What I do know is that my left-to-my-own-devices strategies of: “figuring it out” and “knuckling down” and “being brave” were worthless in the long run. Today I’m willing to do what I’m told one baby step at a time. And I remain open to whatever may come with my late in life career as an artist.
You Stil don’t need art school
What if you really don’t need art school? It’s expensive (an MFA can cost as much as $70k/yr). It may not come with a big payoff but your loans could total as much as $65k. Could coaches and mentors suffice? I never went to art school for a degree so maybe ignore this whole post. Or maybe coaches and mentors rock success like nobody’s business-I’ll use my remaining years to find out.
The headline to this post excepted, there may well be good cause to spend $40k to $50k on an art school education (BFA only). Still, success in fine art more likely relies on living the Angela Duckworth mantra-”grit.”