Comments on: Dear John: So Your Kid Wants To Go To Art School

By: John G

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:22:04 +0000

Thanks to everyone for being so generous with your advice and sharing of life experiences. It just so happens that on Father’s day I took my daughter and son with me to a local café that supports local artists (painting, sculpting, poetry and musicians).
My daughter was able to make a contact at the café and established a potential opportunity for her to create and display a bust of the Greek philosopher Epicurus(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/189746/Epicurus).
I often wonder and hope I’m doing all I can to support my daughter without being overly involved and smothering.
It’s comforting that I’m actually doing some things right based on advice: Support and encourage her to pursue her passion; Recommending that she balance the pursuit of art with an understanding of accounting, finance and marketing; Support her pursuit of a well rounded liberal arts education as well as other wonderful advice contained within the postings.
While all the posting provide many excellent perspectives and advice, excerpts that resonate most for me are:
– “It will be your daughter who has to own her passion and the disciplines it requires”
My commentary: I’ll always love and support her, but I agree she has to own it and I believe she has demonstrated her ability to achieve anything she sets her mind. Over the years she has heard me speak of the importance of time management and she is awesome at being independent, yet responsible which is reflected in her grades from high school thru her first year at college. From my perspective, it’s fairly easy to determine what is important to any individual as priorities are a direct reflection of how one spends their time. So I believe structured and deliberate time management discipline is a critical component of achieving any goal in life.
– “My advice would be to encourage your child to seek out artist organizations that have student level memberships. Talk to the alumni association for leads of people who might support this. This not only allows the students to start seeing how people react to their work, but it gives them experience in framing, hanging, writing about their work, talking about their work, marketing, networking, time management, and many other skills they will need later. All without the pressure of having to have the show be a financial success.”
– “Something parents do not do a lot these days, but they used to back in “my day,” was to include their young adult children in their social circles.”
My commentary: I can probably do a better job with using my network on behalf of my daughter…but it’s a fine line as I don’t want to be “pushy” and anyone who has a teenage son or daughter knows…that’s an easy line to cross. 🙂
Again, thank you all VERY much for your generosity of advice and sharing of your life experiences.
And most of all, thank you Alyson for having such a wonderful social media forum that helps so many.
Sincerely,
John G.

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By: Alyson Stanfield

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:55:57 +0000

In reply to Phil Kendall.

Phil: Not sure I like looking at it this way – about looking for another career. That seems to set you up for failure.

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By: Alyson Stanfield

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:54:42 +0000

In reply to Rachael.

Rachael: Oh, I can really relate to this: “I can’t let him down by doing something I don’t love.”

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By: Alyson Stanfield

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:53:38 +0000

In reply to Kate Klingensmith.

Kate: Thank you for sharing your experience in depth.

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By: Alyson Stanfield

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:49:48 +0000

In reply to Christine Sauer.

Christine: Excellent! I’m going to be contacting you to write a guest post for me. 😉

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By: Alyson Stanfield

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:48:34 +0000

In reply to Tina Mammoser.

Tina: “Well-rounded” is excellent advice. The most influential art throughout history has been deeply informed by the world around the artists.

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By: Alyson Stanfield

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:46:24 +0000

In reply to Dee.

Interesting observation, Dee.

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By: Alyson Stanfield

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:45:38 +0000

In reply to Roopa Dudley.

Roopa: I have a strong feeling that John is the wind beneath her wings. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have cared a lick and wouldn’t have reached out for answers.

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By: Alyson Stanfield

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:44:08 +0000

In reply to Robert Bean.

It’s never too early to start exhibiting! Confidence will grow with each exhibit and it’s nice to pick up those lessons while in school.

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By: Alyson Stanfield

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:42:17 +0000

In reply to Katheryn OldShield.

Sounds like your kids are very lucky, Katheryn.

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