I have come across several people over the course of my college career who have come up with the assumption that being an art major is easy. We get to sit around and draw pretty pictures all day; our school supplies are cheap because we don't have textbooks; we have plenty of free time to develop hobbies, maintain friendships, and that sort of thing. I could go on and on about the assumptions from people on the outside of the art world, but first let me tell you about these.
1. The Textbook Myth
Some person once told you that art majors don't have to buy textbooks, because what art can you learn in a textbook, right? WRONG. We do have to buy textbooks. Maybe we buy fewer textbooks than, say, a business major, but they are still required. Our professors even like to throw in a list of recommended texts that are constantly thrown at our faces all the way up until the last day of the semester.
2. Art is EXPEN$$$IVE
"Don't they supply you with that?" No. The answer is no. Now occasionally, our teachers will graciously supply us with paper necessary for the assignment, and I don't mean copy paper. Watercolor paper, coldpress paper, hotpress paper, illustration board, canvas board, etc. There are so many different types of paper alone that we have to buy and the occasional helping hand from our professors doesn't actually help that much.
Oh, you're ready for number three? I'm not done yet. Water color pencils, ink, paint, paint brushes, canvases, three different kinds of erasers, sketchbooks, pliers, and much MUCH more. These are just the basics... and they are ALL expensive.
3. Leisurely time
Remind me what that is again, because I honestly don't remember. Art classes at Henderson tend to run about three hours a piece. Outside of class, professors expect us to spend 2 hours in the studio for every hour in class. Let's do some math real quick...most art majors take about three studio classes per semester, each class being three hours long. That is nine hours of class time. Multiply that by two and you get the required MINIMUM amount of studio hours: 18. EIGHTEEN HOURS OF HOMEWORK MINIMUM.
That's a lot of homework, and I promise, we spend more than the minimum amount working. Let me also remind you that this is only for three of the five to six classes that students generally take per semester. We also need time to eat, shower, sleep, workout, and enjoy social time.
4. Hygiene
Hygiene is important, but did you just see how busy the life of an art major is? So I tend to try and squeeze in my daily shower right before I go to bed and it’s usually a maximum of 5 minutes long. I don’t have time to enjoy a refreshing steamy shower that rejuvenates me. I rinse, lather, repeat, and jump out. My bedtime routine is so quick, it could put military staff to shame. And then? Sleep. Sweet, blissful sleep for a maximum of 7 hours, and definitely not a minute more.
5. Style
Lastly, I would like to go over the “typical” art major style. People in art are weird, and sometimes they dress weird. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few people that are fairly normal, but let’s be real, we are going to school and eventually going to get paid for thinking differently. We are creative. We use a different side of our brain.
When someone shows up with cat ears on their head, or dressed completely in black, or with completely mix-matched clothes, or crazy blue lipstick, or anything weird and funky, we just accept it. We all love to play with colors and patterns and different styles, and we don’t stop with paper. We use ourselves for our art too. We don’t dress that way because it’s what art majors do. We don’t do it to appear differently. We aren’t trying to “look like an artist.” We just aren’t ashamed of having fun when it comes to appearances.
So next time you want to talk about us art majors, keep these things in mind. We’re broke, sleep deprived, and stressed to the max, but we’re actually pretty cool people. Just don’t ever tell us how easy we have it because we might explode.
