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B.A. Lampman's avatar

A great post, Mason... I don't know a lot about Faith Ringgold, and now I'd like to know more. As for Fine Arts education, I don't know what the norm is, but when I did my BFA at Concordia University in Montreal in the late 80's, there was zero mention of *anything* to do with the outside world or what would happen when we graduated. ZEE-ROW. There was no internet yet, so it was a case of approaching galleries. How? Who knows. And with what? Because of course there was the issue of continuing to produce art, which also proved to be a challenge after moving across the country and having a baby. I didn't even get to discover how little I knew about the business side of art---there was no business! I can't blame Concordia's curriculum for all my art-related stops and starts, but it certainly didn't help.

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Windy Chien's avatar

Thanks for this post Mason! … I started making art at the age of 46 after two long careers. I didn’t go to art school, and am so glad I didn’t, because ALL of my BFA- and MFA-holding friends say there was zero education in the business side of things. Which is surprising to me, I mean isn’t part of the point of school to prepare you for life after school? Part of the reason I’m thriving in my art career is because in my previous lives I ran a small business, and then worked at a very large one (Apple), and got my business education that way. I think that if you’re an artist, you are by definition a small business, and the sooner one realizes that the better.

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