Do you feel that art school has been essential to both your work and your life? Do you think you would have regretted not going? Do you think the expense was worth it? In your experiences do you believe that art school can be somewhat dogmatic? Have you seen different folks try to go to art school and fail there for some of the reasons I’m talking about? Or maybe because they simply weren’t cut out for it?

I know it’s all pretty much based around how someone feels and works personally, so I think that is what I am interested in. How you personally feel it has related to your art and to your life.

This is also a good/hard question. I came to the scary realization not too long ago that I was just in art school for eight years straight. I went to both a magnet art high school and art school for college. Its something that has been a very big part of my life whether I like it or not and its past the point of being able to change anything. In retrospect, art high school probably formed and affected me a tiny bit more than college–but that could be because of many reasons. Both were good in their own ways and both especially focused on being interdisciplinary which was really good for me personally. And while I think neither school I went to was particularly dogmatic as a whole, I think some some teachers can be. You have to look out for those everywhere. I think you could go to any school and if you choose your classes carefully, craft a fitting education for yourself.

Also, while I think its definitely true that some people do better in art school than others (and even though you want to remain anonymous)… I think you are so talented it would not hurt to at least apply to some schools and see how much money in scholarships/financial aid they could give you. It really doesn’t hurt to try it out–and then say, if you get in and hate it/give up–then you can at least say you tried it. Be open though..or else its a lost cause! Openness is crucial.

However, if you have a project you know you want to make/a job you want to take you can always do that and apply to art school later. It’s not going anywhere! People go to school so early in the US, which is pretty rare compared to the rest of the world. For instance, most people in Sweden do not start to apply to schools for their BFA until at least the age of 24–which is a far cry from 18. When I was studying abroad there when I was 20 all my peers were in their late 20s and early 30s!

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I work at yankees stadium. even though i’m not generally attracted to clean cut, white teeth, thick-necked, jocks hanging out with their stockbroker dads and drinking expensive beer and calling each other gay… I have found myself making eyes at these stereotypical beautiful lunkheads and want to even go home with one. I have also never had a one night stand in any capacity. Should these stupid thoroughbreds be the first to break my sleeping-with-a-stranger seal?

First, this question is amazing. Secondly–I’m totally not being condescending. In fact, I kind of know exactly how you feel. Physical attraction is such a weird thing and there are so many facets to it. I’m not going to pretend like I know them all, but there are a few things to take into consideration that might help you see these seemingly weird new feelings in a new light. First, I feel like its very normal for someone to be attracted to a person/people they are around constantly–i.e. at work. Secondly, there is a reason these people are stereotypically attractive whether we sensitive art-schooled people like to admit it or not! What that reason is–I have no clue. But, even I have found myself kissing someone and not caring if he likes Beat Happening, too, or that he actually has opinions on anything I’d ever want to talk to with anyone else in my life about! You also have to remember that no one is in a place to judge you for this attraction, either. Unless you are with someone else and that person is a sensitive, Beat Happening-liking boy.. then you shouldn’t do it. It will hurt him extra hard and most likely he will say snarky, mean things about the normal guy you had the fling with.

The one night stand question is a whole other question completely, though. I’ve only had a few (very few) in my life I have to admit they were all pretty unsatisfying. I’m just not cut out for it. However, I think if you go into it with the mentality that one night is all it is–it will be easier. Hm. I don’t know.. sex is weird, too. It has the power of making you feel attached to someone even if you don’t really like them at all–and even if it isn’t very good. Attraction is weird. Sex is weirder. And I, personally, can not do any more one night stands. All I can say is watch out for your heart, and if you are set on having a one night stand and you find one of these lunkheads beautiful: go for it.

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Dear Jessica,

n.s.

Dear n.s.,

This is a really good question. When I first moved to New York in 2004 I felt a lot like you say you are feeling. I felt so strange in my new surroundings and found it almost impossible to take a single “real” image of anything around me. In those days digital didn’t count for me: “real” images = darkroom images. That said, I would literally shoot dozens of rolls of film in Texas during holidays or other special occasions and print almost entirely off those negatives back in New York. I did this for a year or more–but eventually I realized things needed to change–and they did.

First I realized that if there wasn’t anything I would like to see around me–that I could make it. I had never really “set up” an image before and decided that it could not hurt to try. I also decided to try to use a camera I had never used before. I bought my Fuji 6×9 medium format in January of 2005 and just learning how to use it posed so many challenges. With medium format you have to think about each image more carefully: they are not only more difficult to take, but the film is expensive–my 6×9 would only get 9 images per roll of film! I also had it in my mind (a challenge) that I had to take a photo of New York.

So basically.. try making something to photograph if you don’t see it around you, try a different camera, or just challenge yourself to shoot exactly what you are afraid is too boring/uninspiring.

P.S. This is what I came up with in 2005 with my 6×9 in New York:

P.P.S. All that analog stuff aside–I mostly shoot with digital now and I love it. I think it has a lot of merits and I think that any camera (even a cell phone) can make a strong image if you have it first in your mind or see it in front of you. The cameras I use the most:

Canon Digital Rebel XTi (digital)
Olympus OM-1 (35mm)
Fuji GSW 690 Professional 6×9 (medium format)