Why I quit art school
I decided to not get my degree in art but now I’m an artist anyway. Here’s why.
Like most stories, my reason for quitting art school is complex, sometimes hard to explain, and deeply personal. I feel like my story is important to share so that you can metaphorically see all of these layers of meaning in my art. Here’s the full story.
I was first introduced to graphic design back in my high school’s yearbook class. I loved creating layouts, flipping through other yearbooks to get inspiration, and just being experimental in my designs. Outside of school, I had some Adobe programs and would play around with them at home too. I specifically remember creating the announcement card for the baccalaureate event my senior year and loving how I specifically overlaid the fancy text on top of the picture I took.
I made my own artwork for my first dorm room and it’s no surprise that I painted a picture of the Eiffel Tower for it! This was in 2010.
That love for design led me to study graphic design at my first college, Indiana Wesleyan University. Back in 2010 the school’s name for graphic design was computer graphics. Sounds so much more like an engineer type degree, right? Anyways, while I was busy learning the fundamentals of design in the art department, I was also working for the school’s yearbook several hours a week.
I loved that school and was eager to absorb all that I was learning. You see, I was a good student and spent many hours late at night finishing my drawings and composition assignments. One of my professors taught us to map out a composition by using circles and he loved to see our process. That idea of seeing the artist’s process still is important to my own art today.
A drapery study I did in my first drawing class. You can see the marks that I erased, which my professor actually loved to see. That style of seeing the artist’s process still influences my art today.
Taking these fundamental art courses helped me see my potential as an artist – not just a designer. At this time, I loved creating things with my hands but still was eager to translate all of what I learned onto the computer.
Some of my art classes were specifically for graphic design and I learned the proper way to use Adobe products and to set up files for printing, for example. Those are skills that I still use today, so they were so valuable!
In college, I was a part of a design association called AIGA and through that we went to Chicago to visit an agency there. It was a great experience and afterwards I was convinced that I would end up working at an agency someday. At this point of my life, I believed I would graduate from Indiana Wesleyan, get a job at an agency in Chicago, and live in a beautiful brownstone home there. It was a simple, easy formula.
“That idea of seeing the artist’s process still is important to my own art today. ”
But then, God.
In the fall of my sophomore year of college, I strongly felt the voice of God telling me to go to Grand Valley State University. I had a very specific vision of the clock tower there once while I was in prayer. One of my best friends was going to need to a roommate that next semester and it all seemed to be like God was paving the path for me to be there. Another beautiful thing about going to Grand Valley was that I would be able to study the German language again because they offered it there.
I followed God’s call and moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan for the winter semester of 2012.
One of my recent paintings of Paris.
Not all of my credits transferred so I had to retake many of the fundamental art courses at Grand Valley. The graphic design program was also very popular, so that meant it was quite a competition to get into it. I couldn’t apply for the graphic design program until the end of the school year in 2013, so in the meantime I took all the art classes I needed, general education classes, and I was in the intermediate German courses.
I also found a great design job while I was in college. It was at the fundraising office for Grand Valley and I learned so much and was able to gain incredible experience. My supervisor was a great mentor and took a lot of pride in helping me find the right career path.
One day on the bus in the winter semester of 2013, I felt God’s voice again and this time it was to switch my major to German and drop the art degree. It all clicked for me and made sense in that moment because I was gaining such great design experience at my college job and I had just learned at that point that Germany had the fastest growing atheist population. It made sense to me that my passion for the German language and culture could all be for a reason - to glorify God.
I talked it over with my supervisor and she felt I would be able to still create a good design career for myself without a graphic design degree. Even better, one of the best ways to finish my German degree was to live there for almost a year! It felt like God’s hand was all over this situation and leading me every step.
I took a mission trip to Rostock, Germany in 2013 and was able to make many friends and connections. My university, Grand Valley, didn’t have a partnership with that school but they allowed me to attend Universitaet Rostock the following year and earn several credits which I was so happy about!
The university I went to in Rostock, Germany while I studied abroad.
During my time in Rostock, Germany I was able to do community-based work like helping teach English in underserved areas of the city and serve at one of the youth groups. I even got to travel to Hamburg, Germany, a couple times to do street outreach there in the red light district. These are just some of the ways it was such a life changing experience! Not even to mention my wonderful host family, friends, and travels throughout Europe.
“ It all makes me wonder if this was the path God was paving for me all along. ”
Current art studio space in my home in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
When I came back to America, I finished school, got married, and eventually got a job a local homeless shelter in Grand Rapids doing communications. After having our second child, we decided that I would stay home and that’s when I discovered again my love for art and creating with my hands instead of a computer. I’ve been able to use my marketing experience and graphic design abilities to build this art business of mine. It all makes me wonder if this was the path God was paving for me all along.