Career Overview
The visual arts are those arts in which an artist creates something for others to see. That can mean sculpture, painting, drawing, printmaking, videography, or photography, but it can also mean a gallery installation featuring a ladder to the ceiling where a small piece of paper reading "Yes" is mounted. The product of the artist's work is the art. That's what sets the visual arts apart from the performing arts, in which the performance is the art.
A visual artist creates something out of nothing, or almost nothing -- a puddle of paint, a scrap of film, a hunk of clay. Such humble beginnings, combined with that certain artistic je ne sais quoi, have spawned some of humanity's most moving and important achievements, from the caves at Lascaux to the Sistine Chapel to the Statue of Liberty and Citizen Kane.
Tell your parents, your friends, or a stranger on the subway that you want to be an artist for a living, and you'll probably get a bemused, raised eyebrow. The starving artist is one of the oldest clichÈs. What's worse is that it has become a clichÈ because, for the most part, it's true. With talent, technical training, time, and tenacity, it is possible to make a living in the visual arts, but it's damned hard.
Albert Einstein once said that "true art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist." It's true that artists often speak of a need to create, as though they would die if they couldn't paint or take pictures. You're probably familiar with that need yourself. You might call it inspiration, or passion, or a calling. Art isn't something you stumble into; it's an irresistible force, it's in your blood.
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