{"id":64361,"date":"2022-05-18T14:19:51","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T14:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/?p=64361"},"modified":"2022-05-18T14:19:51","modified_gmt":"2022-05-18T14:19:51","slug":"how-to-become-an-artist-if-youre-african-american","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/blog\/how-to-become-an-artist-if-youre-african-american\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Become an Artist If You\u2019re African American"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uEL30bcXPqk?autoplay=1&#038;mute=1\"><\/iframe>I want to try to lay out the path that got me to where I am now as an african american artist. This is a path I didn&#8217;t see when I started out, and it may not be what you need. But I hope that by seeing how the paths of other artists have worked out, you&#8217;ll be able to find your own way.<\/p>\n<p>Telling a single person&#8217;s story of how they became an artist is kind of like trying to trip someone up in an interview. It&#8217;s a lot easier for someone to tell you about the time they failed than it is for them to talk about their successes. Nonetheless, success is important, especially as inspiration for others. And so I will do my best to tell you about my successes as well as my failures.<\/p>\n<p>While I&#8217;m trying my best to describe this process, please know that this description is purely from my perspective and may not apply to everyone. Also, remember that these are only suggestions; if something doesn&#8217;t work for you then do something else.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m going to divide this up into two parts: how to become an artist if you&#8217;re african american and what actually goes into being an artist. I&#8217;ll start with the first part since it&#8217;s much easier and shorter.<\/p>\n<p>There are a few reasons that I decided to start this blog. First and foremost, I wanted to create a resource for people who are interested in learning about the art of African Americans. I know when I was going through college, my professor made sure that we had a very limited assortment of artists to study from. Not only were most of these artists white, but most of them were European (i.e., non-African American). After I graduated, it was difficult finding a place that would be able to offer me more insight into African American art than the brief chapter in my college history book. The blog is also intended to provide information on becoming an artist if you happen to be African American. It will give you a better idea of what you need to do and which resources you can use to develop your talent.<\/p>\n<p>**The blog will also deal with the topic of how African American artists have been treated throughout history. It\u2019s easy to learn about white people\u2019s experiences while they were creating art, but it\u2019s much harder to get an idea of how black artists have been treated throughout history. This blog intends to discuss this issue in greater detail so that you may have a better understanding about how to overcome certain obstacles when pursuing your artistic endeavors<\/p>\n<p>Artwork is a form of communication. As an African American artist, you are going to have to make sure that your art is getting across what you want it to get across. You need to learn how to communicate through art, and there is no better way than by practicing.<\/p>\n<p>Tons of people are online today, and many of them are artists themselves. It has never been easier to get up and running with your art than it is right now. It can be done for free, but you do need to be careful about where you get your images from. There are plenty of places online where you can find images to use in your artwork for free.<\/p>\n<p>African American art is one of the finest expressions of human creativity, but not all students are exposed to this rich and vibrant culture in their art classes. Students of African American Art must understand the history and culture of African Americans in order to paint and sculpt successfully.<\/p>\n<p>Tone:<\/p>\n<p>Art is universal, but that doesn&#8217;t mean that art history is too. Until recently, most art historians were white men, and they tended to write about the art of their time and place. That meant European art, especially painting and sculpture. It was a great loss to mankind, for it meant that the art of other places and times and cultures was neglected or ignored.<\/p>\n<p>Trying to understand African American artists through an art-historical lens taken from European traditions is like trying to understand a baseball game seen through a basketball hoop. The goals are different, the rules are different\u2014everything is different.<\/p>\n<p>But that doesn&#8217;t mean there&#8217;s no way African American art can become part of mainstream art history; it just means we need to start from scratch and build our own framework.<\/p>\n<p>Be Prepared to Face Challenges<\/p>\n<p>African American artists have a history of overcoming challenges that most people will never encounter. There was a time when black people weren&#8217;t allowed to learn art or even see it in many cases. They were not allowed to go to schools or even leave their own plantations. In addition, many black art students who tried to study in Europe found themselves struggling with discrimination, as well as financial and social problems. Throughout the 20th century, African American artists were still forced to face a variety of difficult situations, including limited opportunities for success, being forced into poverty and struggling with racism.<\/p>\n<p>Trying to overcome all of those obstacles has made it more likely that African American artists are able to cope with other challenges they might face later in life. They are used to overcoming great odds and facing difficult circumstances. They are also used to working hard and not giving up when things get tough.<\/p>\n<p>* Segregation:<\/p>\n<p>Black students who tried to enter art school in the 19th century had a very difficult time gaining admission or being allowed to study there for very long. Many white people believed that black people should not be allowed to have an education at all. Even once African Americans were allowed into art school, they were often discriminated against by their professors. Many teachers<\/p>\n<p>Art is a broad term, but it generally refers to a visual medium such as painting and sculpture, drawing and printmaking; the creation of images that are expressive rather than purely functional. Art is made by artists, and artists are people who use a variety of methods to communicate feelings and ideas.<\/p>\n<p>But even though you may be interested in being an artist, you may still have no clue about how to become one. The good news is that art can be approached from many different angles. You may be interested in becoming an artist because you&#8217;re good at drawing, or because you enjoy painting, or because you like the idea of being an artist.<\/p>\n<p>To begin with, if you want to become an artist, it&#8217;s important to understand that art doesn&#8217;t just happen. It takes work. For most people who want to become artists, the first step is learning how to draw. If you already know how to draw, then the next step might be learning about color theory or brush strokes or perspective. A great way to learn about these things is by taking classes at a local art college or community college. These institutions will offer classes on a wide variety of topics for anyone with an interest in becoming an artist.*<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/m3JaN_TqFPs?autoplay=1&#038;mute=1\"><\/iframe><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DrKYOuqo-8I?autoplay=1&#038;mute=1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I want to try to lay out the path that got me to where I am now as an african american artist. This is a path I didn&#8217;t see when I started out, and it may not be what you need. But I hope that by seeing how the paths of other artists have worked [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64361"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64361"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64363,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64361\/revisions\/64363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}