Pick and Choose

CSDC alumna Grace Lamberson is our guest blogger today with words of wisdom for current students.

My advice for up and coming artists (sorry if you’re a STEM person – I have no left brain to give advice):

I have had the opportunity to be taught by artist teachers all across the globe from all different backgrounds and perspectives, so I have come across a lot of different ideas and attitudes. Younger me never questioned my teachers. I assumed everyone was right.

As I got older and studied under more teachers, I realized that everybody has a different belief or method they swear by. Everybody thinks they are right or that they do it best. Sometimes people put too much of their ego and self-worth into their beliefs and will put other people down in order to validate their ideas and opinions, which is just totally bogus.

Art is completely subjective. One teacher will tell you that Shakespeare was never lazy in keeping up his iambic pentameter and rhyme and to question that is the mark of a bad actor. Another teacher will chuckle and say DUH, Shakespeare was totally lazy and that whole section is a mess. (True story.) Who is right? Who is wrong? Both adamantly believe they are correct! Both are really successful teachers!

Some people think Meryl Streep is the best actor born to man; another person thinks Meryl Streep is awful. Again, subjective!

When I realized that big truth, I felt this weight lift from my shoulders. I can pick and choose what works for me and what I think makes sense. I’ll take a little bit of this teaching and a little bit of that. I’ll disregard what they said, and I’ll tweak this technique a bit.

Question ideas and teachings – and think critically about your sources.

There are always going to be people who love your work and people that hate your work, so as long as you enjoy what you’re doing and confidently march to your special-curated-beat from your own drum, everything else just melts away.