Growing up, I was always so fascinated with painting. This fascination eventually turned into the desire to be an artist myself and to learn how to paint. My parents were always supportive of this, and between the ages of about nine to fourteen, I went to art classes to learn how to paint and draw better.

In this way, I am not self taught. Yes, my own style had to be cultivated through years of practice (really trial and error) and is still being fully realized, but by no means am I self-taught. Even if it weren't for the actual lessons I went to, I was obsessed with Bob Ross and there was no way I couldn't absorb and internalise some of the things he taught in his videos. I still say "happy accident" to myself when I mess something up.

It's because of this that I question the claim to being self-taught in the era of internet access. Yes, formal education on a topic is different to searching up a youtube tutorial, but access and ease of information means that we can basically teach ourselves any skill we wanted. And isn't that so cool!

I'm especially glad to see this in terms of learning new skills to do with arts and craft. The rise of people that know how to knit and crochet, create wire rings, woodwork. There are very little skills that we cannot find information on. The ease of this information is such a privilege, yet, I'm starting to wonder if it's contributing to seeing art as a commodity rather than something to be valued in its labour. If a skill can be taught at a base level from pretty much anywhere, of course people will profit off of it.

There is also the danger in this where the ease of access to learning about these skills further delegitimizes the choice to pursue it academically or professionally. Knowledge of STEM is gatekept - there really is no way to become a professional engineer without years of formal education for it. I think this difference allows people to devalue art as an academic pursuit or profession even more than it already is. After all, the only times in history where artists have been held in high regard is when they were employed by royals.

I don't mean to say that people engage in these skills entirely dispassionately, but there is no denying the rise of art as a commodity is a result of these skills becoming so widely teachable.

There is a fine line between this and and cultivating talent - you cannot fake skill. But we need to rethink the hierarchy we place on self-taught artists versus people who have studied it formally. I think there is a tendency to hold more respect for self-taught artists in this era but the point I am trying to make through this blog is that there is no legitimacy in the term anymore. No matter where, or how, you learn art, it is a skill that should be held in high regard and valued just as much as any other essential profession in our society.