Challenges Art Majors Face

This article discusses the challenges that art majors must overcome to make their passion a career.

By Adison Bollman — February 2, 2023

Tags: artist life, arts degree, finances, finding a workspace, finding work, major challenges, time management

Art careers provide an opportunity to express oneself while also being a potentially lucrative career. Fine Arts majors have a guaranteed opportunity to pursue their creative interests, learn new mediums, and improve their technical skills. My father, Brant Bollman, earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Iowa and his Master of Fine Arts degree from Eastern Illinois University. Now, all these years later, he gave me words of advice to pass along to prospective art majors. In this article, I'll discuss the challenges that art majors must overcome to make their passion a career.

Challenges Art Majors Face

If you're looking to become a prospective art major, you'll be faced with several hurdles that you'll have to overcome to succeed. Many of these hindrances will continue to challenge artists well into their careers. If you want to make art your career, it's essential to overcome these issues at the earliest stage of your career: college.

Time Management: Prioritize and Compartmentalize

Time is an artist's scarcest resource. It takes time to create works and improve upon the techniques that make your work both unique and high quality. Art majors are already very busy; combining classwork with work, extracurriculars, and creating art will make your schedule tight. Being able to manage your time is essential to becoming a better artist.

Managing your time begins with knowing what your priorities are. Deciding your priorities can be made simpler by creating a chart that maps your day. Then, you must compartmentalize. Organize and separate each facet of your daily life and allocate a day to it. Ask yourself, what is the most important facet of your life, and how much time should you dedicate toward it? For starters, committing to having a healthy sleep schedule will help to maximize your productivity while you're awake; seven to nine hours per day is ideal and recommended by sleep professionals. Next, you must choose what's most important to furthering your career. If you're an art student, you must have an extended period of the day dedicated to making artwork. Say you're in a pottery class; the wheel should occupy at least two hours of your day. You must also sacrifice time for your classes; allot two to four hours towards schoolwork dependent on the amount you have.

Finances: Stretching Your Money

Financial security is very difficult for college students to obtain and maintain. This is especially the case for art majors. Paying for supplies and books to add to the already expensive tuition and room and board costs makes it extremely challenging for art majors to hold onto money. In addition to expenses, earning an income is challenging due to the scarcity of time. Being able to budget is essential to your college lifestyle. Learning to budget now will significantly increase your chances of becoming a professional artist, as most artists earn little income. Work enough to cover your expenses, and then set a limit for your grocery and gas expenses per month. Then, the rest is up to you. I tend to spend half and save half, allowing me to have some fun money while also being able to save up for future endeavors.

The Proper Workspace

This hurdle is most pertinent to art majors. The appropriate workplace will allow you to harness your creative abilities without distractions. Find a place to work away from your dorm; separating working and living spaces will enable you to work when in your workspace and relax when in your living space. Your workspace should be quiet yet also allow you to use your materials and get a bit messy. Your campus may have a designated workspace for artists. If it doesn't, Brant recommends outdoor spaces when it's nice or your library (so long as you don't make a mess).

Be Patient

College is all about trial and error. Developing good spending habits and knowing your priorities takes time. You may fail and mess up a few times. These challenges are especially difficult for artists, who must balance class, work, and craft. The most important key to overcoming these hurdles is to persevere through the hard times and work harder. You're not guaranteed to become a professional artist, but so long as you continue to strive, you'll get your chance.

Adison Bollman

Adison Bollman was born and raised in smalltown Iowa and graduated from North Mahaska High School in New Sharon, Iowa in 2021. Adison currently attends William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa as a double major in Political Science and History. Adison articles help new students navigate through their college journey with emphasis on personal experiences and advice from professors and staff.

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