“How can I stop comparing myself to other art students?”

Lauryn Welch, Teaching Assistant

When I was in college, I would always compare myself to others. I felt really bad being so competitive, and I would complain to my friend about it, being like, “Oh I’m so terrible, there’s so much work in here that is better than mine in critique, and I’m embarrassed to go to critique.”  He was always like “Why would you want to pique so soon anyways? Would you want to have the best work in the class?  You would have nowhere to go.

There was an artist Marcel Duchamp, for instance, a very famous artist, he felt like he did his best work and he was only middle aged. So he decided to quit art and go into chess. Now that was his decision, but wouldn’t it feel horrible if you piqued at whatever age you’re at? It doesn’t matter actually what age, because you’ve got all of this life and nowhere to go.

On top of that, artists that are doing work that you really admire is great, because you can always take their techniques, and then use them in your own work. I was told in college that it’s really good to steal from other people around you. Steal not in the sense of copy them exactly, but appropriate their techniques into your own work so that you can learn. Being a student that is of average ability is a really great place to start, it’s a very exciting place to start. You’ve got so much ahead of you, and with practice, there’s nothing you can’t do.