I was expecting this to be another sort of hackernews anti-school rant but it ended up being pretty useful and listed some good alternatives. Having just finished art school myself I do see the value in learning from and being around those who see the world in that way and I don't think most people can cut corners on becoming a "trained" artist.
Have gone through the Army, public school, private grad schools, online self-learning, so it's been an expensive look (thank you GI Bill, to some degree) at the state of US education.
Yes, the OA's suggestions under the $10K Art Education heading were interesting. I especially liked the 'create accountability' section urging people to join a community to give and receive feedback on work.
I am wondering if there is an opportunity for a local institution here to facilitate face to face networking for local artists? Perhaps mediated via a Web site?
I also wrote a long post on the value of formal education vs. other methods that maybe some people will find useful who are trying to find their way: http://blog.benturner.com/2013/06/08/graduation-from-formal-...
Have gone through the Army, public school, private grad schools, online self-learning, so it's been an expensive look (thank you GI Bill, to some degree) at the state of US education.