By Allie Thomas
A little while ago, my parents took me to visit the Dallas Museum of Art. Although the entry fee was free, the entire structure was packed with rich history and famous pieces. I genuinely was not expecting to run into an original Basquiat (cool) and a Picasso (less cool) in person for the first time. My parents and I walked around for hours just admiring everything we could and talking to the overwhelmingly knowledgeable staff. After our feet started to hurt, I couldn’t help but wonder, if art is one of the only human creations that is guaranteed to bring us together as much as it is to outlast us all, then why do we treat artists so poorly?
Many of the wonderful works I saw on display were from creators who died penniless and unappreciated, and it wasn’t until some random person rediscovered their work fifty years later that they became a household name. Of course, I had thought about this before while sitting in my art history courses, but the experience is different when staring face-to-face with the work that cost them everything.
In the art building at school, I’ve admired dancers practicing in the hallway, heard singers’ heartfelt ballads in the stairwell, drawn alongside effortlessly talented artists, and watched actors pour their hearts and souls onto stage night after night. The whole scene is very Hollywood Arts to be honest. The sheer level of dedication and passion that they put into everything they do is inspiring. There is nothing like being surrounded by people following their dreams.
And to top it all off, they are Brave. They are so Brave for doing the thing that gives them purpose in life, and that is scary. They should not be risking their futures by doing something they love. Oh, everyone adores art. Art is everywhere and in everything. A wooden coffee table is as much art as the book sitting on top of it. But the artist, oh no. What are they thinking? Why are they throwing their lives away? When are they going to get a real job? Artists are looked down upon until they miraculously “make it.” Then, and only then, are they geniuses of their craft.
The reality is that there are plenty of artists who may not be well known who make incredible work! If we treated artists half as well as we treat art, then pursuing a degree in some of the oldest traditions in the world would not be looked down upon. It is genuinely a shame that some people have to choose between doing the thing that brings them the most joy in this world or doing something that will allow them to afford groceries.
And it’s only getting more out of control as we allow AI to integrate into our creative spaces. Art made by human hands supports the entirety of human history. Art made by AI is a cheap excuse for accessibility. If I have to sit through one more lecture on the dangers of AI in creative jobs, I might genuinely crash out. I cannot believe that I have been told multiple times by multiple different instructors that I should be “better than the AI.” What does that even mean? How would that even be possible? And we are seeing the effects in real time as more and more creatives are laid off and replaced by easier, cheaper AI models. Artificial Intelligence has the power to be a great tool to help advance society, but instead, we are using it to make an already difficult job have even fewer opportunities. More people need to care about what happens to our artists. More
people besides those who make art themselves. It’s all fun and games until they stop making your favorite show with no actors, or you can’t play your favorite video game with no concept designers, or even worse, all your books have the same garbage cover and trash writing. No feeling means no life, which means this isn’t fun anymore.
So, remember to support your local artists! The theater, dance, and music departments put on several shows a year. The art galleries on campus are free to access, and you can visit during the day between your classes. There are even ceramic and pottery sales that happen throughout the year. There is so much talent walking in the halls of this school every single day. Don’t be one of the people discovering what was right in front of you in 50 years!