I Went to Art School to Inspire My High-Tech Career
I entered art school after twenty years working as an engineer in the high technology business. Looks like an uncommon choice of self-development, but turned out to be one of the best career decisions I’ve ever taken.
My main goal was to exchange ideas with different people. I could apply for an MBA or for a doctorate. I also considered enrolling in free courses on business or project management. However, none of these choices seemed a good fit for my mood and mindset at that time.
Someday, reading the morning news, I noticed a call for applications from a local public university. Fine Arts was among the course options. As I have always been an amateur painter, I applied, and they selected me for the class of 2014.
At the beginning, I didn’t know what to expect. I can say it has been an awesome experience of personal and professional growth for the factors below.
- People and Diversity
What makes this whole adventure so interesting is the people. The profile of the average student of-the-art school at the night shift is older than in regular colleges. It is not common to find someone who has just gotten out of secondary school. Most of my colleagues already have other undergraduate degree. Other significant portions of the pupils are old ladies who invested in their passion for the arts after having a stable life and grown-up kids.
One thing that called my attention in art school was the strong skill level of the freshmen. In engineering, I needed to gain a basic set of knowledge to move forward. It was necessary to master disciplines such as Calculus and linear algebra. In art school, it seems everybody already come with some earlier experience. This allows them to produce great quality work immediately.
Studying art allowed me to meet people of a much different profile than in my professional environment. Their unique approach of thinking exposed me to other visions on creativity. I improved my problem-solving toolbox with new skills.
2. A new approach to creativity and innovation
The classes emphasize less the technique of each craft. We should seek this knowledge by ourselves. On the other side, professors stimulate deconstruction and rebellion, since the goal is to find our authorial voice as artists.
Theory of the colors, creativity and human figure drawing were exciting subjects. The practice at the painting ateliers helped me to reflect on my work and improve my skills. Throughout this track, I had insightful learnings that went far beyond the syllabus of each class.
3. Values and Philosophy
At first, I learned to respect art as a serious craft. I realized that societies always seek to protect their artistic patrimony when facing a major crisis. In the same fashion, it is part of a conqueror’s handbook to violate or to destroy the artistic heritage of the vanquished.
Now, I see art as the pure exercise of human ingenuity. It requires technical skills, cultural background and effort for a result with no clear practical application. It synthesizes what distinguishes us as rational beings. Our mind should value this in a conscious or unconscious form.
The business world values evidence-based decisions. They criticize subjective reasoning for lack of scientific foundation. But instinct and intuition are cognitive reactions. They come from experiences and stimuli not concretely assimilated, but still logic and valuable.
This journey has been impressive, insightful and has been helping me to be more creative and tolerant.
