The Art field is one of those professions where a degree is not a guarantee of success or even talent for that matter. The problem with an education in fine art is the fact that in the end art isn't an intellectual pursuit. True, you have to have some smarts to learn methods and techniques and color and design.  But after all this you only have the tools. You still have to have the creativity, ambition, heart and dedication. More importantly, you need a voice.  Art is communication; it speaks to people. Artists are the conduit through which art speaks. You don’t hear these words often when discussing art.  If you have nothing to say, your art will be empty.

Most great art of the past has wonderful undertones and subtext.  Art has always been created to fill the soul and strengthen the heart. Art was created to make others see the world as it was or as it should be. To be an artist one has to be intelligent but the work must not rely on the intellectual to be good.  When art is intellectual, the point it makes is quickly assimilated then leaves little else to speak for it.  It's similar to sleight of hand, a trick.  After looking at it for a minute or two, one is left wondering what else is there. 

Art based on emotion is ever lasting; it continues to intrigue and appeal even to future generations.  Great art is universal and transcends time, place and ethnicity.

From what I see of emerging MFA's from art schools is they are learning the business of art.  Many don't learn the techniques and method to produce traditional art. They are fed that anything they create is art worthy just through their efforts alone. When the art they eventually produce doesn't communicate, they are left with nothing to fall back on to help them overcome the problems. They have little concrete skills and training in the basics of what it takes to make art. Schools have thrown out the rules in favor of spontaneity and inventiveness. 

Art has and will always be representative of our realities; of our world.  Good art reflects our surroundings as well as artists ideas about those surroundings. When an artist gets too abstract they narrow our view of the world to one point.  Traditional art opens art to all; we connect with it; we can see what the art is saying and in some cases commiserate, it relates to and touches something universal to all of us. "Ism's" will come and go and the face of art will change with each generation. But we must not lose touch with what has come before. We need to learn all we can from those who have laid the ground work. We can and should experiment with new ideas and forms, but art must have humanity; not to a small group of investors, but to the entire world. Art must be for everyone.