What it’s like to be an art major at NDSU

At a school like North Dakota State, which largely targets itself at agricultural and STEM fields, art students may not be noticed as much as other majors. But we are definitely here and working just as hard as the rest of you.

Art students are typically artists for one reason only: their brains’ strength comes from its ability to understand the mechanics and creativity of the art world. For most of us, we are not particularly confident in the STEM field. However, as much as we struggle to problem solve numbers on paper, we are great at problem-solving with art in our brains.

One thing I can say for sure: artists and engineers are very similar. There is a lot of strategic planning that goes into both engineering and art. Both disciplines require you to analyze a subject matter in your head before physically laying it out.

Being an art student at NDSU means you are not appreciated unless you are really able to put yourself out there. However, it’s the rare students who can find the time with three studio classes a semester and projects due every other day. This level of intensity is something not many other people could do, but art students can.

We put as much effort in as the professional artists that are seen all over the internet, but those projects are done over a much longer time-span, not the two days we’re allowed. People may say that it is an easy major if you have talent, but in reality, all art majors, regardless of talent, must be very hard-working and motivated. Staying on your feet and putting in constant effort is required in order to get everything done.

There is a reason art students have 24-hour access to the Renaissance building, as well as Fridays off. The hours spent working hard to be accomplished and successful just wouldn’t fit into a five-day week. It is not always about how good our projects are either, it is a matter of if you are constantly learning and taking away from class. The next project could be beautiful, but if it is not masterful in the sense of our lessons we haven’t done our project correctly.

The worst thing to hear is when people say being an art student is pointless and you will never make money doing it. However, we art students know that if you are passionate about it and extremely hard-working, you will find those high-paying jobs out there, just like any other major. Even if others don’t always recognize the hard work of art students, someday, employers will.