On Arts Education

About the importance of art education, I agree that an MFA is important mainly because it is a convenient shortcut for curators/collectors for deciding on which artists are "important." I can't think of many famous artists, prior to the sixties that felt it necessary to receive an MFA except as a way to make ends meet by obtaining a teaching job.

An artist should have at least acquired a bachelors degree in art in order to begin acquiring technical skill in one's chosen medium. Also vitally important is a thorough grounding in art history along with contemporary artistic theory.

Most masters programs simply produce robot artists that ape the opinions of the professors they studied under. Art education is an ongoing process. Education should never stop after the receipt of a degree. It is something that must continue throughout one's life.