Are Art Certifications a Scam? + Why Art Competitions Are a Waste of Time | Art Crush

But let's move on to what we're gonna talk about today, and today we are going to talk about rubber stamping.

And this is not crafting, this is not art, this is do you need to or should you even pay for certifications to be an artist, pay for awards, any of that stuff.

And I remember years ago, I was telling Fi last week off recording, that I came across a website that for 80 euros would certify artists to be international artists.

You could pay for the certification.

Now, I dug into the domain and the website history and everything, it was run by somebody Polish and whatever, which is irrelevant, but it was just like random person, bought a domain, built a website, and was taking 80 euros for certifications, and you would get a certificate and a thing you would stick on your website, certified international artist and all of that.

And it just made me think, if I was unethical, I could make a buttload of money.

It's such a good job that you are ethical, Paula, that is all I'm saying.

[laughs] Uh, do you know what? It's another one that breaks my heart.

We've covered quite a lot about paying to show your work, which now under the guise of what we're talking about today seems like a generous offer because here we are talking about artists paying for nothing, paying for fresh air.

I think there's so many strands to this, the one of belonging to societies.

Now, I know, uh, in the UK, and I'm sure it's the same in Canada, there are so many societies that people believe it's very prestigious to have, they almost like have it like a degree certification, member of blah acrylic painters, or the oil painters of Great Britain, or women artists.

And I have to say, I looked into the ones, particularly the ones of women artists, and when I saw the cost, I was like, what are you going to get for that? That is prohib- hibitive.

And only if you paid the premium amount would it allow you to show your work in their annual show.

So if you have access to a gallery for a few weeks a year, you can even build up tiers and say, "If you do this, you can be part of our annual meeting." That's the first level.

And I just don't understand because where is the certification or the qualification of the people who are running this to make those judgment calls? I don't know.

Yeah.

It's very random.

Like, they've just decided that how they're sorting people is correct, when you could have any kind of sorting or any kind of division or whatever.

I find all of this really challenging.

Even if you look at, at institution, so you look at getting a BFA or an MFA, so you're getting your degree in fine arts, these are still based on somebody's decision as to what makes an artist or what makes somebody qualified to be an artist.

Aside from learning the actual skills and not poisoning yourself in the process, what is the point?

We've talked about as well in the past that even if you decide that's what you want to train to do, it can destroy people.

It can put people off.

We hear so many sob stories of people still being told today in art school, "You cannot make a career of being a fine artist." That is why we are trying to change that and tell artists, "Yes, you can have a career as a fine artist.

Yes, but you have to learn these skills as well as having the skills of being able to paint or creating clay or whatever.

But let's move on to what we're gonna talk about today, and today we are going to talk about rubber stamping.

And this is not crafting, this is not art, this is do you need to or should you even pay for certifications to be an artist, pay for awards, any of that stuff.

And I remember years ago, I was telling Fi last week off recording, that I came across a website that for 80 euros would certify artists to be international artists.

You could pay for the certification.

Now, I dug into the domain and the website history and everything, it was run by somebody Polish and whatever, which is irrelevant, but it was just like random person, bought a domain, built a website, and was taking 80 euros for certifications, and you would get a certificate and a thing you would stick on your website, certified international artist and all of that.

And it just made me think, if I was unethical, I could make a buttload of money.

It's such a good job that you are ethical, Paula, that is all I'm saying.

[laughs] Uh, do you know what? It's another one that breaks my heart.

We've covered quite a lot about paying to show your work, which now under the guise of what we're talking about today seems like a generous offer because here we are talking about artists paying for nothing, paying for fresh air.

I think there's so many strands to this, the one of belonging to societies.

Now, I know, uh, in the UK, and I'm sure it's the same in Canada, there are so many societies that people believe it's very prestigious to have, they almost like have it like a degree certification, member of blah acrylic painters, or the oil painters of Great Britain, or women artists.

And I have to say, I looked into the ones, particularly the ones of women artists, and when I saw the cost, I was like, what are you going to get for that? That is prohib- hibitive.

And only if you paid the premium amount would it allow you to show your work in their annual show.

So if you have access to a gallery for a few weeks a year, you can even build up tiers and say, "If you do this, you can be part of our annual meeting." That's the first level.

And I just don't understand because where is the certification or the qualification of the people who are running this to make those judgment calls? I don't know.

Yeah.

It's very random.

Like, they've just decided that how they're sorting people is correct, when you could have any kind of sorting or any kind of division or whatever.

I find all of this really challenging.

Even if you look at, at institution, so you look at getting a BFA or an MFA, so you're getting your degree in fine arts, these are still based on somebody's decision as to what makes an artist or what makes somebody qualified to be an artist.

Aside from learning the actual skills and not poisoning yourself in the process, what is the point?

We've talked about as well in the past that even if you decide that's what you want to train to do, it can destroy people.

It can put people off.

We hear so many sob stories of people still being told today in art school, "You cannot make a career of being a fine artist." That is why we are trying to change that and tell artists, "Yes, you can have a career as a fine artist.

Yes, but you have to learn these skills as well as having the skills of being able to paint or creating clay or whatever.