Self taught?!

[PyroChixRock]

What does being "self taught" in glass mean to you?

I see a lot of people saying they are "self taught" when really, they had someone show them stuff, they watched tons of youtube videos, they chat with someone online who helps them figure things out, they read TMP and find everything they wanted to know at their fingertips. Classes, demos, seminars, etc, there is SO much information available now.


To me, this does not mean you are "self taught". This means you accessed information available to you, and learned from it, went to your shop and tried it, likely watched it again to see what you missed, and learned again. Someone took the time to place this information in a location that you can readily access, such as the message board you are reading right now.

When I started in 1995, self taught had a whole different meaning. There was no youtube, no TMP, there were a few books, and you were damn lucky if anyone opened their shop to you and showed you anything at all, let alone let you watch them work. We called this the "glass curtain" and noobs these days don't have to look for ways around it, like I did. I was actually mostly "self taught" for many years, except I had someone working next to me who often figured shit out and showed me, and vise versa. I haven't had the luxury of attending classes by other artists, even though I have taught many classes over the years. However I have had the privilege to work alongside many fantastic artists in the last 20 years, and I learned something from every one of them, and shared in return.

Someone very wise once told me; We are all students, and we are all teachers.

[dustyg]

I always figured "self taught" meant using the teaching materials available to you. There have been books for a long time. There were books and forums when I started, but the game has changed so much, and I think it's largely because of the communication that's going on through print and, especially, electronic mediums. I still never really used the term "self taught," though, because I thought somebody might get the wrong idea.

When I developed techs and hashed out new ideas through the medium, even if I wasn't the first to do it (just the first I knew of), that wasn't "self teaching" - it was "pioneering," "invention," "engineering," "art," or something like that.

[PyroChixRock]

Hey Dusty, do you consider youtube videos, and all the tutorials and such floating around now days, teaching materials someone can access and still consider themselves to be "self taught"?

Is it only when someone is physically in the same room showing you something that you are then, taught by someone else?

[dustyg]

Hey Dusty, do you consider youtube videos, and all the tutorials and such floating around now days, teaching materials someone can access and still consider themselves to be "self taught"?

Is it only when someone is physically in the same room showing you something that you are then, taught by someone else?

There are glassblowing books that are centuries old. If you're actually and entirely "self taught" in this century, that's at least partially your fault, and it's not really anything to be proud of (e.g. it's a damn mistake). Everybody has had some sort of education, even if by the people that were selling them equipment - "you've got to have one of these to anneal your glass."

I've always just assumed people were using the term incorrectly, like when people say "Kleenex" they're really just talking about a facial tissue. Like I said, I'm afraid somebody would get the wrong idea if I said "self taught," so I'm not really comfortable using the term to describe myself. I still ask for a "Kleenex" when I want a facial tissue, though, so I don't really look down on people that say "self taught."

[FifDeez]

Agreed misha , i claim to be self taught with a small disclaimer. I watched an artist blow glass for 20-30 hours before I decided to pay him for a 3 month lesson, unfortunately he killed himself before I ever got a lesson. So I took the knowledge I had from watching him blow glass and I started by myself from there. A few years later a few of us artists met at Salt Peter Cave concerts here in murphysboro and we moved into same shop to blow glass together and grow together for about two years. We all moved on to our own shops, but I still talk to these guys and love working with them from time to time. So I'm self taught for most part but I admitted to where I got my start and how I grew, and it wasn't solely done by myself as you see. So I wish others using this term were honest when asked as well. Being humble or honest will help a long way with relations to artists you may one day need advice from.

[PyroChixRock]

There are glassblowing books that are centuries old. If you're actually and entirely "self taught" in this century, that's at least partially your fault, and it's not really anything to be proud of (e.g. it's a damn mistake). Everybody has had some sort of education, even if by the people that were selling them equipment - "you've got to have one of these to anneal your glass."

I've always just assumed people were using the term incorrectly, like when people say "Kleenex" they're really just talking about a facial tissue. Like I said, I'm afraid somebody would get the wrong idea if I said "self taught," so I'm not really comfortable using the term to describe myself. I still ask for a "Kleenex" when I want a facial tissue, though, so I don't really look down on people that say "self taught."

^^ agreed. It probably is a case of the term being misused, as well as misunderstood.

[Joe Userton]

I'd argue that it's a term with a range of meanings depending on who you ask.

If you can remember sitting down with a teacher to learn a new skill, you know that there is a huge difference to reading or watching a video and trying something on your own, compared to having real time feedback and instruction while you are trying to perform the task. There is a massive advantage to just having someone who can say "Stop, try this instead" when you start down a wrong path.

Self taught, to me, means you have learned the skill the hard way, without any sort of active feedback of this nature. Beyond that, before their were you tube videos, there were books. I'd agree that the materials available to someone who wants to learn on their own are vastly better now than before, but that's true of pretty much any skill these days.

[OceanMelt]

Self taught usually means learning from no external sources. That's kinda a hard thing these days with the internet and total exposure to anything...everything.

I agree that the term is often misused by implying only person-person instruction.

[FifDeez]

Exactly my point dusty and misha, if u claim to be self taught, don't leave it at that. Give some background to describe your idea of self taught so others can make their own judgements or assumptions to the term you are applying to urself so you don't come off as a big ego. And dusty is right self taught isn't something to be proud of as it is to be overcome, because really its not the best way to go about learning this medium in a timely or successful fashion. Not to mention all the wasted materials and time because of trials and errors that a mentor could a helped you minimize.

[istandalone24/7]

i wouldn't call myself "self taught", but i've also never taken any classes.
i did however pound youtube for every vid possible, ordered tutorials that taught the techniques i wanted to learn and went from there. i could make a decent flower compression before being able to make a simple clear spoon.

had i just used clear and fume those first two years, i'd be a LOT better off now, but it is what it is.

HUGE thanks go out to BoRo and Ka9ak (not sure if i spelled that properly) both for showing me some technique and practices to get into the habbit of.

[Emmett's Glass]

Come on get them whippersnappers Misha!
E

[istandalone24/7]

a damn dominatrix she is.

[Jackass Glass]

the real question should be..... who cares?

if people are doing something just so they can say you did it one way or another... i'm a little sad for you. Do it because you want to. or at a minimum because you have to. It doesnt matter at all how someone got somewhere. as long as they had fun getting and being there.

[unfunraygun]

Self taught just means that you never had an old Italian telling you what an idiot you are for three + years straight as you sweep floors, and do the dishes.

[MUPH]

Another way of looking at it is what does it mean to be taught? Apprenticeship? Lessons? Classes? Either way, I don't think "self taught" really exists anymore. I never understood how it was something to be proud of or brag about. I certainly don't think more of a person who says they're self taught

[Bo Diddles]

I usually just say "I've had no formal training, but there's a lot of information on the Internet that has pointed me in the right direction." Pretty much my standard line.

[Nuka Glass]

I usually just say "I've had no formal training, but there's a lot of information on the Internet that has pointed me in the right direction." Pretty much my standard line.

This is exactly why I would use the term "self taught". But I am glad you started this thread Misha because now I can see how that term can be seen completely differently from someone else's point of view. I understand now why you might be taken back by it. So from now on I will use it lightly because Misha does have a point. If you are using the internet or even a book to learn, technically someone has taken their time to present the learning material to you. So they are indirectly teaching you how to do something. I can see how using the term and saying you only had help from books and the internet can come off as kind of disrepectful. Formal or not, it is still someone teaching you.

[Foxy999]

From google...

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=define+self+taught

"having acquired knowledge or skill on one's own initiative rather than through formal instruction or training."

Format training would mean schooling, not youtube videos.

[snoopdog6502]

From google...

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=define+self+taught

"having acquired knowledge or skill on one's own initiative rather than through formal instruction or training."

Format training would mean schooling, not youtube videos.

Yep just because Iv watched Dustin Revere on youtube does not give me the right to say " I learned from Dusting Revere" or "Im a student of Dustin Revere"

The implication that you have to learn while living in a perceived isolation to be self taught is ridiculous.

[OceanMelt]

Yep just because Iv watched Dustin Revere on youtube does not give me the right to say " I learned from Dusting Revere" or "Im a student of Dustin Revere"

Interesting perspective. But why exactly cant we say we learned from Dustin? Using myself as an example....I only know how to assemble a sherlock bubbler through his video. No one else has shown me and I certainly didnt figure out the steps by myself. So what would I say in that situation?

Edit: I agree that saying I'm a "student" of his would be a stretch and/or inappropriate