Art as a profession

Professions such a law enforcement, medicine, education, counseling, the military and the law all see themselves as forms of public service and have codes of conduct their practitioners are expected to follow. The training to be certified in these professions requires discipline that underlies practice.

Is visual art a profession? We often say so. What is its code of conduct? Does art provide a public service? This would be an interesting topic for conversation.  Does it require discipline—in making and thinking—to prepare for professional practice?

These are meaningful questions to me, because I see a decline in the emphasis on discipline in the training of young artists.  I see art as more and more a self practice than a public practice. I see the circle of reference as too closely held to the self.

A consequence is that the general public has little understanding of what artists do and why what they do is important. Art is distant from their lives, and the artist becomes a stereotype.