I used to teach art, most of my students were older folks that wanted to take oil painting lessons, i enjoyed it very much. one of my students was very proud of her paintings and she showed them to a friend of hers who was an "accomplished artist" (whatever the hell that is) her friend told her that not everyone can paint, you are either an artist or you arn't, but she should continue taking the class because she seemed to enjoy it so much. that student never returned to my class, and her painting ended up in the trash can . I think that everyone is teachable, I read a quote one time that read "the greater the artist, the greater the doubt, perfect confidence is given to the less talented as a consolation prize."
Many years ago, I entered a couple of my photos in the county fair. They didn't win any prizes but that's not what disappointed me. The thing that upset me was the photo that won. It was an out of focus, badly exposed, flash photo of a cat sitting on a living room rug which was obviously taken with a disposable "Instamatic" camera!
There were other photos that I thought were better than mine. The way I figured, I could have taken honorable mention. There were at least three that were better than mine but none of those won any ribbons either!
No black and white photos won any ribbons. No photos that were simply dry mounted won any ribbons. (Frames were not required by the rules.) There was no theme requirement for the exhibition which would disqualify a photo because of the subject and, on the tag you have to affix to the back of your entries, there is a box where the judges make a check mark if you are DQ. They also have to write a reason for DQ-ing an entry.
It's bad form to complain at a competition so I just took my stuff and went home. I mentioned it to my family and none of them even understood what I was saying. They all gave me platitudes and told me I was a sore loser. (The top prize was $10 and a blue ribbon. - Even if I took the award I thought I deserved it would have been a gold star.)
After that, I put my camera away and I probably shot a roll of film with it in the last 20 years. It's only recently that I have regained interest in shooting photos again. Even now, it is highly unlikely that I would ever hang a photo on the wall ever again.
I never thought I would be another Ansel Adams. It might be nice but, in truth, I don't think I want to be.
I never intended to make money or win lots of awards. That's not why I like photography. I like photography because I think it's fun.
I got hollered at my my first photography teacher in high school because I took a penlight and drew squiggly lines on an 11" X 14" piece of photo paper and developed it. He shouted at me for wasting paper. I promptly spouted, "Photographer means 'One who paints with light.'" He just grumbled, "Don't waste paper again." as he walked away. The point is that I just like the process of making photographs and I'm not in it for fame or fortune.
The surest way to discourage any artist is to invalidate his work. I don't mean negative criticism. I'd rather have 100 people tell me that my photos are crap than to have one person tell me they are good. I mean lack of recognition of a work of art... lack of criticism, positive or negative... lack of understanding of the creative process... not giving the artist his due in making art for the sake of making art.
goldenimage;
That woman who dropped out of your class because her "artist" friend put her work down probably felt the same as I did when I saw the blue ribbon awarded to a crummy photo at the fair. It is that kind of invalidation that KILLED my will to make photos. I would have rather had somebody drive a stake through my heart! She probably got a stake driven though her heart too!
When I show a photo to anybody I expect them to say things like, "Your focus isn't sharp." or, "You use too much contrast." I can even understand it when people say, "Why do you greenhorns always use too much contrast?!" After that, I would, probably say something like, "Okay! Show me how it's done!"
If that "artist" who put down your student had just said something like, "You need to learn how to use color." or "You need to make better brush strokes." I bet she would have stayed in your class.
I don't care what the craft or art form: Violin making, glass blowing, painting or photography or anything else." The surest way to kill off an artist and, eventually, to kill off art in general is to invalidate the art.