Destroy your paintings

We as Canadians have a rich artistic history, but it is surprisingly antique, and depressingly shallow. The group of seven were Canada's answer to the fat republican party of today, they were old white men, born rich, with enough time on their hands to paint landscapes. Emily Carr was born wealthy, her parents sent her to Paris, London and San Francisco to study art, which at the time was a journey all combined of more than 3 years travelling. Her parents were ridin dirty on dubs, they were sipin on gin and juice, so to speak.

And now we're fucked. We've spent so long idolizing and enshrining these 20~ish rotating members of the group of seven and that Victorian matriarch Emily Carr, and here's the result: 4 degree granting art schools in a country of 30 million. Iceland has more. Only the continent of Africa has less, with 1 single art school in South Africa. We're told we're a cultured people with diverse art, but imagine what we're missing! There's a migration process to art. You score your undergrad degree at a pretty good school, make art for a year, get your masters, try to succeed, if not, teach. Sometimes people skip to teaching because they enjoy it, but it's rare.

That's all well and good. When you live in Toronto, when you live so close to New York, it's a small migration to the capital city of art. Better yet, when you're on the west side you've got Los Angeles, an emerging city that saw its peak in 60's and after. You've got San Francisco, Colorado, all these great schools to chose from. Canadian art is the undergraduate section, it's where you start, and then peace out to good old NY.

Almost no one stays in Canada to make their fortune. Glass ceilings suck.