For a very long time, the National College of Arts (NCA) in Lahore (formerly the Mayo School of Industrial Arts) was the uncontested hub of art education in the country. For aspiring artists from all over Pakistan, it was something of a hospice or haven from where, after a period of creative incubation, they could embark on their journeys as practising artists. Some would say that the NCA still retains this special position for many. But the past few decades have seen a number of other institutes beginning to offer degrees in the fine arts, at campuses situated in different cities.

Some of these institutes such as the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (founded in 1989) in Karachi and the Beaconhouse National University (established in 2003) in Lahore, while relatively new, had departments for higher education in art and design to begin with. Some other institutions, for instance the Kinnaird College for Women University (founded in Lahore in 1913) and Lahore College for Women University (established in 1922), have only recently introduced accredited courses in visual arts that culminate in bachelors or masters degrees.

What has followed is a prominent increase in the number of students enrolled in art programmes in the country. Many who nurture artistic ambitions no longer have to stifle them because of, say, not being admitted to the National College of Arts, or not having the means or consent from home to study in Lahore. Young artists from Sindh, for example, now have the option of studying art in Jamshoro at the Centre of Excellence in Art and Design. And girls hailing from Rawalpindi can pursue a formal degree in art at the Fatima Jinnah Women University.

Is studying how to be an artist and being an artist one and the same thing?

So we seem to have come a long way — from a point in time when wanting to be a professional artist meant courting condemnation, to the present when plans for a career in art, though still not universally encouraged, are accepted with less resistance than before. There are more art students, degree shows have become something of a cultural phenomenon and a healthy competitiveness can be sensed between the art schools of the country — all of which mark a changing attitude towards art as a vocation.

Yet the number of artists practising in the country falls far short of the number of art degrees that are granted every year. And one of the chief reasons for this is that although the local market for art has expanded in recent years, it has not expanded enough to accommodate the growing output of formally trained artists. Galleries are few and limited to three cities. Grants for artists and residencies are fewer. The vast majority of graduating students who fail to secure opportunities to exhibit right after graduating eventually give up and begin to seek their careers elsewhere.

The number of artists practising in the country falls far short of the number of art degrees that are granted every year.

Additionally, being a practising artist is no longer just about making a beautiful painting. Artists are required to research, explain and market their works according to the demands of an art world that is now as much about the written word accompanying a work of art as it is about the work itself. This proves to be a deal-breaker for many, who are not as verbally articulate as they are pictorially expressive.

In these circumstances, a purely studio-based artistic practice becomes difficult to sustain. Some are, therefore, drawn into alternate creative professions that promise financial stability. Design houses and corporate labels swoop in at degree shows and take on graduating artists with more lucrative offers. And many students simply do not bring to their pursuit of an art degree the passion and persistence that is necessary for a career in the fine art swhich will most likely always be fraught with some risk.

Most contemporary Pakistani artists have degrees in art and many of them, such as Quddus Mirza, R.M. Naeem, Imran Qureshi, Adeela Suleman and Saba Khan (to name a few), teach or have taught art at their alma maters. But a group of self-taught, practising artists also exists, which includes Ayesha Quraishi, Masood A. Khan, Tassaduq Sohail and Moeen Faruqi. These are artists whose visual expressions have developed over a period of time, away from the pressures of being affiliated with an art school, and outside the sphere of influences that unite — to some extent — every community that is formed in or around an art school.

Their works show abiding love for particular subjects and confidence in certain media and techniques that is perhaps the result of not having had to cave in to academic, institutional or popular demands. So while it is important for budding artists to study art, do exercises that challenge their way of looking at the world, and learn to express themselves in a variety of ways, it is also refreshing to know that there are still some whose artistic impulses are strong enough to force them to make art, with or without an education in it.

Published in Dawn, EOS, April 9th, 2017