I didn't know what NSCAD was prior to my google search of ‘art schools in Nova Scotia.’ When I say I didn't know what it was, I mean I didn't know it existed, and I didn't know what it WAS. I didn’t know about its conceptual art history. I didn’t know what lithography was. I didn’t know who had taught or exhibited there. I didn't know who John Baldessari was. I didn’t know which Canadian art schools were considered important because I didn’t know there WERE such things as important Canadian art schools.
All I knew was that I needed to do something, and I needed to go away somewhere. But I couldn’t just bring myself to leave without reason. I’m a reasonable guy.
I had just moved back to Cape Breton, my place of birth, after reconnecting with my estranged father on July 15th 2020. I did nothing all day, and I could no longer continue.
So what is there for a 20-year-old with no licence, living far outside of town to do?
Get a job? Fuck no.
Not that I’m opposed to working. I just couldn’t see any entry-level retail or service job opening my life up any wider. I wanted something more than going to work and going home again. I already did that. And I was well aware that my newly upper-middle-class life could afford me the luxury of dawdling around like a parasite. And I intended to get my money's worth.
Apply to school?
What school?
I graduated high school by the skin of my teeth. I even cheated to do so. I'm an idiot in science and maths. I don’t know what 4x6 is. English? At the time, I was lucky I could read at all. Looking at my high school transcript, no school would have me.
I don’t believe I was incapable of learning. It was a matter of finding something I WANTED to do.
Unfortunately I wanted to draw.
I wish I could have wanted to do something that had a stable career path. Imagine waking up in the morning and thinking, “God! I would love to argue as a proxy for two people's divorce in a court of law right now. That would really get me going on this fine day!”
I Googled ‘art schools in Nova Scotia’, and NSCAD came up as the first result. I didn’t try to find out if it was a good school, whether it was an accredited university, or even what KIND of art they specialized in. (I didn’t actually know what “accredited” meant, but I probably should have checked that.) I assumed an art school would just teach you how to draw or paint, like going to trade school for welding. Here’s how to use a pencil. Here’s how oil paint works. And so on.
I only looked at their website to see what the admission requirements were.