Identifying Hardships

Faced by Young Artists

By Jocelyn Rieker
What I want to know

What are the main causes of

young artists abandoning their
dreams?

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What want to know?

1) What do other artists think about this

question?
2) Why do many artists stop pursuing art?
3) How can more people happily pursue an
artistic career?
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Personal Connection

As an artist myself…

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 I hypothesized that for
many artists, their
Hypothesis biggest struggles
originate from a lack
of familial support.

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Thesis Statement

Parents and families can support their

young artist's career choices by providing
judgment-free support and guidance.

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Research Process (1)

To begin my research I created a survey asking a variety of

questions, including but not limited to;
● have you experienced opposition while pursuing art?
● if you have experienced opposition, who has it been by?
● did these comments dissuade you from pursuing this
career?

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Research Process (2)

After collecting this research, I wanted to learn more

about why families are more statistically likely to be the
source of negative comments in a young artists’ life.

To learn more, I looked for psychology based

information.
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Research Process (2)

In an article titled “A Dream Deferred: Are

You Living Vicariously Through Your Child?”,
author Zawn Villines states that many
parents pressure their children to pursue
careers that they have no interest in, out of
concern for their child’s success in the
future (1).
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Research Process (3)

By the time I got to the third section of my

research plan, I had already identified the main
issue, I just needed to identify a proper solution.
How can parents support their child’s success in a
healthy way?

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 Research Process (3)

In an article titled “Supporting your child’s career development”,

author Cathy Hughes mentions four ways to support young
children as they discover their desired career path.
● self awareness
● opportunity awareness
● decision making
● transition support (1)

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 Research Process (3)

By providing children with practical support and

acting as an assistant rather than a manager in
their life can greatly improve their career and boost
their confidence in future endeavors (Hughes 1).

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Thesis Statement Revisited

Parents and families can support their

young artist's career choices by providing
judgment free support and guidance.

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Analysis

Major takeaways:
● in order to be successful, a young artist must have
access to judgement-free support
● negative comments from trusted individuals have more
impact than comments from a stranger

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Analysis

What I would have done differently :

● send out survey sooner to gather more
participants
● interviewed a successful artist one-on-one
to get a better understanding of the
professional art world
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Analysis

What have I done to make a change?

While it is rather small scale, I took inspiration from many
of the responses I received from the survey I conducted,
and transformed their stories into an art piece.

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What I’ve gained? How will I use these skills?
● developed stronger ● in the academy research
research skills course next year
● got better acquainted ● when writing reports
with using MLA for my AP classes
citations ● apply my citation skills
● Increased comfort with to college classes in the
professional phrasing future

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Conclusion

Bigger plans for the future?

Even though I intend on pursuing an architecture
related internship for senior year, I am not opposed to
looking more into graphic design.

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Works Cited
Works Cited

Hughes, Cathy. "Supporting Your Child's Career Development." MyFuture, 8 June 2021,

myfuture.edu.au/career-articles/details/supporting-your-child-s-career-development. Accessed 7 June 2022.

Rieker, Jocelyn. "I-Search Young Artist Survey." Survey. 25 May 2022.

Villines, Zawn. "A Dream Deferred: Are You Living Vicariously Through Your Child?" Good Therapy, 6 Mar. 2019,

www.goodtherapy.org/blog/dream-deferred-are-you-living-vicariously-through-your-child-0306197. Accessed 7 June

2022.

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