What does it mean to be an artist at a time when the art world is becoming increasingly fragmented and disconnected-when the most highly valued art objects are seemingly the most abstruse, visually vexing, and conceptually difficult, or may not be physical objects at all? How does the art of today connect with the art of the past? These questions and more inform and enliven the pages of Art Schooled.

In this fascinating chronicle Larry Witham takes readers inside the history, culture, economics, teaching, technique, and competition of one of the oldest and most prestigious art colleges in the country, the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. With rare, privileged access to the personal and professional lives of students, faculty, administrators, and visiting artists, he shows us how young artists develop their talent and vision, learn the ins and outs of the art world, and come to proudly define themselves as artists, even as theory and technology conspire to declare that art as we once knew it is utterly changed.