Dillon Raborn discussed the process of pursuing a major and a career in art at the annual alumni lecture. Brianna Hawkins/The Lion's Roar

Art historian and alumnus Dillon Raborn delivered the annual alumni lecture to a group of students as part of the university’s Homecoming Week festivities.

The event was held on Oct. 4 at 12 p.m. at the Contemporary Art Gallery here on campus. During the lecture, Raborn gave advice to students on how to succeed in the art major and a career in art.

“The lecture series for the alumni series is actually a lecture series that is for the alumni to come back and spread some kind of advice to current students,” said Raborn. “So, I knew I had to do that. But, I knew that it couldn’t be just straight up advice because if I wanted to do that, I would just send an email to everybody. So, there has to be some kind of human make, has to be some kind of story to go along with it. So, the dumb little stories about people I met and things like that, helps to solidify the lessons I think. It makes them more relevant.”

Raborn was chosen to speak at the lecture by Gallery Director and Professor of Sculpture Dale Newkirk and Associate Professor of Art History Irene Nero.

“He’s always been the perfect student,” said Nero. “He’s just head and shoulders pretty much above everybody. That’s why I thought of him first, but the other reason I thought of him first is that we’ve stayed in contact the entire time he was in grad school. And so I know the projects that he works on, what he does, you know, all of that sort of thing. I knew he would do a good job talking to the students.”

One point that Raborn made in his lecture was the importance of getting a master’s degree if students plan on having a career in art.

“Anybody that goes in the humanities field and especially the art field, who thinks that they’re only going to get a bachelor’s and then become an artist is kidding themselves,” said Raborn. “You need to go into higher education if you’re going to pursue anything with this degree.”

Nero thinks that Raborn reminded students in his lecture of how serious they need to be now when thinking about a career in art.

“I think he told them that they need to be serious now,” said Nero. “I think he reinforced what the teachers are always telling them, that once you graduate from here, the world is not at your feet. You got to get out there and work for it.”

Nero thinks that the importance of the art alumni lecture is for students to see that one of their own has become successful and the same can happen for the students.

Raborn says that when he came to the university, he had no plan in what he wanted to pursue.

“I just naturally fell into art history,” said Raborn. “It’s a nice fit, and I figured out I really liked it.”

When it comes to the advice Raborn would give students who want to become an artist, he says that students have to want this.

“It’s doable, but it’s not easy,” said Raborn. “It’s really important. People skip out on this because it’s so basic, but it really is critical that you need to collect your experience and collect your work in a portfolio and you need to have an résumé. That stuff is critical. People overlook it because it seems like a no-brainer, but because it’s a no-brainer, it ends up being overlooked by everybody a lot of times.”

Raborn will also have a piece come out in Country Roads magazine that will feature artist Jill Stoll along with two other presses in the article, which is the Blackbird Letterpress in Baton Rouge and the Gutwrench Press in New Orleans.

“I like her work a lot, and so I’m glad that I’m able to finally write something about her,” said Raborn.