first, id like to say congrats to aaron at pd.org on his use of the word "eschewing". very nice. I'd also like to congrat him on his hovering I.Q. Many appreciative notions and nods in your direction. i raise my coffee mug to you! cheers! I understand christopher's dilemma and desire to throw this one in the air. so, with that said, i will take the defense of the "self taught" just for the hell of it.
(labor over it? what the heck?)

My momma raised me on the outer banks of the mississippi in the depression. we had a granny apple tree that was so barren, that even the buzzards were scaired of it. she'd boil them twisted black branches down to make soup, tea,au jus and pigments for us. life was simple.you see, daddy had fallen into "the machine" at work some years back. after that,I had beecom real close with the family pig, Bubbers, and we'd run through the mud patches, chasin frogs anna hollerin all day long.
one day i tripped an fell. it was my granny apple tree. it had done gone an died. upon trapping my foot betwixt a branch and a rather large chunk of plagioclase feldspar, it acted as a fulcrum,not unlike the reverse of the old rake in the face trick one sees in the cartoons.I had a vision that day. from between my blood smeared eyes, i saw a bunch oh wires. stringy electric wires just a swingin around the world. shooting blue beams blue streaks everywhere.i looked at Bubbers, she was talkin. she said to me:
"eggtooth, take up thy knife made of stone and carve from my side a canvas. with this you shall design "the internet". you will sell it to them aeroplane folks up in the pentagon. you will eschew your previous ways"
I wish i hadda done that. but i dih unt listen. i was ohb sessed witht my "self taught" categorization. I decided to use bubbers as a living canvas instead. i love Bubbers. in many ways he an i are lak one. Bubbers makes my bed. bubbers operates my morter and pest ole with his sqwiggly tail an his teefusis. Some credit me with having invented the color known in georgia as "georgia red clay" color. I like color. I especially like green. the color.
Voices still speak to me. even affer momma died, This maan inna suit told me she should be drug off andburied somewhars, but i like her in her chair there. she looks cumfortable.this man inna suit gives me food an things. he gave me this computer im sittin at. he told me i was a famous artist. i dont believe him.

so you see folks. this is a perfect example of self taught. what brilliance, what sublime acts, channeled through god. so powerful, it pushed the teeth out of his face. so poweful, it gifted him with a work ethic, many consider him very erudite, and many take many a knee to his (many) paedagogical ways. he quotes religious tomes in reverse. he knows not of your ways, ..in fact he started a school called, How to be A Self Taught" this institiution does not have walls as part of its prerequisite, a common site around campus are woody guthrie types, vegetarians, failed communal blokes, ex rave partiers, and strangely enough, little old ladies. they are prolific and self taught.

self taught is silly. in no other profession( i said profession..but its a "quote" so forgive) is one more responsible for their own development than in the arts. the very act of using that phrase"self taught" seems to be part of the game. it is an attempt to establish an approach.yr approach to them but, ya never know, as a self taught, they may not know that it is a thing to say" I am self taught", and in so doing, show how totally ignorant they are, which will make you suddenly say, "wow! this isnt a piece of stinkies! this is amazing work" look at poor ignunt Bubbers. Meandering around town with scripture on his hind legs.
..."and he's self taught, too!"
really?
oh my...how much is it?
so yeah...dig it. go be somebody's benefactor "discover" somebody..YOU call them self taught. i personally have grown to prefer the phrase, "without formal training" but in the end...who cares? unless yr concerned i didnt use the fat over lean technique properly and the dang things gonna fall apart or premature alligator action will occur. haziness. boy, will yr friends laugh at yr ignorant butt. shoulda gone to school and studied art before looking at it.
so whose side am i on? i guess im on everybody's side, since we're all one big happy family here,right? one big community! distributing our knowledge fairly and evenly.yeah, that's it! aint life great! i love you all! and i feel yr love.

eggtooth