In an interview in Bomb magazine a few years back, Lonnie Holley was asked:
How do you feel about the term “self-taught?” The phrase has been used to describe artists like yourself who never went to art school or received formal training. I’ve always found the term misleading, as it suggests that one is making work in isolation or without influence, which usually isn’t the case, or that teaching happens only in a classroom. I’m curious if you identify this way, or if you see yourself as part of a particular lineage of artistic or spiritual thought?
Holley answered:
“People use terms like ‘outsider,’ or ‘self-taught,’ or ‘visionary’ to describe my visual art, and I’ve always felt like those words clung to me like an ill-fitted suit. A lot of what I’ve learned, I’ve learned through practice and trial and error, but I’ve always had guides along the way. … so many great human beings who I saw as guides. Hopefully they saw me the same way. … We all had our own way of doing what we did. We had to be students and teachers.
“We are all self-taught, aren’t we? If we are going to do something different, there aren’t always teachers to teach us. All the skills we learn help us learn the next thing. … So, I’m self-taught, but only in the way that I would describe myself. I don’t think anyone else really has the right to call me that because they don’t know me. They don’t know the people that learned me. The same way Neil Armstrong might have described himself as a self-taught moon walker.”
Lonnie Holley, Souls Grown Deep