The government classification for artists includes: actors, architects, announcers, authors, clowns, comedians, designers, musicians and a whole host of other artistic endeavors.
What pathway do you take to be categorized as an artist on your IRS Schedule 1040? Some artists attend college or conservatory, others apprentice, and still others just "do it", whatever their passion is, until they get the proverbial 10,000 hours under their belt and are...an artist.
Colleges to think about: Ringling College of Art & Design, Rhode Island School of Design, Savannah College of Art and Design, Otis College of Art & Design, Fashion Institute of Technology, California Institute of the Arts, Parsons School of Design, USC Roski or Iovine, Middle Tennessee State, Juilliard, UNC Chapel Hill, Yale, your local community college.
Here's just a sampling of jobs where you'll stretch both your artistic and analytical side.
Fabric Arts:
What can you possibly do with an interest in fabric? Here is a link to over 25 pages of possibilities from the Textile Society of America! The wide variety of employment includes: Fashion designers, textile artists, woven art, seamstress, retail buyer, museum or gallery conservator.
Where does one learn about textiles? Savannah College of Art & Design, University of Rhode Island, University of Georgia, University of California at Davis, RISD, Parsons, North Carolina State University, Fashion Institute of Technology
Musicians:
Music is the universal language; this pic doesn't require explanation! Check the BLS stats for a sobering 'outlook' on the industry.
The Diamond Building at Juilliard
Schools of note: Juilliard, Middle Tennessee State, USC Thornton School, Belmont, Oberlin, Berklee
Product Design:
Design labels, boxes, pamphlets, watches, cars, appliances, computers, perfume bottles...whatever consumable goods exist, there is a designer behind their manufacturing and presentation.
There are a multitude of schools and colleges to learn design skills. Some are trade schools while other programs are quasi-engineering degrees and still others are, really, industrial engineering programs. Search out the schools here.