I don't know any artists IRL. And I don't even mean personally; I simply don't see them at all. I've been basically the only serious artist (as in, someone who works on full pieces and projects periodically, not just notebook scribbles) in my universe for several years now. I feel like I remember seeing one girl in one of my classes sketching a logo or something last year, but that's it.
I know there have got to be at least a couple dozen around campus, due to the art gallery thing we have every year, but a couple dozen out of 27,000 is pretty much the same as zero, in terms of visibility. =/
I think artists are actually pretty rare, in comparison to the total human population. It might seem weird to us as artists, who constantly surround ourselves with other artists in online spaces and are probably under the impression that there are too many of us to go around (especially economics-wise)...but I think, in the grand scheme of things, we're a very tiny minority.