On my first day at Art School, as a terrified yet precocious 18 year old, we were given countless addresses by numerous members of staff and persons of importance. I remember none of it, save a single line: ‘Remember, you’re not here to show us what you can do. You’re here to find out what […]
Category: Art School Survival Guide (or things I wish I had known)
Art School Survival Guide #5: Taking the ‘ass’ out of ‘assessment’
Here it is, that time of the year when students everywhere are freaking the hell out. Art school assessment is a cruel and unusual beast. It may take varying forms at different institutions, including, but not limited to: displaying your artwork, writing about your artwork, speaking about your work and responding to a barrage of […]
Art School Survival Guide #4: All Hail the Intern
To put it simply – anyone who is interested in working in a creative industry WHATSOEVER should undertake an internship. At least once. Becoming an intern at a gallery, museum or arts organisation will be one of the single most important steps you will ever take in working towards a career in the arts. I […]
Art School Survival Guide #3: art ain’t free
University don’t come cheap, we all know that. Tuition fees aside, degrees are full of unanticipated costs and purchases and Art School is no different – just with art supplies instead of textbooks and readers. When you’ve paid your rent, bought a little food and maybe a bus pass there’s often not much left over […]
Art School Survival Guide #2: The art of talking about yourself
Many arts students whine about having to write about or explain their own artwork, but unfortunately that’s really half the point. They are sadly and sorely mistaken if they think this can be avoided in the ‘real world’ following graduation from art school. If anything it only gets worse: artists’ statements for exhibition proposals and catalogues, […]
Art School Survival Guide #1: Why am I here?
From my very first days at Art School I worried that I was in the WRONG DEGREE. There was no real justification for this – I had gone through the rigorous selection process, like everybody else, and it had never even crossed my mind to do anything else. Yet, from day one, I had a […]