DEGREES UNEDITED

Arts Consultant Lucy Day considers the opportunities and challenges facing today’s Fine Art graduates.

In writing this piece I found my own career history to be as diverse as of that of many of the artists that I have encountered since graduating in 1989. Unlike today’s students we had little to no advice as to life after art school and instead took it as read that we would of course become superstars in some medium or other, regardless of talent, ability, commitment or cash. For some this indeed worked well as a starting premise and they followed a well-marked route into teaching, gallery sales and a well-lit studio. For others the path was less well defined, the career less easy to predict, the journey more opportunistic. Like many I know I was easily distracted into endlessly rearranging my studio, tidying up in preparation for the great plan. I painted, I installed, I made sculptures, I intervened. I accepted exhibitions because they were offered instead of considering whether it was the right move.

Throughout this time I was also working in a variety of art-related places including a commercial gallery in the west end of London, subsequently followed by an adventure into the world of the artist-led space. Working at the epicentre of the east end scene was exhilarating and challenging. I became enamoured with the idea of working alongside other practitioners, across disciplines and sectors. What I discovered in particular, however, was that artists on the whole were surprisingly ignorant of the art world in which they operated. Numerous packages would arrive at the gallery containing random slides (often indecipherable), a scribbled note requesting a show with an apparent indifference to what we had previously exhibited.

It was shortly afterwards that I began to develop an unexpected career in artists’ professional development, alongside my curating and artistic practice. A portfolio career had truly emerged. To date I have been director at an arts organisation, exhibited internationally, lectured nationally, written articles and texts, set up studios, gained and lost funding and created an interwoven mix of practitioners with whom I work, socialise and collaborate at every available opportunity.

In 1999 I was invited to write an article on the London art scene for CHANGE, a gallery based in Rome. Aware of how much has changed in the intervening years I re-read the article to see if any of it was still current. Whilst still some held true (for example that “projects are relying less and less on public funding and are looking towards alternative methods out of necessity”) my own understanding has developed and changed and the work that now excites and engages is a direct result of this shift in approaches to practice and media. Collaborations between artists and industry are becoming the rule rather than the exception, with video artists working alongside BT trialling new technologies, and awards encouraging collaboration between arts and biomedical science for example through the Wellcome Trust Sciart projects. The nurturing of similar relationships between artists and other industries will continue to be a route forward in the battle for economic viability that eludes many practitioners.

Reports produced by Arts Council England, a-n The Artists Information Company and VAGA suggest that there are between 40,000-90,000 UK artists - the variance in figures alone proving how impossible it is to quantify the number of practitioners let alone the nature of their artistic practice. Even the lowest estimate, however, suggests that there are considerably more artists practising than galleries and/or opportunities to support them. An Arts Council England report Taste Buds: how to cultivate the art market and its corresponding publication Market Matters found that “there are around 1,170 outlets which describe themselves as selling contemporary art. Out of these 43% have a London postcode.” This would suggest that artists wishing to sell work should confine themselves to London. The report however also suggests that there is an as yet untapped demand for art, both for the domestic interior market and as part of the social fabric of the built and rural environment. And artists do continue to make work.

Collaborative and cross-disciplinary practice is now commonplace and provides artists with new opportunities to articulate their ambitions both aesthetically and practically. Whilst terminologies adjust constantly to reflect new curatorial and artistic practices the public realm is as predominant an exhibition space as the conventional white cube with new media and emergent technologies providing ever expanding opportunities to develop new methodologies.

Amongst the most significant challenges for new graduates is the ability to sustain their practice in comparative isolation. It is telling that a sizeable number of artists stop practising in the five years after they leave art college - although figures are notoriously difficult to confirm. Another factor is the shifting nature of practice away from studio-based activity to alternative approaches - sometimes driven by lack of appropriate or affordable workspace. The fact that funds from Europe limped and then ran into deprived areas of Britain has played no small part in the growth of artistic activity in particular pockets of the UK. The artists’ studios of Hoxton were replaced with loft apartments, the artist-led spaces with the high end commercial gallerists. Now as then artist-led and independent spaces found strength in numbers, grouping in the London areas of Hackney, Southwark, Deptford. With the majority of creative and economic regeneration initiatives happening in the regions (Newcastle, Manchester and Liverpool immediately spring to mind), graduating artists now need to look far further afield, including overseas, if they are interested in expanding the possibilities and taking advantage of new opportunities. During 2005/06 a-n The Artists Information Company commissioned a series of publications entitled Future Forecast that focus on some of the key issues for artists and their practice. Future Space discussed the role of work space with some interesting contributions and observations: “Artists working project-to-project, finding the right space and resources each time: sometimes a studio, sometimes an office, sometimes a theatre; sometimes a laptop; sometimes solo, sometimes in partnership” was the response of Daniel Brine from the Live Art Development Agency to the question of what artists will expect from a future working environment. In some ways this sums up the complex nature of current and future working practices and one that graduating students will always need to consider. In response to the same question artist, curator and arts consultant Jason E Bowman suggests that “architectural and ideological solutions supporting the visible and invisible aspects of artists’ practice, adapting to the behaviours of individual practices in research, production and reflection modes” might be the way forward.

Research and reflection are common practice whilst at college and yet can often be the first thing to be sacrificed on graduating. Understanding the vagaries of the art world and how the market operates may seem daunting, however organisations and individuals supporting artists professional development are now commonplace. There is a wealth of advice on the internet that can quickly dispel or at least clarify some of the myths that abound. The somewhat sanitised term ‘networks’ is used by many to describe a combination of information gathering, social enhancement and sharing of good practice that is fundamental to artistic activity. From monthly peer critiques initiated and facilitated by arts organisations (for example at SPACE and the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London), supported programmes such as a-n’s NAN (Networking Artists Networks) initiative to self-determined projects and glocal networks artists have the ability to create important allies and disseminators for their work. Forming relationships with emerging curators and later with gallerists can provide artists with platforms for their work as well as critical appraisal and context. Knowledge and information are key to realising projects and developing one’s practice. Whilst the general understanding of what might constitute artistic practice can still be piecemeal in some sections of society (and may well ever be thus) there is a greater willingness to listen, and a desire to engage. This of course can come with downsides - the term creative industry SME’s (Small to Medium Enterprises) is one widely known by the business world and yet few artists would describe themselves in this way. A common belief that artists must and should struggle for their art, ideally in penury, disregards the extraordinary range of skills that an artist brings to any table that are increasingly being seen as valuable commodities in a rapidly evolving society.

In 1998 Naomi Siderfin concluded in her piece Occupational Hazard that: “In a country where art is most often valued as interior design, asset management or a therapeutic teaching aid, it is difficult to articulate other values in a language that can be heard.” In 2005 Richard Smith-Bingham, Head of Policy and Research at NESTA , when asked in what ways artists contributed to his life and his work, said that “while art is not there to solve the world’s problems, artists can certainly provide new insights and fresh representations that challenge, provoke and enrich understanding of issues both existential and political. For me, they and their work spark off frequently in unpredictable ways, ideas, connections and avenues, which other modes of expression do not.” Whilst both of these assertions continue to run in parallel, there is a need for the recently-graduated artist to determine their own career path based on knowledge sought for, gained, shared and disseminated through an innovative, self-determined practice.

This article was first published in After Art School, the publication that accompanies the exhibition of the same name at Harrow Campus, University of Westminster.

Some of the artists whose degree show work was reviewed on 2005degrees unedited talk about how their practice has developed over the past year:

Neil Webb

Neil Webb graduated from Sheffield Hallam University, MA Fine Art (Distinction)

“Since graduating last summer I have been continually working and developing my practice. I went straight out to Germany after my MA and spent two months doing an artist’s residency. This was very fruitful and I produced an audio-visual installation, Heaven up Here and a six channel sound piece, Across the Field. Returning from Germany I worked on the project, ‘Automated Meditations’ with artist Matt Butt and made two live audio-visual performances under my project name bocman. Next I travel to Amsterdam for the sound art exhibition ‘Spool’ in which I have two works and will be performing a live audio-visual set.”

www.bocman.com

Frances Greenough

Frances Greenough graduated from Buckinghamshire Chiltern University College, BA (hons) Fine Art.

“Since leaving university I have set up a small studio at home and started working part-time in a local gallery. I have taken part in a couple of local exhibitions and I am planning future exihibitons. I have also taken on some commissions, as a result of the exposure I gained in the degree show.

Agnes Nedregard

Agnes Nedregard graduated from Glasgow School of Art, MA Fine Art.

“I have spent most of my time since graduating in my hometown Bergen in Norway. Here I have, besides producing and showing new work, been working as a curator and as a guest teacher in performance.

Ruth Parkinson

Ruth Parkinson graduated from Kent Institute of Art and Design, BA (hons) Fine Art.

“After graduating last year, I worked as a voluntary guide, at Turner Contemporary, Margate. In October, I found a studio with the Creative Foundation, in Folkestone. I have a solo exhibition, in April, entitled ‘35 Words’. I am currently working with Shepway and Britannia Hotels on a public art project for September 2006 – a projection of moving script onto the wall of the Burstin Hotel. There is an element of romance in my vision; objects, places, structures, are haunted by a memory and charged with meaning. All that excites me no longer functions in its own time; I court anachronism.”

Esther Hartley

Esther Hartley graduated from Wimbledon School of Art, MA Fine Art (painting).

“During my year at Wimbledon I was short-listed for the Bloomberg New Contemporaries, and have just been short-listed for the Celeste Art Prize with my painting, Stansel Circus. It will appear in the Celeste Art Prize catalogue, an annual publication and examination of painting practice in the UK, which accompanies the exhibition at the Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, at the end of May 2006. I have a studio at Studio Voltaire, Clapham, and work part-time as a gallery assistant at The Gallery, Wimbledon School of Art.”

Cecilia Stenbom

Cecilia Stenbom graduated from the Glasgow School of Art, MA Fine Art.

“After finishing the MFA at Glasgow I moved to the North East of England. In November 2005 I was awarded a grant from Arts Council England that enabled me to produce a new body of work. In February I was invited to present a solo exhibition at MUU Gallery in Helsinki and in March was represented by Workplace Gallery at Pulse Art Fair in New York. Workplace also selected new work for a group exhibition as part of Glasgow International. I am currently self-employed doing freelance graphic design work and also working as a new media tutor for ISIS Arts.”

Anthony Schrag

Anthony Schrag graduated from Glasgow School of Art, MA Fine Art.

“I have exhibited in Norway, China, Canada, UK and Sri Lanka. My work is ultimately about the experience of our bodies, and how to enhance/destabilize that experience. It relies on the primacy of events before theoretical concerns regarding art and its contexts, in order to democratize the experience, as well to subvert those norms. Which is boring artspeak for saying: I’m interested in messing with people’s standard physical experience of the world, if only because one does not need a specialist education to understand the experiences of one’s own body, thereby allowing a broader cultural access.

Lucy Day

Lucy Day is an Arts Consultant, and formerly Director of Art Training & Resources and Co-Director of Exhibitions at SPACE, London.

First published: a-n.co.uk 2005