Students

It is important to highlight that the body of a-n is made up of artists who were once in a very similar situation to new graduates now, myself, the editor of Students community and Degrees unedited, being no exception. Here I map my own journey of over four years, from sitting and conversing in one invigilator’s chair to the next, in the hope it might give a little insight.

Graduating in 2007 from Leeds University I was swamped by the looming economic downturn and somewhat blinded by the need for employment - the making of money rather than the making of art. At the time Leeds was not a very healthy place to be as a new graduate, few artist-led groups were active and it seemed to be the higher level of grass-roots organisations that took precedent over the scene.

More established institutions in the centre of the city were the place to be in order to marry up gainful income with peer networks and widen explorations of a more underground art scene. The Henry Moore Institute (HMI) housed (and still does house) a team of front of Information Assistants that exist in the parallel universe of artistic output! I joined the team around four months after graduating in 2007, I didn't have a studio and my creative crop was dire.

Upon working in the galleries as an Information Assistant not only did I begin to build conversations about my work with colleagues but I also started to use the white walls, beyond the pages of the book I was allowed to read, to bounce ideas back in to my notebook. Soon enough working relationships became creative ones and by the end of 2008, thanks to an artist group that was active within the front of house team at the time, I had work in Liverpool Independents alongside the Liverpool Biennial.

In 2009 I then moved to Glasgow for more northern pastures to test my creative production in. I had one or two contacts already through HMI and had little to lose in using them - I also had some experience under my belt from working in galleries and research libraries. By Autumn 2009 I had a job at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Glasgow. Being a slightly different kettle of fish on the surface I soon realised that the organisation fostered a front of house team that benefited as a close-nit circuitry of freshly faced artists, writers, work-shoppers and curators. There, on the invigilator's chair, the conversations continued.

In February 2011 I upped sticks again and moved to Edinburgh with two different gallery experiences hinged in to my CV. Now I work at the Fruitmaket Gallery in the centre of the capital and, almost four years on since joining the team at HMI, I am still unearthing the gems of front of house staff and the multitude of creative measure they represent.

In my professional output as an artist I still work with people I met back in 2007, and one such working relationship has led to annual projects with the same artist. Furthermore, one contact I made at the CCA has led me along the path of collaboration towards a show in Edinburgh at the end of 2011: other conversations with practitioners who populate the space between its walls have also led to my writing being published in art journals and to being invited to coordinate archive implementation at another gallery in Glasgow.

Lesson learned? It's worth sticking to your guns with employment whatever the ‘job role' may be. Use the resources that are available to you, accept that any one task in finding income is followed by another in making yourself known and being approachable. You are bound to meet interesting people along the way - this story is not just my own but similarly it is what many artists of today would tell. You are no exception either.

First published: a-n.co.uk October 2011