Getting paid

My husband just sent me this link and I have been laughing out loud throughout. It is an exchange of emails (with pie charts!) and also a very good and hilarious example of how things can go wrong if you ask people to work for free (also if you have a shoddy business plan).

Please design a logo for me. With pie charts.
For free: http://www.27bslash6.com/p2p.html

Warning, much effing and geoffing.

Enjoy.

I would like a mentor please.

To be fair, I think I get bits of mentoring here and there off various people in all different roles – advice and encouragement that is really valuable and much appreciated. But wouldn’t it be great to have someone to build a longer term relationship with? Perhaps work with.. or someone who could remind you of your goals and give you a nudge when you’re heading off track or making wonky choices. Someone whose work you love and admire.

I saw this today, twittered by Hayley Harding of Axis fame:

http://www.rolexmentorprotege.com/en/visual-arts/i…

and thought it looks like an amazing year. This year’s visual arts mentor is Anish Kapoor. A less famour version please!

YSP did offer to help me get in touch with groups in the area while working towards the exhibition.. perhaps this is a good chance to make some valuable links. Architects were mentioned.

Must not waste this opportunity…Must not waste..etc.

I’ve been having to write my entries in notepad this weekend, because I can’t seem to concentrate for more than two minutes at a time. Got lots of reading/writing to do and none of it is coming very easily.

I did a talk/some tutorials at Sheffield Hallum last week and it reminded me of a few things I have been thinking about, mostly slow burn careers. It also made me question how I talk about my own work – I usually manage to get round it a bit by talking about money and things. But, as this was a professional practice lecture series, I could only talk in terms of my own experience. So, for the first time in ages, I went through my experiences since BA (8 years ago) until today, warts an all.

I realised I put myself down a lot and I thought afterwards that maybe I should have done two talks – one presenting the glossy, perfect timeline in retrospect way, and then the same talk again, but with the problems and everything included. That might be a better way to illustrate the reality of it, and would highlight the fact that often you will only see glossy talks. Oh well, lesson learned.

I heard myself saying at one point (to 3yr BA’s) ‘I’m not that much further ahead than you lot really’. I had to think then, because, actually, I know that I’ve been working my arse off for ages, and it feels like it’s just starting to build into something. But obviously I have some issues still feeling like a graduate. The terms ’emerging’ and ‘mid-career’ are difficult ones and I see myself as floating between the two. As I started giving too much of myself away at the end of the talk (always uncomfortable when it’s not a dialogue) I said something about money. This is one of the things that is trapping me, and my work in the former category: I find it very difficult to imagine making things that cost more than, well, not much.

At YSP they asked what I might need for a production budget and I couldn’t answer: I knew if I said a number it would be ridiculously low. When they said that the book budget would have to be under £2,000 I stuggled not to let out a whoop.

Basically I am like the bloke in Warrington who won millions on the lottery but just moved round the corner to a bigger house and upgraded his car to the new model. It’s not that I don’t have ideas that I want and can’t afford to make, quite the contrary, but I don’t know how to make the leap. I am daunted by project managing rather than making things myself and am not confident of my ability to deliver, having never done it before and therefore I avoid applying for opportunities with ‘proper’ budgets.

There, look – I just gave too much of myself away again…

The CCS (Creative and Cultural Skills Council) have released the Visual Arts Blueprint after much consultation:

http://www.ccskills.org.uk/LinkClick.aspx?filetick…

Below are some examples of the recommendations it makes:

Ensure that internships are fair and offer high quality career development opportunities by 2010

Ensure that visual arts courses have strong, relevant links to the profession by 2012

Ensure that the visual arts has a role to play in broad education initiatives by 2012

Support and encourage technical and business skills training in all visual arts degree programmes and courses by 2012

Recognise and support artists’ networks and peer exchange opportunities (working with VAGA, Scottish Artists Union and Other – wish they’d named AiR too though!) by 2011

Improve working conditions across the visual arts sector (working with agenices and borrowing best practice models from other industries) by 2012

The report also goes on to expand on these recommendations and many others and also profiles the creative sector (not just artists remember though), outlining who it is comprised of (95%white!). This may not sound like a massive thing, but considering ‘artist’ has not been mentioned as a job role before, these basics are important, especially if the CCS are to promote their plans across the UK. Anyway, it looks a bit of a beast, but they have peppered it with lots of nice images, so the content is not as daunting as it may first seem!

I’ll have a proper read and get back to you…

It turns out that I still haven’t shaken the cold thing I had a couple of weeks ago, so I have been wrapped up taking it a bit easy. Today is posting loads of things (the joy and pain of selling books off my website), starting on tax return (last years) and sorting out receipts for this year so far. Also putting a presentation together for Thursday’s lecture.

I watched School of Saatchi again last night and I was a bit bored to be honest. It’s partly the overfamiliar dramatising editing tchniques from reality TV: “anyone of them could be a DISASTER” surprise, Charles really likes most of them. But it is also because I don’t think making stuff necessarily makes good TV. It is incredibly easy to pick apart an artist’s work, especially after an MA with much picking apart, this format just means they are incredibly vulnerable throughout the making process. Because the artist are under pressure and being fairly timid (partly from being put in a very difficult collaborative/commissioning situation too!) they don’t believe in their work in the same way as they usually might, and neither do I.