This month seems to have been one of significant revelations, both in my practice and my career path. Spending a lot of time preparing for various interviews (of which none were successful!) has made me consider that perhaps I'm not ready for a formal art job yet. These thoughts combined with a Facebook page full of my friends photos and tales from their adventures abroad to give me the inspiration to travel! I've realised that, like most things in my life so far, if I don't organise this then the opportunity will not come. I don't want to hit 30 and still be living in Nottingham without memories of tropical beaches and community projects in beautiful but impoverished areas! Thankfully, these thoughts have opened up a potential structure that I've been missing since leaving university: if I start a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course now, I could leave in September for a paid placement almost anywhere in the world! Perhaps I may even do a PGCE on my return! This last idea, which I have been avoiding for fear that it means I am a failed artist, now seems to make perfect sense – I don't think I'm cut out for the constant disappointment and effort of trying to earn money directly from my art.
The question now is…can I teach?? Public speaking turns me into a shaking nervous wreck but this is a phobia that I must conquer for my own personal development as well as my professional one. So, Phase 1 of my new Life Plan has begun – I'm volunteering to help at the Play Parade workshops next week to get some experience with kids, then I should have a better idea of whether I like children or if my ex was right about being a joyless hag…
With my practice, the new piece about engaging with the world in a rebellion against the inevitable condition of becoming my mother seems to be a better way of inspiring and reigniting connections in my world than I could have imagined. I've already met up with one old friend who I'd not seen since last September, who donated her collection of empty, "they may come in useful one day," shoeboxes. Terry, the caretaker at my workplace, even found an old cabinet in a skip for me to start making pigeon-holes for these unwanted objects from! So, if you're reading this and I've met you, I need one unwanted item or one unwanted collection for the piece! I've deliberately made it ambiguous so the pieces not become contrived representations of their owners but the donations so far have been very telling – one friend has so far failed to give me anything unwanted and keeps finding new objects akin to his love of practical jokes whilst another cycling enthusiast has given a broken helmet he couldn't bare to throw out.
