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“Many artists find themselves
juggling a variety of roles”
So, you’re stepping out as a newartist, but what does
that reallymean? The choices youmakewill feel
incredibly important, as you decide between further
study, starting your creative career, getting a studio
– or maybe taking some time out. Howdo you decide
what is right for you?
The truth is, many artists find themselves juggling a variety of activities
and roles, especially in the first few years after graduating. In this section
we explore some of the more common options that art graduates may be
considering, and look at some the things it’s important to remember when
making choices about the future.
poSTgrADuATE STuDy
Whether it’s an MA, Postgraduate Certificate of Education or an other
further learning opportunity, it’s crucial to do your research. once
you have a particular course in mind, find out who has done it
before and what they went on to do. Visit the course, speak to the
students and ask questions: how much contact time do you get with
lecturers and who are they? What opportunities to get involved
in external projects does the course offer? Is there any funding or
financial support available?
Getting on the ‘right course’ for you may take some time. Sometimes
artists have to apply to the same course more than once before
they’re accepted (I know artists who’ve applied three years in a row
for the course they want to do). If the course ethos and lecturers are
what you want and where you need to be, then persevere and do all
you can to make it happen.
STuDy ABroAD
With costs of second degrees in the UK soaring, studying abroad
is increasingly becoming an option. In an interview for a-n, Kate
Brundrett talked about the Swedish system with Jason E Bowman,
MA Fine Art course leader at the University of Gothenburg.
“It’s hard to compare to the UK,” he said, explaining that Sweden
has a healthy culture of understanding the artist as an autonomous
figure, and this forms part of the historic framework of art education
in the country. In Sweden, the artist commands the right to a “status
of independence and non-instrumentalisation, and in doing so
retains a critical distance from being instrumentalised.”
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ArTiST’S PAgE: EMily SPEED
Emily Speed, born 1979, is based in
Frodsham, Cheshire. Speed studied
for a BA (Hons) Drawing & Painting,
Edinburgh College of Art, 1997-2001,
before completing an MA in Fine Art:
Drawing at University of the Arts
London: Wimbledon College of Art,
2005-6.
Speed has exhibited at, among others,
oredaria Gallery, Rome; Laumeier
Sculpture Park, St Louis, USA; Danielle
Arnaud Gallery, London; Bluecoat,
Liverpool; Yorkshire Sculpture Park;
and Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts,
Lausanne, Switzerland.
She was nominated for the Northern
Art Prize 2013 by Sally Tallant,
Director, Liverpool Biennial.
Speed’s work explores the temporary
and the transient through reference
to architecture and the body. She
examines buildings, both literally and
metaphorically, as physical shelters
and as containers for memory, bound
with the history of their occupiers.