I admit, I need to think about this for my unit 3 assessment, but I think it's good to record my thoughts here more generally, for what might be difficult days ahead. I started the MA at a time when my world had been turned completely upside down. As well as purpose, focus, and a distraction, it gave me a sense of identity - I was a CTO before, now I am an art student. Things have changed a lot since then, and I am increasingly adjusted to the new normal, but I need to be careful when the MA finishes, and the new normal is upset again...
When I gave up work, I told myself I would take two years, and then find a new job. I figured that it would be significantly harder to find a job once I turned 50. I think that plan still stands, but I'm coming to see that I am probably going to have to take a more 'creative' and 'portfolio' approach to work - it's going to be very difficult to look after my daughter and work for someone else. While that sounds brave, I'm in a very lucky position to have a big safety-net. I feel I don't want to work to make huge sums, but I would like to work to make enough money to cover my (fairly modest) out-goings so I'm not actively losing money each month.
After my initial childish, burn-it-all-down, protest, I am sure that I do want to keep my art practice going - I've made art as a hobby for years, but I want to do that in a more focused way. Something JK said keeps coming back to me - when I commented on how amazing Fi Carruthers work is, he said something along the lines of "well, it takes 20 years of practice to be able to do that". It really helped me to think of my art making as practice, and to embrace the growth mindset of "if I keep doing it, this is something I will only get better at".
Broadly then, I think I need to think about the following buckets:
- How I find short-term ways to make money
- How I explore more exciting ways/longer-term ways to make money
- How I maintain my art practice, and what that means
If you are reading this because you want to know what I intend to do for my art practice, then skip the first section, but the medium term options are probably still relevant.
How I make money short term
I need to explore some flexible ways to make money. I don't know what that means in practice, but I think it means I need to explore more traditional jobs that might still allow me to look after my daughter. In practice, this probably means working in a school, or work that is part-time. It could also mean short-term or gig work. Following a very enjoyable trip to Medway School of the Arts, I applied there to their 'talent pool', but I don't think anything will come of it - I'm a bit of an odd-ball and there are probably much better qualified candidates - shame as it has a wonderful feel.
More exciting ways to make money in the medium term
Broadly there are three strands to this - retraining, saleable art, and the book.
Retraining
I am thinking of taking further training in two areas - psychotherapy and AI. An eclectic mix, I admit! I think either, or both, could be interesting...
Saleable Art
I have always been very dismissive of the idea that I could make art to sell. The art I currently make is definitely not the sort of thing that people would want on their coffee table... BUT... actually a lot of the themes of my art could be packaged in way that could be more appealing, especially if I am focused more on making the art saleable. I'd aim to make work that I want for myself, and see if other people are interested.
The Book
I have been mulling over the idea of working on a book since I started. I think it could be a great way to meet people, to learn, and hopefully to produce something of interest to other people. It could, of course, also lead to consulting or conference work... My aim would be to write something about the intersection of art, business, and technology - probably something around the relevance of artistic thinking to business leadership in the era of AI...
How I will maintain my art practice
And so the most interesting question... I think the aim here is to keep making art, to keep getting better, to keep connections with the art world, and to embrace art as part of a life well-lived. I think there are a bunch of elements to this....
Thinking, perhaps, in terms of what I might loose when I finish the MA:
Time
This is a biggie... Lack of time was, is, and likely will remain, the biggest impediment to making art... My current lifestyle gives me a huge amount of freedom, and justification, to send time on art... And art consumes it all and comes back hungry... I think my decision that I'm unlikely to have a 9-5 job will help, as will my willingness to live on a bit of a shoe-string. I think if I can incorporate art into some of the ways I make money, that will also help justify the time.
Getting my art seen
I think success for me as an artist means that I make art, that I enjoy making art, that art enriches my life, and that some of my art gets seen. The last of these is important to me. I think it should be an explicit goal to make sure every major piece gets exhibited at least once. I guess that will mostly be open calls, but getting closer to the local art scene has also improved my chances of getting in to exhibitions. I'd also love to run an exhibition of my own, some day.
Reading and research
I still have a lot to learn about art and researching is (perhaps) an area where I have struggled. I want to read books, but I feel like reading competes with making and writing... BUT I do actually read a lot of other things - several dozen articles a week online - I need to keep that up. I'm also better plugged into things like Art Forum, and I have an insta feed filling with interesting stuff. Hopefully with the end of the MA, I'll re-discover more 'long-form' learning like reading and video.
I also got into quite a good rhythm of going to (mostly smaller) galleries - I need to keep that up as much as time and family commitments permit.
Artistic support
One of the best things about the MA is having people I can talk to about art. Sadly there has been a lot less of that than I hoped, but the Dead Critics has sort of saved me there. The Dead Critics is perhaps one of the best things to come out of the course, and it has definitely kept me sane at times... Going forward there is no reason why I shouldn't still have the Dead Critics, for a while at least... Getting involved in the local art scene has also helped me to see that these types of groups tend to be quite fluid - they form, the break apart, they reform in new ways, they stop, they restart etc etc. I suspect the Dead Critics may be like this - we may loose people, but we may regain them, we may choose to stop but some of the members might find another group to join.
Getting involved in the local art scene has been hugely rewarding for me in terms of people and connections. The art world seems very driven by who you know, but conversely is filled with generous people willing to share their knowledge and their connections. It is also, I think it's fair to say, filled with quite a few tossers who just want to drink free wine and feel important... Like anything in life, you sort the wheat from the chaff!
I want to maintain, and maybe deepen, my involvement in the Sevenoaks Visual Artists Forum - the two artists who run it are amazing, generous, and humble, people, and I think that rubs off on the group. There are a few other local groups (when you find one, you slowly learn of the others!) which I should also try and get to know.
I'm slowly getting to know local artists, and that has been very rewarding and fun - I've had the chance to do things I'd never get to do otherwise like installing a sculpture in an abandoned golf course rumoured to be littered with unexploded ordinance - I suggested we record the install, and if we detonated any, we should posthumously release it as a performance piece called "The colours within", which I found hilarious but nobody else seemed to find funny...
I've been also trying to worm my way into local art institutions. So far I've had no real success, but it could be another way to get to know people, and to experience art and art conversations. I should strive to maintain my connection to Central St Martins too.
JK did a session on 'support structures for artists', I wonder if this is what he was getting at?
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