Life at Uni
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Shop the Collection
Life at Uni
Life at Uni
Shop the CollectionThe Story - Art School vs Professional Art Life
I started my University Journey in 2013, after three years of studying A Levels and my Foundation. All of my childhood I was creative, made things from what I could find, literally anything from sticks in the garden to cereal boxes. I even attempted home-made glue after watching an art program. Safe to say that was a fail. But the best thing was when I got a painting set. I created a daffodil and gave it to my mum. I realised that Art was something I was good at. I didn’t have to push myself with it because well 1. I wasn’t afraid, 2. I enjoyed it, and 3. because of both of those things, I was able to make freely, no fear of getting something wrong. I could just make.
When you enter the world of High School, particularly for me, you find yourself wanting to fit in, something which was never easy for me, but nevertheless I did have my group of friends. I pretty much soon became known for my Art work; labelled as ‘gifted and talented’ I continued my path as ‘The Art Girl’ showing my work around the school, gaining awards etc. About the age of 11, turning 12, I began creating portraits, and that’s really where my Art Career began. But that’s a different blog!
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Moving Forward...
Fast Forward 8 years later and I am embarking on the next three years of my time at The North Wales School of Art and Design (now School of the Creative Arts). I’ll never forget my home from home, an old hospital building which amalgamates old stone brick walls, original wooden balustrades and stained glass windows with modern furniture, contemporary art work and a mix of mature students and millennials. Safe to say it is a mixing pot of Creatives and creativity.
It is important to say that Art School is not necessarily for everyone. University is a particularly academic place, to make for commercial purposes to sell, well lets just say there is no need to take out 50k in student loans to do that… That’s definitely something you can do from home as a side business while you build up your enterprise.
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Creative Futures
It took unit my Master’s to realise that you don’t actually go to university to learn how to be a professional artist. I mean idealistically you’d want to think the 70k I spent by the end would get me a flush job at then end of it but that’s just not how it works. My experience of Fine Art at University was mostly about research, trying out materials and linking those to the concept of your work, whilst endlessly referencing books, websites and other articles in the essays you write. Not much there in the way of selling your work. But for me, possibly the best thing about my experience was the Creative Futures Module.
Creative Futures was an opportunity to get involved with creative endeavours in a professional capacity; whether that be exhibiting, selling, building a website or social platform, volunteering, holding classes or online tutorials… The list was endless! Not only that but NWSAD held a week long Creative Futures Conference which brought together both local and national speakers, helping students to understand more about themselves as people and more about the industry, all of which culminated in large ring-binders of documentation relating to all of your pursuits.
To Master or Not To Master...
Missing out my PGCE (Because that is definitely a whole other blog!) we move to a Master’s. A Master’s is not as overwhelmingly… huge as it sounds… in fact, it is overwhelming, very much so, particularly as a full time student working two part time jobs (not the best idea btw…) When I used to think of a Master’s or Master of Art, I would think of Da Vinci; a creative who had a vast knowledge base of many forms of creativity, whether pertaining to science or art. He know about anatomy, physiology, science, physics… his knowledge base was huge.
My experience of a Master’s, however, was very different. A Master’s is about looking, seeing, experiencing Art as much as possible. It was about research primarily, whether that be theoretical or practical. But you delve deep into one topic, and god forbid you make the mistake of dipping your fingers into too many pies when it comes to media experimentation. Pick a medium and experiment… focusing on colour? Do 100 colour experiments and see what you come up with. Document everything in a notebook. That’s not really how I did it, which is obvious if you have ever read Materials and Processes. No, stubbornness is a natural born trait of mine, and so I did what I do best, my very own thing! Experimented with painting, mixed media, textiles, image transfer, drawing, colour mixing, home made impasto’s and varnishes, you name it! You see for me my Master’s was a chance for me to get back into my creativity after having a year of teaching and a gap year of working. Life takes over sometimes and you forget what makes you who you are.
I made the most of my Master’s by experimenting with all of these exciting materials and processes, looking deep into the theme of Love and Grief, a great, personal topic, raw and real, emanating from recent personal experiences. It has become the most authentic work I have made in recent years, and has become the starting point for extended work in my new collections
I came to the conclusion that I never really make my life easy or simple, and yet, in doing so, I have learnt so much. I have gained knowledge and wisdom in taking more difficult paths. I also realised after 8 years of further education that University is not for everyone.
Going to University is an amazing opportunity to learn new things, experience independence (if you do it right) meet amazing people and travel too. It can be incredible if you give it everything, if you genuinely, truly want to learn. But, it is also hard. Nobody will tell you it is easy and if they do, they didn’t do it right. I gave my BA, PGCE and MA everything I mentally and physically could, I made fantastic new friends, learnt a lot about my personal relationships, and most of all, I am learning now how to believe in myself fully, unapologetically and whole-heartedly.
From University I gained a lot, but that is not to say that you have to go there to achieve what I have achieved (unless you want to teach at a college of university that is…) There is a lot to life, and it is all about making informed choices.
There are so many adventures on my cards, from lecturing, sharing my Art, travelling and family. I can’t wait for what is to come…
