Being at art college in the eighties

I was lucky enough to go to art college in the eighties. Lucky because we were able to get grants in Britain at that time. You could study for years and not only get all your tuition, accommodation and books for free but you were also able to get a living grant so you didn’t have to get a part time job to keep going. Sadly those days are gone and it seems that today most students end up with enormous debt after their studies.

The good thing about being an art student in those days is that you could be an artist and practically do whatever art you wanted. You were given a studio for free. You had other artists to talk to and you had mentors in the form of tutors also for free!

Everything I wish for now after decades of being an artist. There were many other benefits too. Like an incredibly well equipped library, fax machines and copiers, a woodworking workshop where you could make your own stretchers and get all the wood for free. If you were looking helpless the technicians would take pity on you and either help you through the process or do it for you. There was a photography dark room, printmaking studio and a sculpture workshop which as a painter you could wander in to and ask for bits and pieces. The technicians were always very nice and accommodating and it paid to have friends both in the sculpture studios and the woodwork shop.

Later in my art school career there were also scanners and IT rooms with great computers housing all the apps you’d need as an art student. Photoshop, Illustrator, desktop publishing apps, music and video apps, etc.

But perhaps my favourite of all the resources was the art shop which was heavily subsidised and you could get a large array of art materials incredibly cheaply. Heaven! So, needless to say, I managed to stay at art college for many years.

First I did a foundation course, then a diploma in illustration, then a BA in Illustration, then an MA in fine art. It was all very good for my art and very fun but it didn’t exactly equip me for the task of being an artist outside of art college.

I was given no education as to how to run a business, how to do sales, time management, goal setting, how to keep accounts, tax planning, etc. and needless to say having your own website and social media platforms wasn’t even a twinkle in an artist’s eye yet. In fact I distinctly remember being told it was very hard to earn money as an artist and it was best to get a job with hopefully enough time outside of the job to do your art. So in effect, spend a minimum of four years (1 year foundation course and 3 year degree course) and then go find a job in another field which you would obviously be ill-equipped to find or be any good at and keep your art as a hobby. What? Now when I say it out loud it sounds bonkers!

So here we are years later, having spent a lifetime of painting, drawing and printmaking and I feel like I’m back at college, ready to finally take my art business seriously. I’m my own guide and teacher (with the help of some amazing online mentors and teachers). My learning and the direction I want to take is on my terms. And I’m learning incredible new things everyday from people half my age. I’m learning about how an online art business works and how to sell my paintings, prints and whatever else I want to sell.

You were told that if you wanted to have your work exhibited and sold you should go around the art galleries with your portfolio and ask the gallerist to drop everything they were doing to spend half an hour to look at your very heavy portfolio full of student work. Of course some artist’s leaving art college were natural sales people. They might have had astute parents, maybe entrepreneurial mums and dads or folk who had their own businesses who could show the hapless college student how to make it on their own once they left college. But for the majority of us this wasn’t the case.

It’s an amazing time to be an artist and make a living from what feels most meaningful to me.

If you want to see more of my work and follow my story feel free to look around my website. All paintings in my available works are for sale and I’ll be having new paintings and fine art prints launching on my website every few months so, if you would like to, join my mailing list or subscribe to my newsletter below. It would be great to have you on there.