Emerging, mid-career, unrepresented, 30++ artist.

Emerging, mid-career, unrepresented artist 30++ seeks artist residencies in Europe, partner and child in tow.

Completing application forms, web profiles etc., I have again faced the question of how I describe myself as a professional artist.

When I left school in the mid 1980’s I wanted to be an artist. I also wanted to travel. Travel came first and took me on a far longer journey than I expected.  At 25 I headed to university to study Politics and Slavonic Studies.  Later I studied TESOL and became a teacher at a language school in a university.

I always wanted to get back to my first love, art, but bought into the  “you’ll never make a living” argument. In 2003 I resigned from a full-time teaching job and headed to art college. Already in my mid thirties I came to realise that following my passion was the only way to soothe my restive soul.

 

Mural Sketch 2

Just when I was ready to emerge from art college and take on the world I discovered I was pregnant.  After 12 years of trying to have a baby I had resolved to get on with my art career and embrace all the opportunities I could find.  Instead I have spent the last 6 years juggling parenthood and art.  I am not alone in this and I have since meet other artists doing the same.

What is interesting and occasionally frustrating is that many art institutions and scholarship and grant administrators have applied definitions and criteria I cannot possibly meet and for which there is no alternative.   Emerging artist= first five years of practice, Emerging artist =under 30 years of age.   Things are starting to change though.  Recently I have seen applications defining ‘emerging’ as the equivalent of 5 continuous years of practice.

Perhaps life would have been simpler if I had gone directly from high school to art college. Would I change anything? No. Everything I have studied, seen and experienced in the past 20+ years has brought me to this place- focused, inspired, and writing this blog.   Happy Days!