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//WORKING AS AN ARTIST - COMMISSIONED WORK//

Continuing on from the previous blog post, this will also be about ‘Working as an Artist’ but this will be based around Commissioned Work.

At first, I wasn’t too sure what it meant to be commissioned to do work, but then I learnt that it is essentially the same as being hired by a client as a freelancer and being paid for the work you do for them. Being commissioned usually means it is a larger scale body of work that has been funded by an organisation or company. One of the main things that I have learnt is that quite a lot of work that is displayed in galleries is often commissioned, simply because an exhibitor has chosen a theme and has asked an artist to work around that.

Big picture projects are something that I would love to work on at some point in the future, may that be through freelance or working for a large business. I think being commissioned to create a body of work would be an amazing way to get your name out there to a different area of viewers, especially if that work was to be displayed in a gallery. One thing that may hinder but also help me would be the addition of trying to fit into a theme, I think that can limit the amount of creativity, but it may also help to create a body of work that is unique to you.

I think in the near future if I was to consider working as a commissioned artist I would definitely have to start working harder on my CV, it is important to show that you can create a unique style of work that is interesting and thought provoking. There are many ways of looking for opportunities for yourself, so it’s important to try and get your name out there as much as possible, which is something that I have personally worked harder on.

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//WORKING AS AN ARTIST - EXHIBITOR AND CURATOR//

Over the last number of weeks, we have been looking at what it is like to work in different areas of the artworld. The first that we looked at was Exhibiting, which mainly involves curating shows, reviewing work and collaborating with other artists. I found this role very interesting to hear about a number of weeks ago when we heard from Deirdre Robb on our career expert panel. Working in exhibitions has generally been something that I had occasionally looked over, but when I started to go and few some art exhibitions for myself, I started to understand the importance of the role. The main thing that really interests me about this career is the ability to work with so many artists, it must feel like such a rewarding job where you get to learn a lot about different artist styles and cultures.

Within an Art Gallery, as well as having Exhibitors they also tend to have Curators, this was a career that didn’t know an awful lot about. The role of a curator is extremely research heavy, which is definitely something that I think I would struggle most about having this job. It also gives you some amazing opportunities to travel and work with various artists, which like I mentioned previously is something that highly interests me.

Learning about these careers has challenged me to think about the opportunities that we have here in Northern Ireland to volunteer in some of the galleries including ‘The Golden Thread’ and ‘Belfast Exposed’. This might be something that I would consider in the near future as it would allow me to gain some great experience in a new field.

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//BELFAST ENTERPRISE ACADEMY//

During this past week we were given the opportunity to have a look at what the University has to offer with its connections to Enterprise. This gave us an insight into how the university can help us if we were interest in becoming self-employed. Which is something that I am heavily considering at the minute, with the hopes of going part time or even full time with freelance work.

Enterprise helps us by giving us mentoring sessions, workshops on how to build your business and extra skills that will definitely help us become more desirable for future clients.

Learning about Enterprise (Belfast Enterprise Academy) definitely gave me a nudge in the right direction and has push me to start thinking a bit more about what I would like to do once I graduate. Business isn’t something I know an awful lot about, so I think it would be very important for me to take opportunities when they come, and this is certainly a massive opportunity for great learning.

At first, I was almost quite hesitant about the idea, but thankfully we were able to hear from a first-hand source of someone who has already gone through the learning with Enterprise and had nothing but good reports.

Sarah McAnallen spoke to us about her product, which is a redevelopment of an NHS product that helped her mum put socks on. Sarah’s new product took something that was ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘embarrassing’ and changed into something that she was proud to own. Through Sarah’s courage when pitching her ideas, and by the help of Enterprise, she was able to get some money behind her and start her very own business.

Having courage to pursue your own career path can be quite scary, which is why taking any help you can get at the start is very important. This is definitely something to consider over this next few months and going into final year.

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//FREELANCE OPPORTUNITIES AND CREATIVE CVS//

Previously we looked at Freelance editing, but this past week we have been looking at freelance work (photography and video work). Luckily over the past year and a half of this course I have been able to get quite a bit of experience in the freelance field, having my own clients with deadlines and the bonus of getting paid at the end of it.

Freelance isn’t always that simple of course, there are many different factors to consider when working with and for clients in public places. For example, insurance, this was something that I had done a bit of research about, but never actually went through with it. Our insurance covers ourselves as freelancers, our equipment and the people around us too. It’s essential because if anything was to go wrong, like if someone was to trip over a tripod, then it will cover you and your business.

Like I said previously, this is something that I had done a little bit of research about, but never really considered it up until now. As someone who is really trying to progress in this field, I feel like this should be my next step, it also may lake my work looks more appealing on my website once people know I have insurance.

During this past week I’ve also really considering assisting or doing a small placement with a freelancer, I feel like this may give me a lot more much needed experience as well as allowing me to get some extra contacts for work if it is ever needed.

As a freelancer, having a CV is so important as you can start to show some of the major projects you’ve worked on. I’ve always been aware of the importance of CVs but was never aware of the different types depending on which line of work you are in. Over these last two months, I have worked hard on creating my own website, as a way to store all of my work from previous clients and my own projects I’ve worked on, this allows future clients to scroll through the different avenues of freelance that I have explored. I’ve found this a great way to gain more confidence in the work that I have created, and hopefully this will progress further when new opportunities arise.

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//CAREERS PANEL//

During this past week we had to opportunity and privilege to have a careers panel with 5 different people from various careers and roles. This really gave me an insight into work in the real world, and actually how it is so important to have experience under you belt. This panel has also encouraged me to really consider a placement for my third year of university.

One of our panellists was George Kingsnorth who discussed with us about TV and Film production. It became very obvious to me that this was quite a hard field to be in and to be honest, it is not something that interested me too much, in my eyes it felt very corporate with not much room to experiment with your own ideas of work.

This moves me onto one of the next panellists, Khara Pringle who is a fashion photographer. As a businessperson I felt that her insights on work were very important to hear, she constantly pointed out how important it is to ‘be inventive’ and to ‘think outside the box’. Even though fashion photography isn’t something I’m overly interested in, this is still something I’ve found very important to consider.

Through the university we have the opportunity to do a placement with the PSNI, and so to give us a little bit more information on this, Davie Cairns was the next member of the panel. Initially this placement sounded very interesting to me, being giving the opportunity to think on your feet and be creative with the work you are trying to make our all things I think are really important, this is still a placement that I would definitely consider being involved in, but at this point in time I am still very undecided of my plans.

The next member of the careers panel was Deirdre Robb from Belfast exposed. Deirdre made it very clear to us about the importance of making connections and working with people, which is something that she does every single day in her line of work. One opportunity that has come clear to us as students is that we can volunteer in the Belfast Exposed gallery, which is a great way to gain experience and contacts for the future.

Last but not least Eyram Seneadza who is a content director from Mammoth Design Agency. Similar to George Kingsnorth I felt that a role like this was too corporate for me, even though there are some roles that are not interesting to me personally, I felt it was so important to listen and understand different peoples ways of working and trying to learn as much as possible from people who have worked for quite some time to get to where they are now. “Be passionate and work hard at what you do!”

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//PRESENTATION IDEAS//

Over these past couple of days, I have been doing a little bit more work in preparation for the presentation assignment that we have due on the 11thof December. After a lot of consideration, I have decided on the three jobs/practices that I would like to focus on. These are: Art Teaching, Freelance (editing) and Editorial. I have chosen these three specific roles because they have all been roles that I have considering over these past two months and previous to second year also.

Art Teaching: Over the next week or two I hope to have contacted both of my art teachers from back when I was an A-level student studying Art. I would specifically like to ask them questions about the job, their highlights/lowlights as well as the various routes that are available in order to get a job as an art teacher. Both of these teachers had very different insights into styles of art that they chose to focus on, so I would definitely like to explore different areas of focus, and weather photography and videography is a possible focus.

Freelance: Over these past few weeks and also these next couple of weeks I hope to continue with my own freelance work. I have also had the opportunity to work with other freelancers. This is something that I think would be very helpful for my research, as it is always great to have different insights from multiple people who may be at different stages of their freelance careers.

Editorial: Editorial is the style I would generally work in, and out of these three roles, this would be the one I am considering most. Over these next few weeks I hope to explore more about what editorial looks like, and how I may be able to take up a role in this field. I also plan on contacting a few Belfast based businesses that I am aware of who use their social media platforms to tell stories about the work they are doing. Being a student, I really hope that this gives me the opportunity to get some answers to the questions I have!

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//EDITORIAL//

Editorial photography is a style that is used for advertisement, not the type that sells, but in order to tell a story through a photo or video without using text. Editorial is freelance work but there is also the possibility of being hired by a larger firm. Throughout this past year I have really found my own style within photography and video. It has always been one of my aims to try and tell a story through what I create, whether that be for my own purposes or for something greater. 

I hope to someday work for an organisation that thrives to create impact on something, in surrounding communities, Northern Ireland or worldwide. In order to fulfil that goal, I’ve learnt that it is so important to take each opportunity as it comes. 

“It’s ok to do things for free, but don’t let people take advantage or you!” 

Being a student, I’ve found that it is really important to realise that if you put yourself out there, then so many opportunities will come your way. It’s also important to know that if people keep coming to you asking for favours, they may be taking advantage of you slightly. at the end of the day, building a portfolio of work is a very important thing in this type of work!

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//FREELANCE AND CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING//

Doing freelance work is generally something that has always interested me, and over the past year of this course I have found myself getting more and more freelance jobs which I have certainly enjoyed. Creating videos and taking photographs is genuinely a massive passion of mine and having the ability to do it for a living is a massive bonus.

One thing that has always been putting me off slightly about freelance work is the constant working with people, and as an introvert I find that concept quite troubling.

This is where freelance editing comes in. recently, I’ve found that one of my favourite parts of freelance isn’t the actual filming or photographing, in fact it’s the editing. Having the ability to sit behind my laptop/computer all day editing while having very minimal contact with clients etc is something that very much interests me. After the class sessions I left learning that you can make a career in video editing and photo retouching, which are two jobs which I never actually realised existed. It is definitely something to consider for future career paths.

Our most recent Employability Workshop was based around creative problem solving. One point from this that really stood out to me is the importance of the process of creative problem solving. This includes IDENTIFYING the problem, DEFINING the problem and what needs changed, EXPLORING the options you have and how they impact the change, taking ACTION and solving the problem, LOOKING BACK and reflecting on the problem and how it was solved.

Before this workshop I never really considered how important each of these steps where, but after this very helpful session with Cathy I have now definitely learnt the importance of each step especially when wanting to maximise the productivity in creative problem solving.

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//ART TEACHING//

Art Teaching was one of those jobs that I highly considered pursuing when I was applying for University places a few years back. I have generally always seen myself in a role or job where I was creating an impact on someone or something, and one of the outlets for this thought process was of course Art teaching. Over these past two years I have seen my mind slowly drift and ideas have changed. I still do see myself in a role or job where I can create an impact, but the role that I would take up has slightly changed and my focus has drifted from working entirely with people to working for people. 

Back when I was a student in high school, I had quite a mixed experience, but choosing Art for one of my A-level subjects really allowed me to enjoy my last two years of school before moving onto my gap year and into University. Due to the fact that I enjoyed studying Art so much in school, I thought that it would be an interesting career to pursue. My initial plan was to study Fine Art in the hopes that I would move onto a PGCE in Art teaching. This plan fell through after I failed to get onto that course but thankfully, I was able to get into the Photography course. Which also means that this goal of becoming an Art teacher is still alive if I were to choose it. 

Can I see myself being a teacher? I’ve always found this a difficult question to answer, I have never seen myself as an academic person, but during my time in school I was reminded that an Art teacher is different from any other teacher. You don’t need to be academic, and you most certainly don’t need to be an amazing artist either. All that matters is that you have a passion for Art, which I believe that is something that I have. At this point in time I don’t personally feel that Art teaching is the right choice for me but that definitely doesn’t means that that door is completely closed. 

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//EMPLOYABILITY WORKSHOPS//

Over these past two weeks we have been involved in workshops held by Cathy Moore, these two workshops have been based on Employability and what lies ahead for us students once we graduate. 

The first of these workshops was based on ‘Dealing with Uncertainty’ especially when it comes to the way that the world ins currently moving when it comes to jobs and future employability. Initially I found it very difficult to follow the points that were being made, but the addition of the quiz made me understand a few things that I wasn’t aware of, including the surreal amount of jobs that are being lost due to the fact that Electronics are capable of doing the exact same thing as humans. The Escape Room that we were tasked to complete in our own time also helped me understand a little more about what Employability looks like in the 21st century. 

the second of the two workshops was based on ‘Communicating in the Digital World’. I found this workshop quite helpful as I felt that it reassured me as a ‘creative’ that even though employability in the 21st century looks quite tedious, there are still a lot of availabilities for people in our lines of work. Basically, because every company needs a photography/videographer.

Communication is a very important aspect of work, simply, if you are unable to communicate well, then no business will want to hire you! We spent a section of this workshop learning about the different types of communication which is something that I personally haven’t focused enough on, so I found this very helpful. So far, after the amount of research that I have done, I would agree that I would be an assertive person. 

Overall, I would say that these employability workshops were both difficult to follow and also very challenging as they have given me a new insight into employability life after graduation, I have also felt challenged to learn more about how I can communicate and function in the workplace.