Me making art live as part of my final show at Plymouth Uni earlier this year – now follow the story of my attempts to work as an artist
1/A true story
(December 2023)
I HAVE been writing professionally now for almost 50 years but I can honestly say that nothing I’ve written has been as frightening as this. Frightening to write, that is – you’re perfectly safe. You’re not entering a world of horror fiction. Horror fact, maybe…
Over the years I’ve written about everything from Appletons on Mercurys (if you know, you know) to green politics (still, to my mind, the only politics that make any sense), but the reason my fingers are hovering hesitatingly above the keys now is that this blog is all about me. Or, to be more accurate, about my art practice.
And being accurate is crucial to my endeavours here because I have vowed to myself – and by implication now to you – that I will be totally truthful. Which is enough to put the shits up anyone.
So you know it’ll be truthful, but what will it be truthful about? And who really wants to read about art? Isn’t writing about art, as Laurie Anderson once said of talking about music, like dancing about architecture?
Having just completed a degree in Fine Arts at Plymouth Uni, I am strongly of the opinion that a lot of writing about art is actually designed to perpetuate the elitism of the art world, in much the same way that legal jargon or parliamentary discussion is intended to keep the common man in his place.
But there is, I believe, some interesting stuff to be said about an anti-consumerist artist (me) and his (my) attempts to actually sell some art.
A successful art practice isn’t just about making art and collecting the money, of course – and if it is for some artists, I’d like to read THEIR blogs. For me, and many other artists I’ve spoken to and others I’ve heard talk about their work on blogs and interviews, an art practice is also about keeping the creative drive alive, the creative juices flowing, the creative buzz… buzzing. And that can be even more difficult to do than I’ve just found it to say.
Time management, for example, is crucial. After a career in deadline-driven publishing, and having decided I wanted to develop a fine art practice I opted for the academic route: I knew that uni would provide me with the time structure of lectures, modules and deadlines that I needed. But where will that structure come from now I’ve graduated?
Contact with, and support from, other artists is also crucial, unless you’re one of those people who thrives on isolation. No, didn’t think so. Again, for me uni provided the answer and I loved being around other creative minds (fellow students and lecturers). But how to find that sort of creative interaction in the real world?
Now I’ve left uni, none of that is available to me and I need to be self-motivated and self-disciplined, not to mention ‘self-employed’. Notice a heavy use of the ‘self’ word here? But the more ‘selfs’ who share our experiences, the more we learn right? About what will – and what won’t – work for us individually.
As the last six months ticked down, I knew that I would soon need some sort of alternative structure in place (I might have chosen to not to follow studies in mathematics, but it was a three-year course and even I can count down from three), so I started to get things rolling.
On the time management front I figured that once I’d got ‘things’ and ‘stuff’ in my diary, some sort of structure would follow, so I started by setting up social and creative meetings with fellow students and lecturers, and other artists I already knew. Then I joined local art groups and starting planning one of my own. Then I started to sharpen up my social media and other online malarky (not too technical for you I hope), including notes on this and future blogs. And I’ve got a regular local arts page in Reconnect magazine (reconnectonline.co.uk). I even made my first potential commercial outlet connection…
Then I had a heart attack… then I got shingles… in my eye… Now I don’t want to suggest the transitional process from student to working artist brought on these illnesses, but the effects of them certainly did stick a spoke in the wheel of the process itself.
I should also add that thanks to the wondrous NHS, and the help and support of family and friends, I am now fully recovered and if not quite fighting fit, certainly up for the occasional heated debate.
All of which means (and if you’ve skimmed it until here, this is the perfect place to get back onboard) I am perfectly placed to tell a few (true) stories about the progress (and otherwise) of a new artist in the art world: I’ve worked in publishing for years and years and years; I’ve just completed an arts education (if we ever really complete an arts education – discuss); and, despite my advanced years, I really am trying to do something creative and make some money from it. Some time. Eventually.
So follow me on Instagram (@martinfosterart) or Facebook for gritty (ie unwashed) updates and do please let me know your own experiences by pm or at martinfoster4242@gmail.com.
NEXT TIME: Tell me about it – how to capture your art practice in words and make an artist’s statement work for you.
Martin Foster Art 