Ten years on
The other day I received an email from Glasgow School of Art asking alumni who had graduated ten years ago what they were doing now.
It stopped me in my tracks. Was it really ten years since I graduated?
During the past ten years there have been immense changes in the way the world operates thanks to digitisation of our cultural landscape and the globalisation of our economy, (and of course 9/11.)
How has this impacted on artists and on a personal level, my own practise?
Well to start with I use electronic devices and software (iphone an ipad) that were not even invented then and often distribute work through social networking sites like Youtube, Flickr, Facebook and Blipfoto.
None of this existed ten years ago.
The other evening at a gallery opening of Sue Grierson and Belinda Gilbert in the Changing Room, Stirling we discussed the impact of new technologies on artistic practises for Sue, a graduate of the GSA MFA programme, also works with new technologies.
She reckoned that the next ten years would see even bigger changes.
OMG!
Meanwhile I am about to suss out iCloud.
Does this mean that all my external hard drives are obsolete?
In the “real world” as opposed to the virtual world we had on Saturday the first ever Bridge of Allan Contemporary Arts and Craft event.
It was phenomenally successful, even the organisers were taken by surprise.
Far from the “virtual world” supplanting the real world it simply seems to fire up more enthusiasm for the arts, particularly crafts, by unleashing pent-up creativity in the community.
Three people working on email pulled this event together at short notice.
They built on the work of Forth Valley Open Studios and many people are now talking about an artistic “tipping point” having been reached with Bridge of Allan and Stirling becoming another focus for the arts in Scotland, a focus long shared by Glasgow and Edinburgh.
In fact two years ago, before Forth Valley Open Studios, the central belt of Scotland was considered an artistic wilderness.
But the next ten years could be radically different for all the arts throughout the UK as we face an uncertain future as the full force of cutbacks in arts education and budgets are felt.
I for one could not have afforded to go to Glasgow School of Art as a mature student. The fees are now £27,000 and I would not have been eligible for a student loan.
