The UK’s seen a noticeable increase in professional development schemes for artists, encompassing training, mentoring, networking and information services. There is an obvious cross-reference to the government’s endorsement of ‘lifelong learning’ as a principle, encouraged through the offer of individual learning accounts for all. These moves increase opportunities for the kinds of artistic development that incorporates developing and honing skills, accessing facilities and ultimately furthering career strategies. The results are more than just CV embellishment. By providing points of crossover between artists, such schemes contribute to peer support systems and help to address the potential isolation of artists. Here, three individuals involved in artists’ professional development matters describe some of the resources around, and discuss how artists are making the most of them.
Jennie Syson offers some advice on approaching galleries, through setting out the different research routes and methods you might use.
Includes an extensive interview with London-based artist Larry Achiampong – a graduate of the University of Westminster and Slade School of Fine Art – plus insights from graduating students, lecturers and visual art professionals. Available on issuu and as downloadable pdf.
Artists, gallerists and curators offer tips and guidance on how to price work when exhibiting in group shows, selling at open studios, or applying for open competitions.
An overview of the current Age Discrimination law in Great Britain under the Equality Act 2010, followed by a set of action points for arts employers, and guidance for individuals who might want to challenge a decision or a practice.
What you need to know, and where to find it when stepping out as a new artist.
2013 Degrees publication highlighting the best graduate art and design shows around the UK.Downloadable PDF version [size 6 MB]. Requires PDF reader.Issue also available in flip-page format (requires Flash) – including non-Flash version for mobile devices.
After joining Degrees unedited in March 2013 Jasper Weinstein Sheffield has showed us there’s much more to his conceptual approach than a blade of grass. He tells us more as prelude to degree shows at Northumbria University.
Over the course of four years, artists, curators and writers were invited to select blogs from the a-n site. Their choices highlights the range and depth of practice discussed on a-n’s artists’ blogging platform at that time.
After a busy 2012 of solo shows, festivals and art fairs; we talk to Scottish artist Kevin Harman about his career since graduating from Edinburgh College of Art’s MFA in 2010. And pick his brain on art education today.
Lauren Healey talks to Neville Gabie about his extensive experience of residencies in settings from building sites to Antarctica, embedding himself in communities and the importance of establishing the right kind of relationships.
Annabel Tilley talks to Gary Hume about twenty-five years of practice, prizes and paint.
After his first solo show in London this June, Richard Taylor talks to Chris Agnew about MA study, moving his studio practice to Romania, individualising professional practice, plus much more.
Alice Bradshaw talks to Nick Fox about cuts in art education, the John Moores Painting Prize, balancing work between two cities, and being called a painter.
How do you run an open exhibition? Jo King, curator of the Ludlow Open, explains all, from sourcing funding and the reasons behind charging artists entry fees, to curating 60 artists’ work.
Artist S Mark Gubb talks to Magazine Coordinator Chris Brown as he prepares the last ever issue of a-n Magazine.
We’re proud of what a-n Magazine has achieved over its thirty-two years. On the occasion of the last print edition we invited many of our collaborators and contributors to help us celebrate and mark this moment by giving us a ‘few words’ – a short testimonial of what a-n means to them. Here, they reflect on our significant role for artists and on the value of a-n Magazine, publications or initiatives.
Artists and co-mentors Ania Bas and Ruthie Ford explore socially engaged issues, language and practice. Here they talk to Andrew Bryant about the importance of process, their collaborative blog and the artists’ relationship to critical reading, writing and debate.
2012 Degrees publications highlighting the best graduate art and design shows around the UK. Downloadable PDF version [size 5.4 MB]. Requires PDF reader.
Angela Smith, Canine, gloss, enamel and oil on canvas, 38x38cm, 2011.
A guide through six years of professional artist practice by Kai-Oi Jay Yung; an artist whose track record adheres to a-n’s ongoing mission to provide resources for graduates and early career practitioners as they step up the ladder and beyond.
Frances Lord explores the practice of Chien-Wei Chang, his route into making and how his cultural background is reflected in his work.
Rosanne Robertson delves into the a-n archive and unearths a rich history of artists’ practice.
We catch up with Clare Mills in the third year of her Fine Art degree at Norwich University College of the Arts, to talk about teaching and the printing process as it corrolates with researched subject matter.
I have been reading with interest the debate in a-n about the development of “alternative art schools” (Research papers: Alternative art schools, Pippa Koszerek, 2011).
