As a former student at Blackpool and the Fylde College, I
was invited to be guest speaker at the Young Artist of the Year Award 2013.
This is what I said.......
Since leaving Blackpool and the Fylde college 17 years ago,
I consider myself very lucky in having been able to continue exploring my art.
Tonight I would like to tell you of the three things that
have made that possible, the same three things I believe you will need if you
want to be an artist.
Firstly, you need passion. By passion, I mean a love to make
art. Regardless of if anyone likes it or whether it sells. Just a love to spend
time doing art. Passion.
Secondly, you need support. The idea of the artist as some
sort of hermit genius is rubbish. You won’t last long as an artist without the
support of your family and fellow artists.
Finally, I will talk about a dirty word in art school. The
“M” word. Money. You need it to do art.
Passion comes from you. You need passion.
Support comes from those around you. You need support.
Money. Well, of course, money grows on trees.
1.
PASSION (A LOVE TO DO ART)
How did I become an artist?
It wasn’t like I met a great artist and thought “How cool –
I’ll be an artist!”
I just loved to draw and paint.
And, just like you, because you spend time doing something
you like to do, you get a little bit better at it than those who don’t. And
then it gets recognised. “Oh, Norman can draw.”
“Wow, that’s a great drawing.” That makes you feel good, so
you do more.
And then people might even PAY you to do art! By high school
I was doing the drawings for my brother’s geography coursework. I was painting
schoolfriends’ neighbour’s dogs and cats and hamsters for a few pounds.
Passion. A love to do art. Not “I’m going to be a great
artist” but “I love to do art.”
TALENT
But don’t artists need talent? Aren’t artists BORN talented?
Isn’t it in their genes?
My Dad was a farmer and then worked at Leyland Motors. My
Mum worked at Damps, an old hardware store in Leyland. Then she raised three
boys and then she milked cows for 15 years. I have two older brothers, both
engineers. As far as I know, none of my family are remotely artistic. If I was
a born artist, there was some sort of flukey genetics going on.
Everyone is born talented. Some people can do mental
arithmetic, others can remember names. Some people can see when someone is
upset and say just the right words to comfort them. Everyone has talents. The
trick is matching your talents to what you want to do.
You want to know my talent?
I’ll tell you what was written on my junior school report. I
quote “Norman is painfully slow and deliberate in all he does.”
“That’s a talent?” You say
Yes, that’s my talent. I wasn’t a born artist, but I was
born with the love of spending time on things, of being completely absorbed in
a task and doing it to the best of my ability. As a child, I would spend hours
drawing pictures of footballers, completely engrossed.
Every young person with work in this exhibition has enough
talent to be an artist. But not all of you will, or would even want to, become
artists. Let me tell you why.
Talent is only the beginning. What you need more than talent
is passion – A love to do art.
Passion develops as you grow as an artist. It wasn’t until I
was at University in Newcastle that I really realised how much of an artistic
temperament I have.
Artists tend to be deep thinkers. They are sensitive to
life, they feel things deeply. They can be melancholic and moody (even beyond
teenage years.) They don’t want to just go the way everyone else is going. You
know why? Because they have a passion. They are not satisfied with life the way
it is and they won’t just sit there and take it, they feel it deeply and they
must express it somehow.
It’s like a volcano. More than a few days without creating
and the pressure builds. I get quiet and grumpy. I know that these ideas, this
feeling, will never come back if I don’t express it now.
So you hold it in until you get to the studio. You have no
idea what you’re going to make, but you need to make something. The volcano
erupts, as it were, and artwork is created, forever the moment of creation
preserved in paint or clay like the magma which sets as it cools.
That’s passion. It becomes part of your identity.
You already have the talent. What you need is passion. And
that starts with a love to do art.
STYLE
Don’t you need to find a style before you can be an
artist?
No, you already have a style, it’s already in you. It’s in
making art that we bring it out.
Style is not something you choose or do consciously. It is
the result of the unique combination of your background, your talents, your
interests and your influences. Style comes from inside you and can’t really be
controlled.
A class of students can be painting the same model, with the
same instructions and the same materials. Yet every painting turns out utterly
different. You are unique. You have your style already within you.
The worst thing you can do is say “Right, this is my style
and I’m sticking to it.” Style is a lifelong discovery.
Degas said “I’m glad to say I haven’t found my style yet.
I’d be bored to death.”
The only way to bring out your style is to do lots of
artwork and find out what you like to do and what you do best. You might look
at your artwork and think that every piece is different. But other people will
recognise your style in them all.
Your style is what you do most naturally when you’re not
thinking about style. Make every effort to get away from your natural
strengths, to learn new things. Your style will still be there.
So don’t worry about finding a style. You already have the
one you need, so get to work.
You have the talent, you have your style already in you. You
just need the passion.
If you have passion, you won’t wait until you have the
perfect place to work, the right weather, the right materials.
I used to paint in my bedroom but I must have started to
make a mess because soon enough I was banished to the garden shed. That was my
first studio. My first easel was a stepladder.
You have to be stubborn, fiercely protective of your
creative time.
Passion is the only thing that will keep you creating when
you feel pressures of money, guilt and indifference. The only guaranteed job
perk of being an artist is that you get to spend time making art, so you’d
better LOVE making art.
2. SUPPORT
No matter how passionate you are, you won’t be an artist for
long without support.
PARENTS
When it came to doing a Foundation course, I got places at a
couple of colleges closer to home, but knew that Blackpool was where I wanted
to come. So Mum and Dad paid the extra travel costs out of their own pocket and
I took the one and a half hour bus ride morning and night.
I could never have been an artist without my parents’
support. I don’t mean they paid for everything- they didn’t. I think they still
find it a bit strange what I do for a living. But I never heard those words
“Why don’t you get a proper job?”
SCHOOL
Encouragement is essential. Art is very personal and we take
criticism of our art personally. These days I teach people in their 60s who
remember word for word the thing their art teacher said that stopped them from
pursuing their passion. Art teachers – remember – art is personal. We take
criticism personally.
ART SCHOOL
If all you need is passion, support and money to be an
artist, why do people bother going to art school? Or even PAYING to go to
art school.
Because art school is the most supportive environment there
is in which to find yourself as an artist. And artists need support.
In the real world, if you say “I was thinking of wrapping a
bridge in plastic.” You will hear “Are you mad?” “Where will you get the
money?” In art school, you may hear “That’s an interesting idea. What colour
plastic might you use?”
My advice to you is this; If you go to art school, go to one
that will support what you want to do with your art, not one that will try to
make you into someone else. Look at the art that the teachers do. Every piece
of advice they give you will be to make your art more like theirs.
The tutors you work with are far more important than the
name of the institution or the qualification you receive. Good teachers are
those that inspire you with a passion for art by their own enthusiasm and
belief.
Remember- the art school is there to help you do what you
want to do.
In art school your teachers will contradict each other. That
is healthy. It means that you need to find the right answer for yourself and
develop a strong personal viewpoint.
However, I hear too many times “I did my degree and got a
First (class Honours). But I was persuaded to do this kind of art and I didn’t
do what I really wanted to.” That is tragic.
A good art school is worth it. Nine years after graduating, I
had artist’s block. I was isolated. There were no artists around me who could
challenge me. So I took my life savings and ploughed them into a year at an
American art school. Thankfully, I got two scholarships for the Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. I remember, having been given a tour of
the Academy, America’s oldest art school with its huge cast hall and mind
blowing facilities, standing on the sidewalk with the absolute conviction “I
HAVE to come here.” It was worth every penny of the $22000.
I came home broke and utterly inspired. A good art school
will leave you with challenges and inspiration which will feed you for years.
It’s no wonder that even the most successful artists teach part time. There is
no more stimulating environment than a good art school.
ARTISTS
When you graduate, you leave that supportive environment.
You walk off the end of a plank. All that wonderful support disappears beneath
your feet and you have to swim. You need new support, or your artist self will
drown in the sea of responsibilities and apathy.
The year I graduated, Norman Travis, my teacher at
Blackpool, made the trip up to see my degree show. He told me of an Artist in
Residence job at King Edward VII and Queen Mary School, Lytham. It was a
fabulous year.
Buoyed by the experience, I became self employed as an
artist in 2001 and rented my studio, Unit 113 Oyston Mill. I was proud to be,
as I believed, the only artist in Preston.
I soon realised that the romantic ideal of the isolated
genius is not much fun. In fact, no artist can get by without the support of
fellow artists. It is no coincidence that throughout art history, artists have
hung out together. There are photos of Lucien Freud, Frank Auerbach, Michael
Andrews and Francis Bacon having a meal together. Degas, Monet, Manet, Cezanne,
Van Gogh etc – they were all friends. This was their support network. Luckily,
it didn’t take long to discover my network in Preston, literally hundreds of
artists, as there must be in every city.
This might sound strange, but you also need the help of
artists who are no longer with us. You will only be as good as the artists you
surround yourself with, but we can go to museums and spend time with the
greatest artists that ever lived.
Never be afraid to steal ideas from other artists, living or
dead. Nobody is original. American painter Wayne Thiebaud said to his students
“Everything I do I stole from someone else, and if you’re not careful I’ll
steal from you.”
Another thing – share your ideas. “Artists aren’t magicians;
there’s no penalty for revealing your secrets.” (Austin Kleon)
I must mention in concluding this section the incredible
support I’ve received from people who collect my art. Without them, and the
people who pay for my art courses, I wouldn’t be able to continue. They have
invested in me and in return for their support I try to be the best artist and
teacher I can be. But that leads us into the final thing that an artist needs,
and that is money.
3.
MONEY
If it’s money you’re after, there are lots of easier ways of
getting it than by making art.
Let’s deal with the old cliche. Artists starve in a garret.
At some point, every artist has to answer this question; how
do I arrange my life so that I can do my art and make enough money? There are
as many answers as there are artists.
It is one of the reasons many artists, even successful
artist, still teach. A small regular income takes the pressure off working in
the studio.
I know an artist who makes £100,000 a year doing artwork he
knows is not the truest thing he can do. I know artists who barely scrape by
but get to do the artwork they really believe in. Those are just two answers to
the question of money.
There is a nice idea that if you hide away in your studio
and make incredibly sincere artwork, galleries will come knocking on your door.
The fact is, to be a successful gallery artist, you might need to spend as much
as half of your time marketing and running your business.
The key is; do great work and put it where people can see
it. (Austin Kleon)
When I do the artwork I believe in and somebody responds to
it in a way which shows it has spoken to them, that is success. When they also
buy it, that’s even better.
SUMMARY
You only need three things to be
an artist; passion, support and money.
I will finish by sharing what I
have found to be the most useful piece of art advice I have ever received.
Given by Scott Noel, my teacher in America.
Your artwork is never as good or
as bad as you think it is.
Let me say that again.Your work
is never as good or as bad as you think it is.
You do a new piece and you think
“This is amazing – I’m going to be recognised as the great artist I am…I can
just picture my work in the Tate Gallery, a huge banner….”STOP! Your work is
not as good as you think it is. Keep working, carry on, it will get better.
On another day, you think your
work is terrible- you might as well give up –NO! It’s not as bad as you think
it is – carry on. It’s worth finishing. You will look at it in a month or a
year and realise “Actually, it’s pretty good.”
Either way, the outcome of the
advice is this; “Carry On”. And that’s all you need to do.
