How I became a fulltime artist - Part 1
Once upon a time, I was a bright-eyed Fine Art school graduate with big dreams of becoming a full-time artist. I won the NZ Emerging Artist of the Year award in my final year of my degree and I guess I felt the pressure from this achievement, to become a real artist. . After renting a cheap studio in my hometown and toiling away at a series of work based on being underwater, I had my first solo show in Hamilton.
I sold nothing and got a total of about 20 people coming into the small gallery that I was renting.
This depressing leap into the art world made me realise that being a fulltime artist was going to be a rough ride.
So, I did what any rational person would do and looked for a "real" job. I landed a gig at Te Papa museum in Wellington, which fueled my educational fire and led me to gaining my Graduate Diploma in Primary Teaching. I moved to the sunny, beachside community of Whitianga and through many tears and stressful learnings, I finally became a registered teacher and really enjoyed imbuing my passion for art into the children that I taught. Obviously art featured DAILY in my classroom, but at home, my own practise was downgraded to a hobby; only pursued when I had the head space and the time to do so. (For those teachers reading - you know exactly how hard those first two years in the profession are!)
After I became registered, I was super keen to travel. ! I ended up in London for two years on the classic kiwi OE and had the most amazing experiences all over Europe and South America. My art took on a photographic form as I loved recording my adventures.
When I finally returned to NZ, I found myself settling back into teaching in Whitianga and feeling like I needed to re-explore my painting. Being overseas had re-ignited my love of New Zealand’s beautiful natural world, so most of my works for the next couple of years focussed on trees, beaches and birds. At this time, I did get my artwork out into ‘galleries and gift shops’ and I managed to also sell some at the local markets but it was still just a side hustle and nothing that I thought I could make full time.
To be continued….