I was beyond disappointed with the Business Opening of the Edinburgh College of Art degree show last night – Painting Department. I felt a combination of frustration and anger as I walked from room to room to see how little the programme and the tutors seem to prepare the students for life after Art College. I’ll try to explain: Let’s imagine you’re young and ambitious and you want to start up your own business, perhaps a retail store. You spend four (or more) years in business college studying and learning what you believe are the skills to graduate and to become a success, or at the very least to be able to make enough to get by doing what you love with a little left over to pay off your massive student loan. You’ve invested tens of thousands into your education and immediately upon graduating you manage to set up a small store and prepare for your opening day. It’s a huge day and you’re terribly excited. You’ve invited everyone you know and you’ve invested time and money into contacting local suppliers, nearby businesses and potential clients. You feel very fortunate that your tutors from the business college are still there helping you along the way and offering words of wisdom. The doors are soon to open, you see hundreds of people queuing to get in, your heart is pounding and your business tutors/mentors are there by your side to provide some last bits of advice for you. “Try to avoid the customers as much as you can”, they say, “and, if at all possible, leave the store entirely when they come in. Clients prefer to not have their questions answered and they really enjoy being confused. Oh, and lastly, take all the prices off of everything! Buyers love to guess how much something is worth.” OK, I’m guessing that the ECA tutors didn’t directly tell students to avoid talking to potential clients or not to invigilate their space (although from what I understand they did tell them to not have prices on the work) but the fact that I saw very few of the graduates in their spaces last night and of those who were there, none of them approached me or even made eye contact when I was looking at their work means that the tutors did not tell them that this is just a little bit important. What really irritates me is that I see this, the Edinburgh College of Art degree show, merely as a vanity project for the programme coordinators/tutors as they strut about with whom I assume to be Art College business partners, council members or funders (feel free to tell me if I’m wrong here as this is just a guess). Rather than focussing on the needs of the students and preparing them for the realities of the world (and who without them, they wouldn’t have a f**£ing job) they put their energy into smearing on the lip gloss and kissing the ass of every person walking around in a suit. Why would the tutors dissuade the students from having prices, especially on the flipping Business Opening when people are there to hopefully purchase art?! Do they think it cheapens the event, the artwork, the creative process? Please someone; enlighten me because I’m terribly confused. Don’t call it a Business Opening if there is nothing there for sale! I was speaking to one of the graduates last night who was standing beside her absolutely stunning paintings. Of course there were no prices and so I took the first step and asked her how much they were. She said, “I don’t know. How much do you think they’re worth?” What the f**k??!!! “How much do I think they’re worth?!!!” Instead, she should have been asking herself, “How can an art college take tens of thousands of pounds from me and then so badly prepare me for the real world?” And then the tutors try to drill in the importance of Professional Practice to the students throughout their years studying and yet here I am online struggling to find a website for many of these tutors. How about a Facebook page? No? Tumblr perhaps? Still no? Twitter? Don’t be ridiculous!! Excuse me but are we living in 2014 or 1974? On the other hand, I was at the Duncan of Jordanstone degree show on Wednesday and the level of professionalism on the part of the students was absolutely flawless. Every student was invigilating their space, they were there to answer any questions I had or just to talk about their work with enthusiasm. They all had spaces for business cards and comment books, often many of them overflowing with cards of congratulations and flowers from friends and family and if they didn’t have prices next to the artworks they had a little floor plan on a table with the layout and the prices. Funnily enough, there were a lot more little red dots on the walls there than at the ECA show. I can only assume that this complete difference in approach, in both professionalism and in the encouragement and support of the students, comes from the different culture of the two art colleges and their management and tutors. Putting one’s heart and soul up on display for the entire world to see and to be critiqued is one of the most frightening experiences imaginable and having the support of friends and family -- and especially tutors -- is integral to these young artists not throwing in the towel right after graduation and instead continuing on with their passion and love for art. One last thing and then I’ll finish my grumpy old man rant: We have some money left in the art budget at Art in Healthcare and if we decide to buy art from a degree show this year, I will go back to Duncan of Jordanstone over Edinburgh College of Art. Well done Duncan of Jordanstone College and graduates.
Posted on: Fri, 23 May 2014 13:26:10 +0000
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