Meet the artist - the reality of working as an artist

Join this panel discussion to hear from a diverse group of artist discussing their journey through art education to working as an artist.

Panellists will draw upon experiences and examples which they would say defines their 'success' as an artist.

Topics include:-

• Strategies for sustaining an art practice

• Managing your time/headspace

• Prioritising and recognising compromises

• Staying motivated

• Locating and accessing resources

• Artist opportunities

• Working in limited space or without a studio.

• Working outside of your art practice

The panel discussion will be followed by refreshments and networking.

This panel discussion will be chaired by Russell Martin. Russell is a visual artist, writer and arts administrator from Glasgow, based in London since 1998. Over a varied career he has co-organised and curated interdisciplinary arts events and exhibitions, taught about career development in the creative industries, worked as an artist on independent residencies and workshops, led gallery education projects, and maintained a fragmentary, ongoing and idiosyncratic career as an artist. Since 2001 Russell's art practice has been sustained working part-time for Artquest, a free advice and career development service for visual artists, backed up by research and data activity to evidence artists working conditions, barriers and ambitions.

Artquest is a public programme of University of the Arts London supported by Arts Council England.

About the panellists

Youngsook Choi instigates collective grief as the process of climate interrogation that scrutinises structural conditions intersecting human tragedy and environmental loss. Engaging North England post-mining towns, Malaysian rainforest and Vietnamese hydrosphere, In Every Bite of the Emperor (since 2021), the ongoing body of works on colonial exploitation is in tandem with this inquiry. With an emphasis on collective imagination, Youngsook founded the transnational eco-grief council Foreshadowing and co-founded the practice-based research collective Decolonising Botany.

Rosalind Davis is a Curator, Artist, art consultant, teacher /mentor, writer and designer. Davis has curated over 30 exhibitions to date and recently an ambitious group show at Arthouse Jersey r 2023 and was the Curator at Collyer Bristow Gallery in London 2016 -20. Davis is co-author of ‘What they didn’t teach you at art school’ and lectures at universities, galleries and organisations across the world including the RCA, ICA, Camden Arts Centre, UAL. As an artist Davis has exhibited nationally and internationally and work is held in a number of private and public collections including Soho House.

Joseph Ijoyemi a multidisciplinary artist whose practice explores Black identity, migration, heritage, and the African diaspora through sculpture, installation, and sound. He has collaborated with museums and institutions globally, using archival materials to tell powerful stories of movement, memory, and cultural resilience. As a co-founder of The Collective Makers, Joseph supports young creatives, helping them find their voice.

Eva Titherington an artist based in London. She explores stories held in land, materials, and objects through sculpture, performance, writing, video and artist books. she engages intimately with both people and mediums. Writing and sculpture are activated through performance, with sculpting itself becoming a performance. Scripts, lyrics, and concrete poetry often serve as a foundation for her work.

Image credit: Gracie Dahl