‘Your One Wild and Precious Life’

Alumni Speaker, 2024 Ottawa School of Art Fine Arts Diploma Graduation Class

The following is a speech I gave to the 2024 Fine Arts Diploma graduating class of the Ottawa School of Art. I am including it on my website as many of the students thought it would be a useful resource for emerging artists.

Celebrating my 2022 OSA Fine Arts Diploma Graduation! 

Photo: Ciara Kilpatrick

Introduction

Good afternoon students, staff, family and friends of the Ottawa School of Art! Congratulations graduates, certificate holders and scholarship recipients on your accomplishments. I am honoured and humbled you asked me to speak to you during this exciting occasion!

As you get ready to make your entrance into the world as emerging artist, I wish to ask you, in the words of poet Mary Oliver:

‘Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?’

Part I

First, let me tell you a little about my answer to that question. My journey began in 2018 when I decided to leave my consulting career in Indigenous relations and resource management. While I had always had a passion for art, it was a printmaking course with Robert Hinchley that led me to this seemingly spontaneous decision. Walking into the OSA printmaking studio, I was surprised to find myself transported back to my childhood as I heard the brayers pulling ink and the clanking of the press. My mother was a printmaker. She had studied at the Glasgow School of Art, and it seemed I was being called upon to continue her legacy.

It is Rob who also encouraged me to apply to OSA and I began my formal studies there in 2019. I found myself studying with an exceptional group of women from around the world and across Canada. We soon faced Covid, the trucker’s convoy and many, many lockdowns. Despite not being able to share hugs, we shared stories, resources, and supported one another through these anxiety-ridden times, going for endless coffees at Planet Coffee, finishing assignments in the lunchroom, and finally, preparing our graduation exhibit ‘Eleven.’

In the two years since, I’ve worked consistently to establish an art practice and studio. As of last month, I am represented by Galerie Annexe, at the Ottawa Art Gallery and have two large-scale works in the City of Ottawa’s Art Collection. And, perhaps more importantly, I will get to teach printmaking classes at the OSA this fall!  It feels a bit like a whirlwind, so I thought you might be interested in hearing how I keep myself anchored with the hope this might be of use to you.

Celebrating the City of Ottawa’s acquisition of two of my large-scale linocuts for their Permanent Collection and being represented by the OAG Annexe (Spring, 2024).

Part II

Life doesn’t stop tugging at you when you graduate and I’m sure it hasn’t while you’ve been at art school. Your life may include children or other family to look after, full, or part-time work, further educational pursuits or chasing down visas! Whatever the case, it is the unicorn of an artist who can dedicate themselves entirely to building an art practice.

 So have a Strategy:

Strategic Plan: Stating an overall vision for your art practice, with goals, objectives, tasks, a budget and promotional plan could assist you in prioritizing your time and resources. It may even be essential if you wish to establish a business. You can also create a broader plan that looks at how to balance your priorities of family, health, community, work and art.

Get Organized: Even if you are not establishing yourself as a business, it still helps to get organized as one. I can tell you from first-hand experience of late, it makes it so much easier to apply to opportunities if you have website and social media presence; an updated artist CV, artist statement, and bio on hand; a business card and other promotional material; and, most importantly, a records-keeping system. The latter will help you keep track of your artworks, your editions (if a printmaker), the materials you used, prices, commissions/sales. And those do happen!

 Create a Studio Space: You may live in a tiny apartment and only be able to work at your dining room table or rent a studio. Whatever your situation, create a dedicated space for your supplies. This could be in a plastic container that sits under your dining room table that you pull out at night; or – as one artist – shared, literally a converted closet. By easily accessing your materials, you will be more motivated to continue making art.

 Cultivate Connections: Connections facilitate learning, open new opportunities and can offer support and advice as you build your own art practice and find your feet as an emerging artist. Keep the ones you`ve made in art school, join and volunteer with a local arts group, share a studio, work with mentors, take local artists out for coffee and ask them for advice, and/or attend gallery openings (and not just for the free wine!).

 Develop the Cornerstones of Your Art Practice: Find the tools and resources that help you to keep moving forward. Mine are dedicated time in the OSA printmaking studio, continued studies in fundamentals, working with mentors (even on framing) and keeping art journals (both travel and daily).

·       Art Journal: Mine is a letter-sized hard cover sketchbook. It contains sketches, paintings, collages, or printed photos of my artworks, as well as my research. That is, poetry, quotes, printmaking techniques, the works of other artists that attract me, historical research, quotes from books or definitions from the dictionary. Essentially, anything that contributes to making an artwork or developing a body of work and the accompanying artist statement. It is the place I can go back to; to find out how I mixed a certain colour for a print or find inspiration for an artwork`s title.

 Work. Work. Work: This is the advice of art critic Jerry Saltz in his book on being an artist. And it stuck with me. Work on your art practice every day. This could be updating your artist CV, applying to an exhibit, doing an art challenge, or sketching at a local café on your work break. Inspiration for a new artwork won`t strike everyday, but don`t let that stop you evolving your practice.

 Ask. Apply. Ask. Apply: Apply to show in coffee shops, in galleries, in national competitions; to obtain scholarships or grants; to pursue residencies or short-term courses. Ask everyone about upcoming opportunities. While this will result in many rejections, it does eventually lead to unexpected opportunities. And, regardless of the rejections, it forces you to get organized, pushes you to make new art, and to keep your written materials fresh!

Believe in Yourself! Everyone can be an art critic or question art’s value. That is the topic for a much longer discussion. My point is only, you know your own talents and abilities and passions. Follow them. Believe in yourself. Call yourself an artist and be proud to do so.

My practice includes art studies abroad in Florence, Italy. These studies have given me confidence, inspired new bodies of work and given me the gift of new friendships with folks all over the world. Think this is inaccessible? Look up grants, subsidies, paid residencies both at home and abroad. There are many opportunities if you look for them.

 Have Fun! While my talk has focused on the work building an art practice requires, please don’t forget to have fun along the way. Play with new materials and techniques; loose yourself in the moment; find joy in the creative process even if your subject matter is of a serious nature. Life is short. Be surprised by joy!

 Conclusion

I do hope some of this advice resonates with you and helps you think through your next steps. Personally, after having a sneak peak of your exhibit, I am very excited to explore the artworks on display in the 2024 Graduating Class exhibit, ‘Entrance.’

To conclude, I ask you one more time to consider:

‘… what is it you plan to do with this one wild and precious life’ as an artist.’

Thank you, once again, for this honor. Congratulations!!!