Young aspiring artists in Cardiff got to benefit from some advice of the most successful women in the creative industry at an event at Cardiff Metropolitan University this week.
The event Women in the Creative Sedtor was organised by Anna Rogers, student studying Fine Art at Cardiff School of Art and Design (CSAD).
Anna says: “I thought it’s really important as young artists and designers to have feedback from all of these women doing jobs that we want to go on to do. It’s nothing more complicated than that.”
Speaker Carole-Anne Davies the Chief Executive of the Design Commission for Wales, emphasised the importance of ‘authenticity’ and being open to opportunities.
“Don’t apologise, don’t explain, be yourself,” says Carole-Anne Davies.
“A lot of your success is about who you are,” explains Carole-Anne. “And the key characteristic, which I would recognise is ‘authenticity’. You have to be who you are because you can’t maintain being somebody else. Put yourself in the way of opportunity. Say yes even though you have no ideas.”
The idea of authenticity was also important for Karen Dell’Armi, Contemporary Jewellery Artist and Director of The Association for Contemporary Jewellery.
She highlighted the importance of five As: Awareness, Authenticity, Attitude, Alignment and Action.
But Bethan Gordon highlighted the importance of not thinking you have to have all the answers. “You learn a lot about yourself when you throw yourself into the deep end. Initially I thought you needed all the answers but actually what I learnt was that you don’t need to know where to go to get the answers.”
Bethan said: “Do not be afraid of having a part-time job to achieve what you actually want to do.”
Other speakers included Cath Davies, Principal Lecturer in Constellation area in the SACD, Melissa Hinkin, Artes Mundi’s Exhibitions Officer and independent curator, Zoë Gingell, Director of Cardiff M.A.D.E. gallery, and Davida Hewlett, Fine Art Lecturer at CSAD and Practicing Artist.
“You are probably not going to be working in the thing that you studied forever, or maybe even ever ever. So, you know, you’re gonna be doing something else. Doing a degree gives you all kinds of experiences and transferable skills. And you can do anything with it afterwards,” says one of the speakers and the Dean of CSAD Olwen Moseley.
The event was held on the first floor of SCAD