The core programme of the Graduate Associates Programme, was to consist of eight online training sessions with invited speakers, held on the last Monday of every month, over Zoom. It was an opportunity to focus, to share a creative space and to grow as an artist.

 

I got in! Anybody want to dance?

 

So that was then, and this is now. For anyone engaged in lives of creativity, they will understand that this often solitary life of self-discovery, becomes the force of all the meaning and making that makes life worth living… whether they call it art, passion or insanity. 

 

Loneliness is sometimes a by-product of the solitude necessary for creative work, natural and needed, often terrifying, but always rewarded with moments of clarity. This journey with the CiRCUS ARTSPACE Graduate Associates Programme, has opened up new possibilities for collaboration, cemented friendships and pushed the boundaries of what is comfortable.

 

To be an artist is to be fully awake to the totality of life; to see what others cannot, to move through it and to be moved by it, then to interpret what is encountered and render that inner fluttering, into something solid and whole.

 

In this instance, my work is an exploratory walk around my own sense of place. I read a book called ‘Wanderful’ by David Pearl, about the arts, walking and social change. He believes art and walking can deliver fresh insight to our lives and I responded to this notion by exploring my garden. The installation and sculptures I produced are my findings: a marriage between other people’s discarded carrier bags and gardening! All life happens in the garden. Chance plantings, sitting with much loved trees, wildlife, growing food, solitude, sounds, tactility, creativity and growth!

 

Being a Graduate Associate has given me space to grow in a supported and creative environment. From the first tentative steps of setting goals and understanding failure and resilience, we went on to learn about how to write an engaging artist statement and how to maximise impact via social media. We have had the joy of Davina Drummond sharing her insight into how to develop a socially engaged portfolio career. We learnt to recognise transferrable skills and were given advice on devising and leading community projects and public workshops. We have had checklists, templates, conversations, questions asked and questions answered, Sideshow Socials, laughter and tears.

 

Of course, I have also had the pleasure of fortifying friendships with my fellow exhibitors in CIANALAS: Morag Smith and Louise Allan. Their support in this place of constant change, has given me sustenance and an ability to keep saying ‘Yes!’ when everything in me was saying no.