When Choice Isn't Really a Choice!
Lichen on the work bench. Image by Syd Buron
A long time ago I made a choice…. It had always been pretty clear that Art was going to be my thing, or should I say Art had chosen me and there was no getting away!
I duly applied and was accepted to Art College, worked my butt off and then went on to complete a year at the Bishopsland Workshops in Oxfordshire, a place to help graduate jewellers and silversmiths get started on their journey as self employed crafts people. Following that I floundered a bit, I had no idea what I was really doing in terms of running a business and I was suddenly out there in the big wide world….so I ran to Cornwall. Then, after much toing and froing, I found myself back in the Midlands working at the City Gallery in Leicester and with no workshop. And that’s when my next choice came along…. I was offered the post of Craft Manager at the gallery. This was my chance to make a career in the gallery world, in a job that offered a very good wage at something I had proved myself to have an eye for….spotting makers work that would sell well from the gallery shop. And I considered that job opportunity for at least…5 seconds!
That was it….the kick up the bum I needed after Art College burn out. I wasn’t done with Art yet, or rather Art wasn’t done with me. Art saw that I’d tried for a nano second to wriggle off her hook and she was not having any of it…I was hers and Art made that absolutely clear…I was NOT going to get away!