“Around 20 years ago I was painting a lot of abstracts and semi abstract paintings, then in 2003 I went to university and did a BA degree in Fine Arts.
When I came out of that my art had changed dramatically, I decided that I was only going to paint commissioned murals and never try to paint individual paintings or show in a gallery ever again. I think it almost destroyed my creative spirit, I lost complete confidence in producing abstract work because I didn’t have a ‘concept’ behind the work, I thought my work had no meaning or depth.
Over the past year or so, I have been drawn towards creating abstracts again. My favourite way of working is intuitively, having no end result in mind and just going where the painting takes me. Many times I end up with just a muddy mess, but sometimes something amazing happens. I have come to realise that my best work doesn’t need a concept or meaning, people tend to find their own meaning in the work.”
This was a post I put out on Facebook this week. It began as a comparison between my early abstract paintings (like the one above) and my more recent pieces (below).
I hadn’t painted abstract work for around 20 years, and I put this down to the fact that I stopped painting them when I did my BA in Fine Art from 2003 – 2008.
I hadn’t intended this post to be a negative prose about the degree, but after reading the comments that followed, I realised that a lot of the artists I am friends with on Facebook had also had bad experiences with a Fine Art degree:
“My Fine Art degree totally shit on any enjoyment of making art for me. EVERYTHING had to have a fucking concept and that concept had to be anything except joy.“
“Totally agree with you both! Struggling to ever make work again… preferred the joy of gardening!”
“I had a similar experience. 4 years pretty much wasted.”
“I agree sadly, I lost my way. I loved painting but my faith in it became destroyed. Sorry to say.”
“I didn’t paint during the 5 years either, because ‘it didn’t seem to be what was required.”
“Your post gives me hope. Thankyou. I know exactly wot you mean.”
“I realised it wasn’t for me when one lecturer told me to stop painting colorist abstracts on card, which I loved doing at the time. He said, ‘you need to stop doing all this…’. I was like, eh!?”
I then tried to look back and work out why I had wanted to do the degree in the first place. I was already an established artist and regularly sold my work. I had already worked out that I preferred to do public murals but hadn’t analysed why at that time.
So why did I want to do a BA in Fine Art?
Well, my main reason was that every time I tried to submit a proposal to bid for a public art project, if it was funded by an Arts Council organisation, they would only consider applicants with a degree. So I thought I could use this course to thoroughly research the history and development of murals and get those precious letters behind my name at the end of it.
I soon discovered that Fine Art seemed to be more about the ‘concept’ than it was about the art. “Concept” to me just meant the “Art Bollox”. And I really struggled with it, always believing that my art should just stand alone, let people take what they want from it!
The course totally put me off ever wanting to make art to show in galleries ever again, and I didn’t actually paint (other than on walls) for around 10 years after the course had finished.
At one point I remember one of the tutors telling me I should step outside of my comfort zone and try something I had never done before. I had never stopped doing courses in various art forms since I left school, so the only thing he could find for me to try was performance art, this was totally going against my reasons for doing the degree in the first place!
What did I get out of the degree?
I do want to add that it wasn’t a totally negative experience. I did enjoy learning some of the art history and some of the tutors did understand what I wanted to get out of the degree and they were very helpful in pointing me in the right direction for my research.
I learnt a lot about the origin of murals and realised that I wanted to specialise in ‘trompe l’oeil’, the trick of the eye type, which required a lot of realism in the work, a million miles away from painting abstracts.
I also did get those precious letters behind my name, which I rarely used! I came to realise that any project that was asking for applicants with a degree, wasn’t a project I would want to be involved in.
I don’t want to put others off doing a BA degree in Fine Art, I know many artists have said it helped them to find direction for their art. But I do want to add that many of the students I knew from university went on to do many other jobs, not many actually became full time professional artists.
ninacamplin.co.uk 
I have questions, that I’m struggling to word well: do you think there are opportunities that you wouldn’t have reached for later in life, but you did because being qualified meant you knew others would take you seriously? does the degree have the more nebulous value of helping you to feel legitimate? And do you know successful artists without formal qualifications?
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..also I’ve said many times on Facebook but I freaking LOVE this arc in your work, you’ve made some fantastic paintings this year, congrats 😁
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Thank you so much, you don’t know how much it means to get feedback like this!
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I will attempt to answer each of your questions individually.
“do you think there are opportunities that you wouldn’t have reached for later in life, but you did because being qualified meant you knew others would take you seriously?”
Not really sure what you are asking here. I was in my 40’s when I took my Fine Art Degree, so I wasn’t exactly young and naive when I took it. I still take on any opportunities that are offered to me now that I am getting close to 60. I am glad I took the degree, if only because I would have always felt that I had missed out by not taking it. As for others taking me seriously, I try not to even take myself too seriously!
“does the degree have the more nebulous value of helping you to feel legitimate?”
DEFINITELY NOT!
And do you know successful artists without formal qualifications?
Firstly, how do you measure ‘success’ of an artist? Is is by how much money the artist earns, the fame they have acquired, or by being able to fit art into their lives comfortably? I could argue that a ‘successful’ artist is one who manages to make a living on the art they produce without having to have a 2nd job to support themselves. In my opinion the most ‘successful’ artist of our times is Banksy, and I am pretty sure he has no formal art qualifications.
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Oh I never realised you did it as a mature student! That makes sense. I think the second question was an extension of the first like, I’m wondering if my own lack of confidence might be resolved by getting some kind of accreditation but, I guess not!!
I think I define success the same way – making a living, however modest, that means you don’t have to wage slave to support yourself. And I think more than anything, what it takes to do that is immense courage, against cultural programming to go along and get along in something secure but dull. Full of admiration for you, and my other artist friends.
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Confidence is definitely the key! That is probably the hardest thing to conquer, when you are an artist, it’s a bit like laying your soul bare to the world, especially posting on social media, etc. You can get 99 positive comments and 1 negative one and it’s the negative one that sticks in your mind and batters your confidence.
Sometimes family members can seem like the lease supportive. I always wanted to be an artist, but my parents persuaded me to direct my creative abilities into becoming a graphic designer, as that would be a lot more lucrative and offer far better job security and financial safety, and they were absolutely correct! I loved doing graphics when I was younger, but it was never for myself, never felt like ‘me’. I did graphics for about 15 years after leaving school and actually felt like it gave me a really good grounding, having to deal with clients and deadlines, if I had become an artist straight from school, I would have found it extremely difficult to connect with the real world!
I really do appreciate your support, and if you ever want to chat please do message me on Facebook Messenger or call me on 07947 044013.
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