The Sarah J Stanley Self-Esteem For the Artist Award 2011

for applicants of any artistic discipline. great on the CV. awesome award

download and complete the application for this award HERE

in a sentence

in some application form I had to describe my work in one sentence. I said:

My work has a 'best in the world' innocent bravery with the honesty and fragility of a personal diary

hahahahaha. who know's what they were after. I mean, they know they're just going to get a whole string of adjectives as an artist tries their best to describe something in a singular sentence. I am toying with the idea of just saying:

best paintings ever

this doesn't quite top the question I got asked at an interview last year though which pretty much is the best question I've ever been asked in my life:

interviewer: how good would you say your art was on a scale of 1-10?

me: 10 obviously

maybe I should say:

ten out of ten

how to survive in aberdeen as a creative

• we all know someone who is a complete fanny but is getting paid like a gazzilion £s a month at some oil company for doing relatively little work and taking 3 hour lunch breaks. TRY, if you can, to find comfort in the fact that they are STILL a complete fanny

• your studio is not aberdeen. it's not the outside world

• if you can't find artists to talk to in real life, live most of your life online, in a chat window.

• don't make shit, safe art whatever you do

• remember if you can make it in aberdeen (and I don't mean sell paintings or become part of the 'scene' here. I mean, carry on working and making good art/trying to survive financially as a creative) you can do it anywhere. this has to one of the hardest places to work and feel valued as an artist

• remember some people do give a shit and together you're probably going to be the most proactive artists because you have to fucking be to get anything done in this city

• money is shit. just erase your bills and get on with making stuff and hanging out with the right people

• the oil might run out and we'll be a fishing town again and our rent will get cheaper and we'll have fish and chips all the time

art club does good

this email totally made my day/year. schools genuinely don't teach art in the right way or environment so was so happy to hear kids talking about contemporary art and learning confidence in art making and getting feedback like this:

Hi Sarah,

I've been meaning to send you feedback on the first session. Here are some thoughts (both mine and H's):

H has been to lots of after school activities and I can say without hesitation that this was his favourite. Usually I have to do a bit of cajoling to get him to go along to classes, but I never once had to encourage him to go to Art Club. He was bounding out the door after school. The animation session was a favourite. He did his own animations for days afterwards. I think you followed through on your promise that it wouldn't be an average art class and that's what H responded to. Being not the greatest drawer he was really pleased to know that you can make art and be creative in many ways. I think he also enjoyed the open and fun nature of the club which I'm sure had something to do with the other participants and lots to do with the teachers! From my point of view it was a pleasure to pick H up at the end of the class and clearly see how much he had enjoyed himself. He's a lively boy and you seemed to be able to handle his personality well. We'll definitely want to do another session.

Finally, thanks for sending me invitations to openings etc. at Project Slogan. I haven't made it to one yet (summer was very busy). But I hope I'll make it to something soon.

Thanks,

G.