1. What did you study at Amersham & Wycombe College – did you enjoy it?
I did the two year DATEC Diploma in Art & Design, at Stanley Hill, Amersham from 1981-1983, straight from school (having just turned 16), and I loved it! I’d come from an almost bookless household, on a farm where I’d wondered why I felt so out of place. At Amersham I found a home of like-minded spirits. I was like a little sponge, soaking up every aspect of life at art college; absorbing the cultural, the historical and the practical with a positive greed.
2. What did you do after you finished at Amersham & Wycombe? Can you give us a brief history of your career so far?
After Amersham, I went on to (what was then), Brighton Poly, to study a BA (hons) in Fine Art Painting. The course encouraged students to develop an intellectual and critical capacity to their practice and my learning curve continued at a speedy rate of knots…
When I finished my degree, in 1986, I wanted to stay in Brighton, but I clearly had to make a living. Finding that I had an intuitive ability with Graphic Design (I’d been busy for three years mucking about with the Fine Art Department’s black and white photocopier), I used my cocky youthful confidence (and complete ignorance), to launch a freelance Design career. I did no research. I literally started, serendipitously, when I met someone from a Publishing House and convinced them I’d design better book-jackets than the ones they published. Incredibly, they commissioned one book, which became a series, and by luck, I’d found a way of making a living creatively.
I broadened my skills further by doing a two year Post-Graduate Diploma in Narrative Art/Editorial Design at the University of Brighton in 1993. This coincided with the the development of software for some new-fangled idea called ‘Desktop Publishing’ and equally, this new, mysterious thing called HTML and the World Wide Web. The thrill of creative possibility with new technology encouraged me to do an MA in Sequential Art in 1995, after which my professional career as a designer and, by then, creative director, began to take off. I’d had a family by then too, and learned that design work suited me, both financially and creatively. I ceased to paint for a period, but developed other ways of expanding my practice, especially in digital print work.
As well as freelancing I worked as a Visiting Lecturer, where being the unusual hybrid of Fine Artist/Graphic Designer/Visual Communicator I had opportunities to work in a variety of art college departments. The opportunity to be in an über-creative environment once a week kept my practice contemporary, kept my ideas developing…
In recent years, I have returned more seriously to my Fine Art practice. I have had paintings selected for Open Submission exhibitions, a solo at The Former London Stock Exchange, group shows and been short-listed by both John Moores and The Jerwood Foundation. I am now working on an ambitious project which includes a written text, a series of paintings and a sound installation. I still freelance, (otherwise I’d be skint), but these days cherry-pick the work I do… As a Creative Director I get to oversee a variety of projects, including documentary film-making, book publishing and multi-media projects. The variety of work I do feeds into, and stimulates my personal practice.
3. What advice would you give to someone who was interested in a similar career or was currently studying in your field?
Unless you’re incredibly fortunate, it’ll be difficult to make a sustained living purely from your Fine Art practice. Most of us have to support our practice financially with other work. I have friends who have taught part-time at art colleges – so that they are free for some of the week to spend in their studio – or, like me, found paid work in one of the other art disciplines, complimenting my practice. Always believe in yourself. Even when your work, or your proposal for work, is rejected for exhibition or remains unsold. Be resourceful (be creative), in finding ways to show your work. If you are compelled to express yourself, either visually, or otherwise, then keep at it. You will always continue to learn, and the more you learn, the better you get.
4. What are your most memorable moments from College?
Meeting like-minded people I still know today. People who went on to be successful in the Music Industry, the Film Industry and The Arts. Sitting in the canteen, with boys and girls alike dressed variously as Rockabillies, as New-Romantics, as Punks, loving being different – how lucky we were. Bright eyed, enthusiastic people who embraced learning, in a way I’d never known before: at school it was cool to be disinterested, at Amersham, everybody was so engaged. I never looked at the clock. Didn’t want it to be home time…
5. What do you think of our new Alumni group? How do you think it will benefit past and present students?
A great idea! I found myself at the Alumni website having Googled ‘Teaching Staff at Amersham College in the 1980’s’, whilst wondering about those who taught me: I couldn’t remember the surnames of a couple, and was slightly disappointed to not find a list of previous staff members. Having said that, I was intrigued by the changes to the college, and surprised that I still felt a sense of loyalty to the place. That connectedness is worth high-lighting. If I still feel like I do, then there’s a good chance present students will too in the future.