Renowned New Zealand jeweller Lisa Walker (pictured right, with TLC Jewellery tutor Hanne Eriksen Mapp) offered some important advice to students at The Learning Connexion School of Creativity and Art, at their end of year exhibition: Keep making.
Walker was guest speaker on the opening night of Summer Explorations, The Learning Connexion's final student exhibition of 2019 - and a celebration of 10 years of student exhibitions at TLC's campus in Taita.
"I've been showing and exhibiting my work since the early 1990s and have made a living at it," said Walker to the crowd who gathered at the opening. "And here's some things I'd like to pass on to you, especially those of you who have come to the end of their time here at The Learning Connexion:
1. Keep making - top of the list. Keep thinking, talking, observing.
2. Time - try not to have too much of it filled up with money-making jobs. I know that's bloody hard. The aim should be well-paid part-time work.
3. Visit exhibitions - all the time, and travel far outside where you live to see exhibitions that interest you.
4. Join, or get a great workshop or studio and fill it with like-minded mates. Your friendships with other artists are a precious thing.
5. Plan an exhibition - put pieces in a shop, or gallery. Show people your work. Get it out there.
6. Make a publication of some kind. My first one was a handmade, photocopied little catalogue made many years ago, and perhaps that's my favourite of all the books I've since had published.
7. Go for it with social media. See what happens.
8. Most important of all - make good work.
TLC tutor Dan Wilkinson was impressed with the diversity of art on display at the exhibition, along with its increased scale across the campus.
“The vision was to see the school opened up and shared to the community, that demonstrated what a wonderful creative institution we are,” says Dan.
He says the exhibition had created a real buzz around campus. “It’s been exactly a decade of exhibiting at our campus in Taita and this, for me, was one of the strongest yet with its depth and breadth.”
To view some photos from the exhibition opening, click here.
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