Course helps students combine art and business

June 20, 2019

Marissa Carl-Acosta
907-455-2070

Instagram screen shot. This collection of Instagram posts using the hashtag #artisapractice features images shared by students enrolled in Professional Practices for Visual Artists, a course offered by the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Sarah Manriquez, an art student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has no desire to be a “starving artist.”

Professional Practices for Visual Artists, a UAF course offered online and face-to-face, is designed to help students like Manriquez acquire the skills they need to keep practicing their craft after the safety net of university life disappears: No more free studio space, no more materials, no more hands-on instruction, and no more built-in community of fellow artists.

“Too many students leave the arts because they don’t know how to recreate those things for themselves in a sustainable way,” instructor Madara Mason said. The course is open to any practicing artist, anywhere in the world, with at least 10 pieces of existing artwork.

“I try to give students the courage to claim the title of ‘artist’ and wrap their arms around the painful process of making and sharing things that might not be perfect,” Mason added.

Assignments lead to functioning websites, a business plan and at least one sales venue with a way for them to make money.

“Being a successful artist is so much more than being talented,” said Manriquez, who is focusing on photography, film and music performance. “You must be an entrepreneur of sorts, incredibly self-motivated, social media savvy and have some innate business skills as well.”

Manriquez has four photography exhibitions planned for the coming year and was awarded funding from the UAF Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Activity program, outcomes that are direct results of course assignments about solo exhibition applications and grant writing.

Christen Bouffard juggles a full-time job, her small business and part-time classes as she works toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in sculpture and metalsmithing. She said the course helped streamline her workflows and set up business-related finances, tasks that can easily get pushed down the priority list.

Photo by Christen Bouffard. Christen Bouffard displays in-progress copper cake servers that she is making for her metalworking business.

“Financially, this is the first year I've started Q1 with my projected budget for the year already in place and a formalized system for tracking income and expenses,” she said.

Mason’s students are actively involved in each other’s success, make connections in their local art communities and engage with others worldwide via social media.

She created the #artisapractice hashtag, encouraging students to share the imperfect process of making art. During the last year the hashtag has been used nearly 2,000 times on Instagram.

“#artisapractice is meant to help them build a thick skin for sharing what they make, whether it’s a total disaster or a work of brilliance,” she said.

“The art world tends to be a culture of criticism, and I think it should be a culture of community instead.”