Blast Northern Ireland
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Architect
Needing a head for maths and detail as well as artistic flair, architects design the world we live in. Training at university takes seven years although some of this is practical experience.
Book Illustrator
Can involve all sorts of books from children’s fiction to medical text books. An eye for fine detail is necessary and a good imagination. Famous Book Illustrators include Quentin Blake who illustrated Roald Dahl’s Books and Oliver Jeffers who won an award for Irish Children’s Book of the Year 2007.
Critic
An art critic can work for a newspaper or an art publication. They review new exhibitions and art works. A keen interest in both the arts and writing is necessary to become an art critic.
Curator
A Curator selects artists to participate in an exhibition, perhaps by genre, style or era. You can study curatorship courses at many universities.
Director (Art)
An art director in a film works on set to create the ‘look’ of a film through sets and props. An art director in a magazine works on the look and style of the magazine working with photographers and writers on the layout and composition of articles.
Environmental artist
Using the land and environment as their paint and paper environmental artists can build large scale sculptures out of anything from stones to leaves and twigs. Due to the setting of their work most take photographs and produce books as a means of creating a lasting image of the works. Famous Environmental Artists include Andy Goldsworthy and Richard Long.
Fashion Designer
Whether you are a fashionista or not, fashion designers have an impact on everything we wear. As a fashion designer you could work independently, for a large fashion house or even for the high street.
Fine Artist
Fine artists work on visual art projects but are different from commercial artists. A commercial artist makes art with the main purpose of selling it whereas a fine artist makes art ultimately for arts sake and exhibition.
Found Artist
Found Artists create their art from objects they find and feel have artistic value. They can either make something out of the found object or incorporate it into a piece of art or sculpture or also exhibit the found art in its own right. (Found art is also sometimes call ‘Ready Made’) Famous Found Artists include Marcel Duchamp and Joseph Cornell.
Graphic Designer
Graphic designers can design anything from posters to packaging. Creativity is essential as often their work will be involved in advertising and marketing and must therefore stand out from the crowd.
Gallery Owner
Gallery Owners can choose to run either a commercial gallery or a fine art gallery. A commercial gallery Owner will represent a number of artists and exhibit their work in their gallery, charging commission on any works that are sold (anything from 15 – 50%). A fine art gallery owner will showcase fine artist’s work, often running exhibitions with well known artists as well as touring exhibitions and international artists.
Historian
Art Historians research and write about the history and context of art. They can look at any period or movement of art from ancient art to contemporary art. Often their work culminates in writing a book. Recently the art historian Simon Schama presented The Power of Art, a series on different aspects of art history.
Interior Designer
Interior Designers can design the decoration of individual houses choosing everything from the floor coverings to the furniture. Large scale developments of houses or apartments often hire interior designers to create a ‘look’ for the development. Many successful interior designers also go on to design home ware ranges such as Kelly Hoppen and Cath Kidston.
Jewellery Designer
Jewellery designers can work in many styles from expensive materials such as platinum and diamond to more inexpensive designs in sterling silver. They can be employed by large scale jewellers or work independently creating bespoke designs for clients.
Kinetic artist
Kinetic art is sculpture that contains moving parts. The moving parts are generally powered by wind, a motor or the observer's hand.
Landscape Designer
Designs outdoor environments from the front and back gardens of houses, to large scale designs for public spaces.
Make up artist
Make up artists work on film sets, fashions shows, photo shoots and much more. Successful make up artists often design their own make up ranges for example Ruby & Millie.
Photographer
Photography can lead to a wide range of jobs from press photography, photo journalism and paparazzi photography to portrait, landscape and fine art photography.
Printmaker
Printmaking can involve a wide range of processes from screen printing (made famous by Andy Warhol), lino and woodcut printing to complicated processes such as lithography and etching. Equipment can be expensive so many printmakers join print workshops where they can create their work.
Performance Artist
Performance art is art in which the actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time constitute the work. It can happen anywhere, at any time, or for any length of time. Performance art can be any situation that involves four basic elements: time, space, the performer's body and a relationship between performer and audience. It is often recorded by photographs or video.
Quick Sketch Artist
Quick Sketch artists work in Courts, providing quick sketches often in coloured pastel for both television news and newspapers. The use of photography and video cameras is not allowed in Court.
Sculptor
Sculptors can work on any scale from a small clay model to a large scale metal piece. They can work on private commissions for individuals as well as large pieces for public spaces.
Teacher/ Tutor
Many people who study art go into teaching or lecturing as it can provide them with a steady job in a very unstable art world. Teaching art in school is very different from teaching art in university. Teachers and tutors often also create their own art work as well as teaching.
Video Artist
One of the key differences between video art and theatrical cinema is that video art does not necessarily rely on many of the conventions that define theatrical cinema. Video art does not need to have actors, dialogue, narrative or plot, or adhere to any of the other conventions that generally define motion pictures as entertainment. Video artists can work with anything from old fashioned 8mm and 16mm film to top of the range DV cameras to produce their work. Video artists include Steve McQueen who won the Turner Prize in 1999
Web Designer
Web designers use their creative skills to design interesting and eye catching websites. Since there are millions of websites available on every topic imaginable it is essential that a web designer can create a website with flair that will stand out and be noticed.
