Abstract

Through the combination of arts-based research and qualitative research, this thesis explores how artists react and adapt to the transition between art school and the professional art world. The research is done through a self-study and interviews with six young artists, recently graduated from university. The findings suggest that artists are social beings. They trained to be so at school in an environment that combines exchanges with peers, regularly-scheduled encounters, and available workspace. They then move to a professional art world, which they tend to approach with a pejorative view. The young artists also find themselves in a society where face-to-face contact and time for exchanges are less and less frequent. The transition can therefore come as a shock and most find it difficult. Students who have a strong personal artistic practice or those who have a job connected to the milieu seem to have an easier time negotiating this transition. What is the hardest is the loss of one's network of colleagues, teachers, and friends. A real post-art-school shock can be identified when this transition is combined with moving to another city, which is often the case for students who return to their home city or move to another place after their studies. This research suggests that an education more grounded in real life, with more information given on the career and business side of an art practice, as well as a focus on the development of a professional artistic practice, seems to be what could most improve the current art education curriculum. The emotional experience of the transition is embodied in this thesis' arts-based component, the artwork Disconversation II - Social Nest, presented at The Centre des arts actuels Skol, Montreal, February 18, 2010.