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Student stories: Paul Butterworth - The Open College of the Arts

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Student stories: Paul Butterworth

Painting student Paul Butterworth will be featured on Interim Arts Instagram account Friday 23 July.

St Ives Cambridge, Oil on canvas, 61 x 76 cm.
Abstract #2, Oil on canvas, 76 x 61 cm.

Level 2 is a rollercoaster year where you experiment with as many ideas and styles as you can handle. By the end we’re expected to be finding our own voice and glancing outwards to Level 3 and beyond. With that in mind we have been advised to start entering competitions, not to win but so our work can be seen by professional curators and to get practice in matching briefs and writing artist’s statements. 

However, success is always welcome and a message like this is a boost… Thank you for sending  such a great application to be featured on our page Instagram Interim Arts. We love your  work and have scheduled your curated posts to be featured on the page on Friday 23rd July. 

Interim Arts are a contemporary arts collective providing a platform for artists to showcase work and generally seem to feature BA, MFA and emerging artists, so I’m delighted to have been selected at the end of my  second year.  

It’s also an ongoing Open Call so is a great opportunity for OCA students. https://www.instagram.com/interim_arts/  

I found the opportunity on CuratorSpace… https://www.curatorspace.com/. This is a brilliant site and has lots of  genuine opportunities, many of which are free to apply for. The basic version is free, but for £25 a year you can have the artist’s package which has lots of great benefits such as the chance to message the curator.

For example (and I have only just joined) I wasn’t successful for the Leeds Open show but messaged the curator to say thanks and ended up having a  lovely conversation with her. She had a look at my website, advised me how to format my ‘Biography’ properly – unbiassed professional advice is like gold dust – and asked me to keep in touch through Level 3. 

I also filled in my preferences and have already been offered an opportunity to apply to run some workshops. I’m too busy but it would have been great experience. To give you an example of a profile here’s mine: www.curatorspace.com/artists/PaulButterworth

If you get a chance on 23 July please have a look at my posting on Interim Arts Instagram, and if you want some free opportunities check out CuratorSpace. 

Good luck with your studies!!!

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Posted by author: Paul Butterworth

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