Art Life

Tumor Paint: Light at the End of the Scalpel

by Alex O'Brien, Mosaic Science

In 2004, Dr Richard Ellenbogen spent almost 20 hours operating on a 17-year-old girl with a brain tumor. He ended up leaving a big piece of the tumor behind, mistaking it for normal brain tissue. Less than a year after the surgery, the cancer hit back and the young girl died.

The week the girl died, Ellenbogen presented the case at his team’s weekly meeting at Seattle Children’s Hospital. “There’s got to be a way to take more of the tumor out and leave more of the normal brain intact,” he sighed in frustration. The nagging feeling that he could’ve taken more tumor out wouldn’t leave him alone. Ellenbogen had faced a dilemma: if he had removed more, he would probably have removed more tumor but might also have removed normal brain tissue, with the risk that the girl would have been left severely disabled. Neurosurgeons have to be aggressive and sometimes push themselves to go further and deeper than they feel comfortable going, but they all operate under the adage ‘first, do no harm’.

Hey! Unfortunately I can’t give you any direct tips for surviving an Art History degree (I’ll start studying next year though, yay) and I envy you! I did do some googlin’ for you and found a helpful blog. You’ve probably already seen it, but in case it’s got some new info here’s two helpful links:

7 Tips for Succeeding in Your Art History Course

What to Expect from Your First Art History Course

As for what you can do with your degree, I love this question. I got told growing up that “there’s nothing you can do with an art degree but become a failed artist,” but shockingly there’s a lot of paths you can branch out to! A degree in art can lead to all kinds of design - visual art, furniture, interior, and clothing - or gallery and museum work. You can become the person that saves centuries old paintings, or you can work privately for an art lover and consult him on what to buy, or you can go on to become a teacher and inspire the next generation of artists.I’ll also give some links as to what the jobs entail in case you’d like more info, or just link to know what the heck the job actually is. Some of these jobs will be really similar to others, but different areas of the world view them a bit different, or they’re a bit more specific:

Art Appraiser

Antiques Dealer (Here’s some more info on the organisations of dealers)

Arts Administrator

Archivist

Art Authentication (What it’s like to do this job article)

Art Law Enforcement

Arts Journalism

Art Sales Consultant

Art Therapist

Collection Manager (Why is this profession necessary?)

Conservator/Preservationist

Consultant

Critic

Curator (You can even find Art & Curating degrees)

Exhibit Designer

Gallery Director

Historian

Interior Designer

Librarian

Marketing Representative

Museum Education Officer

Production/Set Designer

Teacher/Professor (Two different links there)

Textile Desiger

Here’s another site which has a table of contents on the different fields of art. It also gives some info on what degrees are required to pursue that career.

Something I do know, however, is one of the biggest things employers look for in all of these fields is (brace yourself) experience. Lucky for us art lovers, museums and art galleries are always looking for volunteers. I know in Melbourne, a lot of smaller galleries are run on volunteers. I recommend (if you haven’t already) to look for museums or galleries and ask them if there is anything you can help out with, that will help you build up your experience for the art world. There’s all kinds of things they can ask you to do. At museums they ask for help from anything like directing tours, to helping with the gardens. At art galleries you can help set up installments, or even become part of them.

The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron (via quotewithasource)