Isabelle Bird

Isabelle Bird, a native of Aberdeen Scotland and raised in beautiful landscapes of Aberdeenshire, is an emerging mixed media artist whose work reflects many aspects of a wide range of different topics. When expressing herself in her art she tends to focus on one's relationship with the self, nature, the past, present and future.  

Often drawing inspiration from exploring the theme of nostalgia within her work, Isabelle’s work explores the idea of reaching back into the past to explore memories and the individuality of human experience and relationships. Her diverse body of work contains traditional work while also exploring digital illustration and photography to capture her artistic vision.  

Isabelle is currently studying a HNC contemporary art where she lives in Scotland. This step in her educational career is followed by her previous academic achievements within school studying National 5, Higher and Advanced higher Art and Design and a part-time college course in Digital media. Isabelle’s work has also been featured in the 2023 NU Art Scottish open galleries.  

Within the creative industry, there are many ways that art is created, exhibited, promoted and funded. Two of the most important cores of support within the creative industry are Art Organizations and Professional Bodies. Despite the different names, the two often get confused and combined a lot when they are very different, leading to misunderstanding within the knowledge new artists have of professional practice. To fully appreciate the benefits of both Art organizations and Professional Bodies it is important to understand the individual impact they both have and what separates them from each other. 

For example, what is an Art Organization? An Art Organization is a non-profit (such as museums, art galleries, community art centers and residencies) that exists to display, promote, present and exhibit many art forms and practices. They often serve as a place of education and community. Some examples of Art organizations include; Saatchi Gallery, The British Gallery, The Louvre and many more. There are many benefits of Art Organizations, for example a study done by the university of Pennsylvania found that large amounts of art exhibited in a city leads to higher social engagement, more community involvement, higher child welfare and lower poverty rates. This is because art organizations tend to be public, meaning they are very accessible. This also improves local economies as the attraction of art brings in new people, new careers and new visitors. As well as impacting the community positively, it gives artists more space, opportunity and variety in exhibition for their work to be displayed. Art organizations will often give artists the opportunity to participate in competitions and larger collaborative projects. Overall, Art Organizations work together with many artists, councils and communities to impact the overall artistic impact on the world, making sure art is constantly positively influencing people in the world and facilitates artists to help by inspiring with their own work.  

Now that we understand what an Art Organization is, we need to understand what Professional Bodies are to understand the difference. So, what are Professional Bodies? Professional Bodies are similar to Art Organizations in the way they give artists the opportunity to create and exhibit. However, Professional Bodies focuses more on the individual artists than the overall community and wider impact. They aim to specifically support artists, listen to their needs and ambitions so they can help achieve them by giving them the opportunity and support they need to strengthen old skills and learn new skills. The benefits of Professional Bodies include how artists can benefit from access to business services, education in practices and being a part of exclusive artists communities. In these artists communities there is the chance to work on big community projects with like-minded artists dedicated to similar goals. Being a part of these bodies alongside other professional artists gives creators the opportunity to network, gain recognition and grow their own knowledge of art through others. Finical assistance is also often provided to artists apart from these Professional Bodies. Some examples of local professional bodies include the Royal Academy of Arts (RA), Artists union (AUE) and the association of illustrators (AOI). International Professional Bodies include Europe Visual Arts (EVA), CARFAC (Canadian Artists representation), American Society of artists (ASA) and many more.  

Overall, Professional Bodies are more focused on supporting the individual artist and giving artists insider information on upcoming opportunities, internal connections and networking and the chance to be a part of an artist's community.  

So, in closing, we can compare the differences and similarities between art organizations and professional bodies. While both professional bodies and art organizations are important because of their impact on artists career, the opportunities they provide and a wonderful support system within the creativity industry because of their support, they achieve this in different ways. Where an art organization is more focused on exhibition, promotion and local/national community engagement, Professional bodies focus more on representation, individual professional development and networking. However, while both focus on their support in different ways, without both art organizations and professional bodies many artists would find themselves unable to create, express themselves and make a career out of their passions. And so, while supporting the creative industry in different ways, Professional bodies and Art organizations are incredibly important and valuable to artists.  

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Art and Design has always been an uncertain career and as a contemporary artist today, it can be hard to know if you will have support, funding, and stability within your career, especially with all the new paths available today. This can make it hard for creative people to pursue their passions as a career. However, with some research, I have found many opportunities that contemporary artists can pursue and achieve.  

There are many funding opportunities out there, for example, the Creators Fund by “We are here Scotland (WAHS).” The WAHS Creators Fund is a new 1-year programme that is supported by the national lottery by the group “Creative Scotland”. The fund specializes in shedding light on black artists and promoting the work of artists of colour. The fund provides 8 black artists and artists of colour with £2000 grants and mentorship from industry professionals. WAHS is committed to fighting inequality and racial bias within the creative arts world. Artists looking to apply for this funding can apply online on the WAHS website. The WAHS asks the awardees of the funding to complete their project within 8-12 months of receiving the funding. This is a great example of support from funding opportunities as it is easy to access and supports a worthy cause, beating racial inequality in creative industries.  

Another example of a funding opportunity for current contemporary artists is the Creative Scotland Open fund for Individuals. The Open Fund for individuals is one of Creative Scotland’s main funding programmes. The programme supports a wide range of creators and activity that is not just limited to artists, but also includes writers, producers, and other creative practitioners. The fund gives the artist support for a period of research, development, and delivery of a creative pursuit up to 24 months (about 2 years). Creative Scotland asks the artists funded to have a clear idea of the start date, end date, outcome and the benefits and impacts the creative person wishes to achieve. The funding is available only to freelance and self-employed artists living in Scotland that are of 18 years of age or older. Applicants can apply on the Creative Scotland website using their online application portal. This is a fitting example of a funding opportunity as it gives access to funding for self-employed artists who might struggle more with finding a consistent income due to freelance work.  

As well as funding opportunities, exhibitions and awards are also important opportunities for current contemporary artists. There are many local and international exhibition opportunities for current artists that focus on many areas of the creative industry. For example, the 2024 Graduates Glass Prize. The 2024 Graduates Glass Prize is an opportunity for British or Irish students graduating from a glass course in 2024 provided by the contemporary glass society. The winner of this award will have the opportunity to be featured in the annual new graduate review magazine. This is great motivation to enter this award for contemporary glass artists as it provides opportunity for exposure if they win and even if they do not win, all work submitted will be featured in an online exhibition on the CGS website which provides professional exposure for newly graduated artists ready to explore the creative industries.  

Another exhibition opportunity is the Venice Design week Jewlery selection 2024. The Venice Design week jelwer selection is an exhibition which is open to any professional designer or student that specializes in jewelry. The work is to be exhibited in Venice, Italy. Designers can apply online on the Exhibitions website. The event is sponsored and made possible by groups such as Roma jewelry week and Brussels jewelry week. This exhibition is a fantastic opportunity for students in jewelry and design looking for an international opportunity to apply and exhibit their work. On top of this, exposure to such renowned groups such as the Brussels and Roma Jewelry Week gives designers a direct connection to fashion commissioners that may be interested.  

Another great exhibition opportunity is the SPOT design market. The SPOT design market is a curated market that has been running annually since 2019. This event gives artists not only the opportunity to exhibit their work but also sell their pieces and gain monetary value for their work. Artists and designers interested in this opportunity can apply on the SPOT design market website online. Events and exhibitions like this are great as not only do they provide exposure but an opportunity to earn and make a start in living through selling and creating art.  

In conclusion, to a new artist, it may seem uncertain how to proceed with a creative career and make a living with art. However, as the research collected displays, creative exhibitions and funding opportunities are rife within the creative industries and there are many ways to gain support as a contemporary artists or designer.  

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Due to the wide variety of opportunities, Careers in art are widely considered difficult to achieve with no expectation of financial stability or support. However, if you take a deeper look into the industry, you can find this is not a realistic representation. Many Artists found careers through following education, earning degrees/awards and the many other opportunities educational practice can offer to help them in their future. There are many ways to be educated in art that will help an artist follow a more defined path into the creative industries and narrow a specialized career in one of the many ways artists in the world work.  

For example, when studying fine art at University of Exeter, artist and designer Stanley Donwood met Thom Yorke, the lead singer and frontman of the band Radiohead. Yorke asked Donwood to create work and work with the band for cover art and promotional imagery. Because of his professional studies at university, Donwood gained skills that improved his art while giving him the space to meet other creative individuals to work with. Art college and creative universities have this positive impact as it can bring great artists together and in Donwood's case led to him being the artist for one of “the 100 greatest musical artists of all time” according to rolling stone. Donwood is now an established artist whose work is exhibited in many galleries in the UK.  

Another artist positively influenced by further education is artist Harry Moody. Moody is an established contemporary artist who specializes in abstract expressionism.  He studied “free painting” at Stadel academy in Frankfurt Germany. While studying here, he was under the teachings of other accomplished artists such as Johannes Schreiter, Thomas Bayrle and Josef Beuys. Studying under such accomplished artists gave him the oppertunity to widen his knowledge of the art world and challenge himself to succeed like his teachers. Moody also studied under Gerhard Ritcher who heavily influenced Moody's knowledge of philosophy which impacted the way he created his work and the meanings he wanted to portray. After completing his educational career Moody is now a gallery owner and a fine arts dealer.  

Now moving onto artist and designer Simon Stalenhag. Stalenhag is a Swedish creator who specializes in creating digital illustration and conceptual art. To reach this stage in his career, Stalenhag studied at Future Games Academy in Stockholm. Future Games Academy is a college that specializes in collaborations with game studios and furthering skills in digital art and design. Because of their connection to game companies, Stalenhag was given many opportunities and connections to jumpstart his career right after he completed his education. Stalenhag has worked creating promotional art and concept art for many games, such as “No man's sky.” However, he also now writes and illustrates his own science fiction books. Stalenhag has been nominated for multiple awards and now is a successful artist and designer who is very popular in the videogaming scene. 

Today, there are a continuous and endless number of educational options for aspiring artists and designers. For example, “Computer arts” BA (Hons) at Abertay University in Dundee Scotland. Computer arts at Abertay is a course that focuses on 3D development, Digital illustration, Character and asset design and conceptual art. The course takes place over four years and has multiple opportunities such as internship and career placements in third year. The university is also in collaboration with the DARE academy competition and gives the students the opportunity to enter. Artists applying to this course require SQA Higher ABBB for standard entry and ABB for minimum entry or any A in a related college HNC/HND. The completion of this course gives artists direct placement and connection into many specific careers in the games and design industry. This creates security for the students as it provides stability in career opportunities.  

Another course is the “Fine Arts” BA (hons) at University of Dundee. The course is a carry on from a first year in foundations of arts at the university. Students taking this course will learn many skills including plaster, bronzing, wood working, presentation of art, material production, screen printing, etching, 3D printing, interactive programming, ceramics and more. These skills give students the opportunity to find multiple careers specialising in these skills. Artists interested in studying this course require a BB at advanced higher or an A in a relevant HNC course or completion of the arts foundation year at University of Dundee. Graduates of this course have used their skills in careers such as film, media, entertainment and being self-employed successful artists. 

One other course that also gives students many opportunities is the Graphic Design BDes (Hons) at Edinburgh Napier University. Graphic Design at Edinburgh Napier University is a four-year art course that specializes in graphic and digital design. Within the course students study many different mediums and ways to design practical and artistic designs. People looking to apply to the course require a BBBC in SQA Highers. Many careers can come from studying at this course, specifically ones like working in packaging design, branding, advertising, service design and many other practical design jobs.  

After considering and researching all these different opportunities, it is easy to see that through higher education many artists can learn new skills that can push them towards a career in the creative industries.  

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"Part of me"

2023

5.8 x 8.3 inches

"nostalgia"

2023/24

16.5 x 23.4 inches

Untitled Life study

2023

11.7 x 16.5 inches

Untitled Life Study

2023

16.5 x 23.4 inches

Life drawing 2024

Skeleton

Life drawing 2024

"Aberdeen Art Gallery"

2024

42cm x 59.4cm 

"Adrianne Lenker - Anything"

2023

short animated illustrations inspired by the song "Anything" by Adrianne Lenker.

"mexafox sunset"

2360 x 1640 on digital canvas

31/12/2023

"anything"

2360 x 1640 on digital canvas

9/9/2023

Autumn Trees

2022

1600 x 1600 digital canvas