The often-loaded question, "What are you going to do with an arts degree?” is one our students know well. The first answer is usually “make great art,” but on a more practical level, an arts degree can be a passport into all kinds of successful careers. That’s why, for our second annual StART Smart event, the Department of Art & Art History assembled a panel of seven arts professionals to discuss with students the topic of career placement after college.
Moderated by the award-winning visual artist Nick Pedersen, this panel discussed everything from how to talk to galleries, finding artist residencies, and finishing your art projects even when you have a full-time job taking up your time. Gallery owners David Ericson and Laura Boardman laid out the landscape of the art market in Utah, while David Meikle, art director for Marketing and Communications at the U, discussed how he ended up collaborating with the filmmaker Wed Andersen on his film Asteroid City.
Mary Lambert, a jewelry maker who works at the retailer O.C. Tanner, spoke of the not always evident ways she applies her art history education every day in her job. Artist and faculty member Zak Jensen talked of the importance of his time outside his home state of Utah in helping him to appreciate what our art scene here offers. And Kate Ithurralde, who manages Salt Lake County’s Art in Public Places program, walked students through how to get their work in front of decision-makers at public and private arts programs.
In a world where technology changes constantly and many careers that a previous generation trained for no longer exists, the panelists pointed out how an arts education can serve as a pathway to career success, and how the muscle memory of creation can inform your work, no matter what you do.