Just a Pretty Picture? The practising artist and the influence of art education in the lives of visual arts graduates

Abstract

Every year in Australia, around 2000 students graduate from higher education in the visual and performing arts. The intent of many of these visual arts courses in particular, is to produce practising artists. However. the occupation of practising artist is not an easy one in which to survive. In 1999 there were around 16,000 visual. community arts, and craft-persons practising professionally. Therefore, Questions arise as to how the majority of graduates apply their professional knowledge gained in art school? And what happens to these graduates in their later lives? These questions are of importance to tertiary visual art education because the majority of these art school graduates will sooner or later end up working in fields that are ditTerent from the one they trained in, that is, the profession of practising artist.