Thierry Harris
Staff Writer

When you first took the plunge and enrolled in Concordia's Fine Arts program you may have thought the world was your oyster. Finally, some recognition for your talent and an acceptance among a community of students who, like you, opted for a culturally enlightening education in the creative world of Fine Arts.

You could study and learn from engaging professors, refine your technique, experience your first vernissage and some of you may have even sold your first paintings or sculptures to a local gallery or family member. Things couldn't be better, right? Of course they couldn't, but now the joyride is over and it's time to graduate. Reality-check, people.

Of all the disciplines to study, Fine Arts is perhaps the most challenging because of the uncertainties students face when they graduate. As your education comes to an end, so does the comfort acquired in a sheltered academic environment.

"When you are a student, your rewards are grades, so you work for grades," said Bettina Forget, a German artist married to a Québécois. Forget's most recent exhibit 'We are Stardust', is currently presented at the Galerie Espace Arts du Feu downtown. Forget grew up in Europe where, as she described, the general public has an appreciation for the arts.

"I was exposed to vernissages, theatre and concerts on a regular basis," she said,"It was no big deal, really, everyone went to gallery openings all the time. Pretty much everybody I knew had a subscription to the theatre. People's homes are full to the rafters with paintings and prints. Culture is part of everyday life."

It's true that not all students work for grades - some work for their own personal sense of accomplishment and the pleasure of creating. But when it comes time to graduate, they all must make a choice: will they continue to create and live off their work or will they take alternative routes such as working in an art store or teaching art. If they opt for the first choice they are faced with the challenging question: how do you go from being an art student to becoming an artist?

"It actually took a while for me to put 'artist' on my business card," Forget said, "but after my first vernissage I decided to put it on. It's very hard to graduate and say, here I am, officially an artist. It goes slowly. When you graduate as a law student you join a law firm, somebody gives you a business card. As an artist, it's up to you to take things into your own hands and go for it."

Maybe it's the business part of being an artist that students are most afraid of. There are no classes on bookkeeping, on how to write an invoice for the sale of your works or on how to market yourself and communicate effectively to your target audience. And, let's be honest, right now in Montreal there is a very limited audience for contemporary art. With the recent closing of Parachutes, Canada's bible on intellectualizing contemporary art, it is a wonder if artists will be able to get their work critiqued and contextualized at all.

But why is this important? Why even enter the capitalist system where a heartless market decides the value of your work and where endless schmoozing and grant application writing must be done simply to survive? Why beg for the right people to evaluate your work and write essays about it, thus communicating an authoritative perspective on the place of your work in the world of contemporary art?

It's important because, if people are not talking about it, the value of the work you create is not going anywhere. Talent can only take you so far. At some point, if you want to survive, you have to bite the bullet and take the necessary steps to secure authorship rights, a gallery to expose your work and perhaps even a distributor to help expose your work in different venues.

"As an artist, you're not supposed to talk or think about money. If you do, you're not a 'real' artist, you're commercial or dishonest," said Forget.

"This was the attitude which was instilled in me during my stay in art school. Then I graduated an, big surprise, money does matter." And, if you're going to stay in Montreal you're going to have to expect a few challenges.

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"There's an interesting paradox about Montreal: it has the artist's flair, great atmosphere, fairly cheap overheads, and many artists live and work here, but there's no art market! Gallerists in Montreal roll their eyes and bemoan the sorry state of affairs of how serious art collectors in Montreal are few and far between, and how much better the market is in Toronto, or elsewhere," said Forget. So what can you do while you're still in art school? First, realize that, as an artist, you are an entrepreneur. You have to be a self-starter and be honest about your work.

You should also start establishing a network and surround yourself with like-minded people to provide you with emotional support. Once you get a studio, you can use it as your gallery. A good idea might be to rent out a studio with a few other artists and show your work there. It can help you get a feel of how to put together an exhibition and also give you the opportunity to sell a few pieces of your work.

Another thing you should get used to is talking about your work. For example, try to get your colleagues and professors to write essays about the meaning of your work. Forget explains the importance of this:

"In Europe you will have artists who are ready to go into great detail about why they did the work, not simply saying 'well, I felt like it' as you often hear here. You can't do anything with an artist like that because they are not interested in explaining their work. So some people get the impression that people become artists because they are too stupid to be anything else. In Europe, it's the opposite."

The courage it takes to follow your dreams and create on a regular basis is noble. If artists don't get a fair handshake it doesn't make their work any less necessary.

"Art and culture is what defines us as people. There is great debate right now about what a "nation" is. For me, nationality is defined by culture. This is why it's important to understand and participate in your culture, and contemporary art is part of this," Forget said.

"I like the Renaissance painters and the Impressionists as much as the next person, but what really interests me is the modern, contemporary stuff. After all, I listen to classical music, but jazz and current tunes is where the action is."

Galerie Arts du Feu is located at 1000 de la Gauchetiere West