From design businesses to art consultancy, Thriving and Surviving showcases some of the professional practices of recent ANU School of Art students who have gone on to make a living out of their visual arts degrees.

The exhibition, displayed in the School of Art Library cabinet aims to provide real-life examples to answer questions commonly raised by prospective art students: What happens after I graduate from art school? What job can I have in the creative arts sector? Can I survive as an artist?

Looking at the professional practices of these artists and the paths they took to get to where they are today shows the diverse ways our art school graduates are thriving in the creative industries.

Many craft and design practitioners have started their own businesses and are using a strong web presence to promote and sell their work. Textile designer Anna Sutherland completed a Certificate IV in Small Business Management and has launched her own textile design business Maddison Jayne. Also working in the area of textiles and home wares, designer Megan Jackson’s work is stocked by the Portrait Gallery Store, Craft ACT Shop, and Council of Objects. Ceramicist Anne Masters has recently launched an online shop AM/PM, and Richilde Flavell’s work can be found online at Girl Nomad Ceramics.

Some graduates have also begun their own studios and collectives, for example furniture design and craftsman Andrew Carvolth, co-founder and curator of design collective MADE3, and gold and silversmith Alison Jackson who runs her own silversmithing studio and is a current recipient of an Australia Council 2015 new work grant and artsACT project funding.

Photographer Daniel Spellman has started a successful commercial practice, shooting for publications such as In the City and The Canberra Times. Lee Grant’s photography practice has seen her win the prestigious Winifred Bowness Photography Prize in 2010 and publish two books, Belco Pride, in 2012, and The Five Happinesses in 2015.

Working in the area of writing, art consultancy and installation, artist Anne-Marie Jean is also the Publication Manager at Art Monthly Australia magazine.

The showcase also includes the work of visual artists Jacqueline Bradley, who in 2014 was awarded the Rosalie Gascoigne Memorial Award (CAPO) and the Harris and Hobbs Small Sculpture Prize; Emilie Patterson, who has won awards from the Australian Decorative Fine Arts Society, Canberra Glassworks, and Craft ACT; and Katy Mutton, who is undertaking a year-long art/research project called the Post War Projects, with exhibition outcomes in Canberra and Mildura.

Thriving and Surviving is showing in the School of Art Library cabinet until September 7.