Giulia Zaniol
PrintmakerWhat have you been up to since leaving UAL?
When I graduated I was really scared of just being left on my own, looking for a job and just losing the plot. I had just won two awards at the end of my final show which really meant something as I was stuck in this confusion about whether to go back to Italy or stay here. Just getting one award or a residency can make a real difference when you finish an MA or a BA because you feel like you’ve been pointed out. I looked for a job in Graphic Design or Advertising, which was what I did my BA in and which gave me a job for a few years before carrying on to do my MA, but I still wanted to carry on my practice as a printmaker. During that time I was reading a book written by an Italian curator who was talking about the power artists have who have just come out of university, and she was saying how they can create a new group and a new discussion, a new debate. So one person on their own is much weaker than a group. From that book I got inspired and I came across this leaflet about the Alumni Association that was lying around so I got in touch with them and asked if they had a space where I could try to organise a monthly meeting so that I wouldn’t lose touch with my ex-colleagues, but I would also meet other people.
How did you go about setting up this group?
It was a bit of networking really. I had this idea and during a dinner with some of my ex-colleagues from my MA I asked them what they thought about me setting up this group. As well as thinking it was an excellent idea, one of the part-timers recommended I get in touch with a girl she thought might have similar interests as myself. As it turned out she was the chairman of the East London Printmakers at the time, and because I was also looking for somewhere to do my practice I contacted her. She thought the idea was great, and recommended I speak to this other person from the Alumni Association and that was the start of Artmix. At first the meetings were held at Davies Street but since then we’ve moved to the Arts Club. The Alumni Association have been a great help in advertising the event in their calendar including details on what the topic for that month will be (which can be anything from painting to video art to printmaking) and who will be presenting their work for debate.
You’ve mentioned how this has helped you after leaving the MA to be able to set up this group and it has kept you in contact with people, but overall how was the transition from study to work?
Hard. I am a person that likes to be busy and becoming a member of the East London Printmakers took a couple of months so before I could start doing my work there was a bit of time wasted. I came here [Creative Careers] asking for help but there is no contact who can say ‘go and see this person, maybe they can offer you a placement or something’. I had a lot of contacts from my BA in Advertising so they helped me but not the University in that sense. So, I’ve become a lecturer but not in printmaking, I’m teaching Graphic Design and Advertising. It’s nice though because I’m gaining experience in teaching, I never thought I was going to teach. When you do these creative courses you don’t realise that you have developed an ability of creating and coming up with ideas and developing them and this is applicable to anything. So teaching itself is creating. You have to come up with a plan, you have to see how the students react, it’s like doing a piece of art.
Also, I’m not very good at being employed, I prefer to organise myself and do my things so I think lecturing is also good for that. I’ve been really happy lecturing as the college is very professional but also relaxed. Unfortunately it’s a part-time job so every 3 months I have to hope that they will call me back.
What would your best advice be for a student coming out of an MA or a BA now?
Keep in touch with the other students. During the course that they’re doing try to find one or two mates that have similar interests to you and stick with them. I’m not saying to open a business but stick with them so you can carry on the debate that you had at college so that you have someone checking your work. What else? Try to change things if you’re not happy. It’s really easy to give up. Things take over but it’s in these years that you build your career. This is the time you want to do things, not losing the focus is super important but it’s difficult and that’s why I’ve set up this meeting because I see people who are doing the same thing. It’s nice to see that there is someone else fighting to have a studio to paint in, and is going for the same things that you are doing, otherwise you feel like a bit of a nut.
Are there any particular skills that you have come to rely on?
Social skills. I’m developing them for sure but I think I’ve always enjoyed people and networking. Also, planning and organising yourself and not losing focus. It’s like a normal job really, a little harder though because you don’t have a boss standing over you telling you what to do next and nobody’s there to say “congratulations, you have done a very good job today”.
"Night Scene" (Giulia Zaniol, 2008)
