Alison Mulroy – Artist interview
Alison Mulroy’s route to becoming a professional artist is one that will be of comfort to all struggling artists. Consistently told that she would never make it as an artist, or that she could ‘only’ be an illustrator, Alison went on to win the Daler and Rowney Young Artist of the Year in 2006.
Alison grew up in Aylesbury (Buckinghamshire), which is quite a small town. I suggest that it is probably fair to say that art was not really the top of most people’s list. “Perhaps so.” Replies Alison. “It is not that people were uninterested in art, just that they were busy enough that they had little spare time for it.”
How did Alison become interested in art in the first place, I ask. “I can not remember a time when I was not compulsively drawn to the idea of being an artist. Of course, when I was young, it was not that I thought ‘I want to be a professional artist’. I just enjoyed painting, wanted to keep on painting, and just kind of thought that I would be a painter when I grew up.”
Early school days were happy times for Alison. “My art lessons were great, the best part of school. I had a laid back teacher, who would let me into her classroom whenever I wanted, and would let me get on with whatever I wanted to do. I used to miss my scheduled science or geography lessons, and it got to be that the Head of Year would go straight to the art classroom if they wanted to find me.”
Alison enrolled in art as one of her A levels, but missed her former independence. “The problem was that not only did I not want to do the other classes, I did not really relate to art as it was taught. I wanted to paint in oil, but had to gain a concession from the teacher to do so; when I did paint in oil, I was kind of left at the periphery.” I ask how things turned out at school. “Oh, it could have been better: I only sat half my A level exam in art.”
Things got no better for Alison when she attended a foundation course in art. It was here that she was told, in very firm terms, that she was ‘an illustrator not an artist’ by her tutor – the implication being that she was not skilled enough to be an artist.
Having “scrapped a pass”, Alison’s confidence was somewhat shaken. She took time out of art and went out to Thailand and Burma to do missionary work. “I still painted, and enjoyed doing so, but I felt clear at this point that I would never be a professional artist.”
On her return to England, Alison went to work in a high street shop, where she had what she calls her Hanger Experience. “It was on being asked to tidy up a very large stack of hangers that I just decided that I just had to give art another shot. I mean, I worked in wide variety of jobs both before and after I went to Thailand and Burma. Over an eight year period, I worked in shops, call centres, pubs, and all sorts of other things. I generally enjoyed the experience, but I always thought at the back of my mind ‘I really want to be painting’. The Hanger Experience was a long time coming, but it made my mind up for me.”
It was here that Alison’s perseverance first paid dividends. On enrolling for a degree course in illustration, Alison met a lecturer called Hayden Cotton. “We had to submit something the summer before the course commenced. I did something that I thought was quite good at the time, and got a lot of positive feedback from fellow pupils. However, one tutor told me that I could do a lot better – and I am so grateful that he did.”
Cotton went on to explain to Alison that her art was too photo-realistic, or literal, and that this approach would hold her back. “The problem I had at that time was that I lacked the confidence to really engage in the creative process. I had taken a little too much criticism, and had adopted a very narrow, photocopier-like, approach. My art was not really my own at this point, and I realized that I had to completely change my approach to find my own style.”
Hayden Cotton’s advice encapsulates the three things that anyone dispensing advice should surely consider:
Can you do it yourself? “Hayden Cotton showed me his work, which included award winning pieces, and was enough in its own right to make me think ‘I should really listen to what he had to say’.”
Balanced view
Identify a realistic opportunity for improvement – do not just criticise.
Get specific. It is never enough to pass on general advice – care enough to get into the detail.
At this point, Alison’s goal was to become an art teacher and pursue her art in her spare time. As her art became more expressive, and it became clear that this was a tangible option, she felt increasingly confident. By the time the art directors came to call at the end of the course, Alison’s work stood out sufficiently that she was headhunted as an illustrator. “Although it was a great confidence boost, and it was the trigger that prompted me to postpone my teaching career and start out as portrait artist”.
12 months after graduating, whilst working as an extra in the film industry, Alison was offered one of 12 worldwide places that would see her become a special effects artist for cinema productions. “I was flattered at the offer, which was a genuinely exciting prospect. I felt that I should take the offer, but kept on waking up in the middle of the night with doubts. It was not that I would have to relocate to Australia, it was the fact that I would have to wholeheartedly commit to the project. It was that I would have give up portrait painting.”
With some trepidation, Alison decided to reject the offer. Six months after that decision, she won the Young Artist of the Year competition.
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