Latest news with #aspiringartists
CBC
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Sculptor Martha Sturdy appointed to Order of B.C.
Acclaimed artist Martha Sturdy, who grew up in Vancouver's Kerrisdale neighbourhood in the 1950s, has had her sculptures featured in Vogue and other renowned fashion magazines. The latest highlight in her six-decade-long career was being appointed to the Order of B.C. this week. She advises aspiring artists to be true to themselves as they start their careers.
Times
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Backing your creative kids may do them no favours
A young friend told me he is losing touch with many of his university pals because they are taking a different path to him. Since he comes from a poor family he has no safety net, so at school he focused on getting to a good university, and at university he focused on acquiring qualifications which would get him on the first step of a professional ladder. He's now on his way up it. His university friends, who tend to be from more affluent backgrounds, mostly did less practical degrees and are now living at home, working on their script/novel/music/art portfolio while earning pocket money in bars and cafés. Unlike them, my friend has little time for socialising and finds he has less and less in common with them. I feel sad for him, and also concerned for the aspiring creative artists. Young people are told by inspirational adults to follow their dreams, but the people who preach that doctrine tend to be the successful ones. The vast majority of those who follow artistic dreams fail to realise them. Young people who come from prosperous homes probably haven't met the disappointed dreamers, but the odds are that they will be among them, because that's the way in the creative arts. The chances are, therefore, that they will find themselves in their thirties without a profession or a useful skill. It's a difficult issue for well-off parents who want to do their best for their children. Subsidising your offspring when they enter adulthood so they don't have to limit their aspirations may seem like a kindness, but in the long run it may be a curse. No change In search of something cheerful to read in these gloomy times I chose my colleague India Knight's Darling, a modern retelling of one of my favourite comfort books, Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love. I wasn't surprised that the book was exceedingly funny, but I was by how easily Mitford's satire transposes to the present day. The horrible smug rich boy with his vulgar taste and extravagant toys, the ghastly self-righteous Etonian lefty who pretends to be working class, the outrageously camp fashion-designer who releases pink-dyed doves at his party: all of them work just as well now as they did 80 years ago. I'm not sure if it's comforting or depressing how little we have changed. Is our society stable or stagnant? Bag a bargain Are you concerned you might be conned out of your savings by Jack Watkin, aka the Kardashian of Cheshire, who removed thousands of pounds from people on the pretext that he was going to provide them with Hermès Birkin bags? I have a foolproof way of avoiding losing money to such villains: carry your belongings in a receptacle that costs less than £10,000. A wide range of alternative options are available, among them Tesco's capacious but discreet carrier bags for 30p, Sainsbury's more ostentatious orange version at a similar price and, for those prepared to invest the full 50p, Waitrose's more durable version in an attractive, environmentally themed green. I have an extensive and enviable collection of these bags, which have many advantages over a Birkin. As well as keeping you safe from handbag scammers, they are unlikely to be stolen from you on the bus, they fit into your pocket when not in use, and when you carry them in public they do not mark you out as somebody who has more money than sense. I'm interested to see that America's State Department is seeking to create a new Office of Remigration as part of the restructuring of the US diplomatic service, to ensure that migrants go back to the places they came from. This sounds like good news for Native Americans, who will presumably get their country back once all the Europeans have been turfed out.
