Going to art school may not be an option to you – maybe it is financially restrictive, you are regionally-based and just don’t have access, or are weighted by other demands dampening your dream.
An inspiring conversation with Baylee Griffin gives hope that you can embrace your passion through alternative routes.
In this article:
Griffin is a ceramic artist based in Townsville, and also President of the North Queensland Potters Association, at the studios of which they now also teach. ArtsHub caught with Griffin during a recent visit to Townsville, and was even guided by them to take a spin on the wheel as we chatted.
What’s the secret to getting self-directed learning right?
Baylee Griffin describes themself as an early career artist. But they were not always that. Griffin started their love affair with ceramics just seven years ago.
“I had never touched ceramics before. I loved art growing up and wanted to go to art school, but didn’t get the opportunity to,” they explain. Taking a break from a science degree, Griffin came across North Queensland Potters Association and took a course. “I was obsessed and, after a couple of weeks, was coming in three to four times a week.”
Griffin says the urge to learn was so strong. “I would worry I wasn’t keeping up with the other people at art school, so I would go online to ANU (the Australian National University) and look up what they were learning, and then try and find my own version of that.
“I feel like self-directed learning is so necessary. There is so much freedom in it.
“[Looking back] it feels like, if I didn’t do this intentional learning and reading, I wouldn’t be where I am now. I feel so comfortable in the art world now – and confident in it – and I feel that self-directed leaning has stayed with me. It hasn’t stopped!”
After two years, the studio asked Griffin to start teaching. “From there it has just spiralled into this beautiful, chaotic, wonderful pottery life,” they add.
Collective studio versus art school
Griffin admits that both pathways have their advantages. They say the great advantage to collective studio learning is that it isn’t competitive. “It is the culture you create, and that is a space of encouragement and openness.
“In this regional space, there is a lot of uplifting from community – it is really beautiful and you don’t feel much gatekeeping.” They continue: “I feel it should be something much more common, and I am surprised when it isn’t.”
Despite Townsville only having an art education offering in the last two years at TAFE – after a decade of absence – Griffin describes the city as “vibrant, both visually right now and also in terms of the growth of the art community”.
“I feel like I have learned so much just from full-on studio time.” Seeking affirmation they add, “I think that is real, right? I know of other artists who have just gone down the studio learning path.”
The upsides and downside of distance
Griffin needed to stay in Townsville for family reasons, so leaving to go to art school wasn’t an option.
“The TAFE program is growing but, before that, there wasn’t any art access at the University here for a decade, which means that in this community, artists who are young are really lacking.”
Griffin recently undertook – again self-directed – a studio-based residency in Wollongong (NSW) with visits to Sydney. “I was with artists who are my age, and I [thought], ‘This is normal?’ I felt really understood, and also felt like I had a better connection to opportunities.”
They continue: “Opportunity wise, also, it is so hard to travel ceramics – to send my pots (into the world) the chances of breakages are so much higher, and it costs more to travel to be part of shows or go to openings. Last year I travelled to Sydney to go to the opening of the Australian Ceramics Association members’ exhibition, just to be part of that bigger community.
Read: So you want my arts job: Ceramic Artist
“That removal from easy access sucks, but it is OK, and it keeps getting better. The local galleries are really trying, and that is so important. I feel there is a really buzzy feeling in Townsville – people want to grow it and that is exciting to be part of. But the real thing that it lacks, is people my age working in a similar way.”
The upside, Griffin says, is that “bigger houses here are not as expensive and allow for potters to have studios at home”.
The value of becoming part of an association
Walking into North Queensland Potters Association, visitors pass glass display cases with an impressive collection of ceramics from the top names in the sector stretching back half a century.
“These ceramicists were travelling the world doing workshops. There’s 50 years of work here,” explains Griffin. That object-based archive is backed up by 50 years of ceramic magazines, catalogues and publications.
“It has been incredible for me, as someone living away from city access to things, to have these resources. There is so much knowledge harboured here – and the people that come through the studio. The history in this place is incredible. I feel like North Queensland has one of the strongest ceramic communities [in Australia].”
Griffin adds that they have ceramicists of all ages and generations coming to the studio, including some who were involved with the Association’s founding, such as Len Cook who still lives in the region.
The studios are located on the edge of the CBD and have a peppercorn lease agreement with the Council. The studio is volunteer run, which Griffin says allows them to keep the prices low. “We just function for our members,” they add.
Griffin explains that once you get into a class at North Queensland Potters that spot is yours. “From a beginners’ class, you can then come as often as you like, and soak up as much as you want.”
Recently, Griffin received a grant through the Regional Development Fund to bring two ceramicists to Townsville to offer masterclasses. “We’re trying to figure out how to fill the gaps in knowledge here.”
They have been trying to get solar power installed to keep costs down further for potters but, to date, have not had any success with grants.
Griffin adds that having the current Wedgwood: Artists and Industry exhibition from the V&A Museum in London visiting Townsville, is heartening. “This whole Wedgwood learning, about the history, has been so incredibly inspiring,” they say. It is testament to the benefit of such exhibitions, not just as drivers for tourism, but to address the grow of a local art community.
“I feel as if we have seen that resurgence of ceramics over the last decade, but what I’ve enjoyed about it, and it’s so evident in this studio, is that ceramics is a conglomeration of every discovery and putting together these things that have so much history with making now. One glaze I have dates back to over 100 years ago and one of the founders of studio pottery. That connection to history right here, right now, feels as if I have tied into that fluidity of the medium.”
Griffin concludes on choosing studio-based learning: “Everyone wants to see each other succeed; everyone wants to share their knowledge, and the sense that everyone wants to be part of community and support each other is really strong.”
The writer travelled to Queensland as a guest of Townsville City Council.
