Spotlight on BA (Hons) Fine Art alumni Liv Askwith who has been working as a curator and Marketing Co-ordinator at creative space and gallery Platform A in Middlesbrough! Her role has spring boarded her in a career that allows her to develop her curation skills, expand her network and work with international artists. The exciting opportunity shines a light on the potential career path fine art grads can work towards post graduation.

We caught up with her to find out more about her role, read on to find out more.

You are currently working as a Curator and Marketing Co-ordinator for Platform A Gallery, how did the opportunity come about?

I’ve been extremely lucky to be given the opportunity to work at Platform A, and I’m very aware that getting a job in industry right after ending your studies isn’t easy. The gallery director was also my former lecturer, and over the course of my degree had seen how interested/excited I was by the prospect of curating, as well as how dedicated I was to making it happen both within and outside of my studies. I worked on a lot of small independent shows throughout the course of my BA in Fine Art and my MA in Design History, which my employer noticed which led to the job offer.

Can you give us an overview of your role and tasks?

I do a lot of different things because we’re a small operation, but my day-to-day role includes managing the marketing of the gallery which is mainly online (social media, email campaigns, websites etc), organising the instillation and collection of work from different artists, and planning ahead for future exhibitions within our programme. The really fun stuff is when it gets to the time to install a new exhibition and I get to help make an artist’s vision come to life; it’s a lot of arranging, and rearranging, and rearranging again of artworks within the space because it’s so important that the artists vision is met, but also that the tone of the exhibition for the viewer is an impactful experience. I also get to meet some really cool people and a lot of local artists which I absolutely love.

You recently worked on a show for MAW tell us about it!

Our MAW show is titled ‘Slowly We Rot’ and it features the work of Gordon Dalton, a Saltburn based artist currently working on his PhD research. The work is so cool, exploring different areas around the Teesside coast surrounding the theme of Solastalgia which the artist describes as the homesickness you feel for the place you’re living in. The work explores the region with this sense of sadness for what it once was, what it’s becoming, but there’s also this really beautiful playfulness that explores the ways in which joy can be found.

Tell us about any other exhibitions/ projects you are working on!

Aside from my work at Platform A I’ve also joined the team at TART Studios, we’ve got edition 3 of our magazine releasing soon and our newly released podcast already has a few episodes out. The work we do at TART aims to showcase and elevate working class creatives in the North East, and our podcast focuses on making the art world more accessible delivering visual arts based lecture, movie critiques, interviews etc in a way that everyone can enjoy!

Can you describe some of the challenges and opportunities that you enjoy in the role?

I really love the opportunity to meet so many amazing creatives both locally and internationally, it’s been a crazy intense way to expand my network but totally worth it. Some aspects of the job are challenging, but that goes for any job, install week is always stressful but the finished show at the end makes it 100% worth it.

Do you feel the school/ your course has helped you in your working life? Through skills or opportunities?

In so many ways, I literally would not have this job without going to the Northern School of Art. I think a lot of the ways the Fine Art course is designed really helps to prepare you for working in industry, when I came to the role, I’d already learned a lot about curating and running shows. Folio was extremely helpful too and gave me a bit of a crash course in marketing before I began the role.

What advice do you have for graduates looking to take their steps in to their chosen industry?

My main piece of advice is get yourself set up as a freelancer/sole trader as soon as you graduate, my role at the gallery is freelance so I had to learn how to do that really quickly. You can still work a normal job as a freelancer, but it gives you the opportunity to start taking on different projects on the side that can really boost your portfolio.

What are your ambitions for the future?

I have two big dreams, one is to run my own gallery, and the other is to continue working/improving my practice as an artist. It can be difficult to keep on top of your artistic practice when working full time, so my immediate goal is to re-engage with my practice and continue to refine and improve it. As for running my own gallery, that’s a long way in the future but I think the steps I’m taking now are the right ones. I’d also love to see TART continue growing and for the podcast to blow up, we have some really fun episodes planned!

Keep up to date with Liv’s practice and and her work as part of the TART team on Instagram: @Liv_Askwith_Art & @tart_magazine (The TART Podcast is on Apple Podcasts and Spotify).

Find out about upcoming exhibitions on Platform A’s Instagram @platform_a_gallery

If you are interested in studying Fine Art at degree level, we offer a dynamic and industry focused degree programme. Make sure you check out the details here.