As I’ve entered the final year of my MFA program and putting together the work for my thesis exhibition and lecture, I’ve been reflecting on what I plan to do once I am a “Master of Fine Art” and what opportunities might be available. Most people seek out an MFA education thinking that this degree will help them become a full time art star exhibiting their work within the glamorous network of galleries and museums across the world. Others pursue an MFA so that they may obtain the security of becoming a tenure track professor at a University. While both of these avenues are obviously alluring for various reasons, I question the likelihood that either option is a rational ambition to rely upon. What other opportunities should there be for artists in the real world? Are they relegated to this incredibly small job market in relation to the amount of people wanting to work in that field? Shouldn’t we be employing our same creative skill we apply to our work as we apply to our employment? An artist’s work should be valued as much as a scientist or plumber or lawyer…but in order to be valued as such we need to be present in the daily lives of people in these professions so that they may see the value as well. There is a precedent of artists working outside of these conventional roles that have inspired my research and work around the intersection of art and small business. In the next few days I’m going to be sharing the work of some of these artists to get a better understanding of how we might look at artists operating in our world in the future.