By Mary Moore, Graphic Designer
The Hofstra Association of Graphic Arts (HAGA), in union with the Career Center, hosted a night of networking at the University Club on Tuesday evening.
The panel featured seven professional artists, with Yvonne Dagger, Amy Dresser, Amy Odell and Sean O'Kane returning as alumni,and Letha Wilson, Mieko Anekawa and Marc Whalen as non-alumni. HAGA's co-President, Emily Miethner, lead the Q & A session, while the artists offered anecdotes and advice to all students interesting in learning about career opportunities in the arts.
"I wish we had these type of events when I was here at Hofstra [in 1994]," said Dagger, now president of YPD ART.
Miethner began with the icebreaker question, "How did this type of work interest you?"
From the class of 2008, Sean O'Kane, photo assistant for Instyle.com, said that he liked road-trips and staring off into space. "The fact that I was always paying attention to what was going on" geared him toward the arts.
When asked how they landed their first job, the panelists all agreed to the motto, "accidents happen."
Whether some of these accidents may happen by stumbled-upon internship inquiries, networking or cold-hard applications, professors' support was also attributed.
For example, Dagger changed her major from Elementary Education to Fine Art due to her professor's encouragement to enter a gallery show.
"My whole life evolved from there. It's most important to realize that you'll be isolated at times [in the real world], but if you network and believe in yourself and your work, then you'll come over those obstacles," she said.
"I need fire to drip from your body with passion," Whalen said, graduate of the School of Visual Arts and promotions art director for Time Out New York magazine. Also owner of Marc Whalen Creative, he said you have to be "insane" to take on this business, due to the fact that money is not the goal at heart. "I do this because I don't want to do anything else."
Wilson, a mixed media artist who earned her MFA from Hunter College, introduced the idea that having a routine is a large part of being a successful artist.
"I quit my job as an Internet artist for a gallery during graduate school. I needed time and to be more flexible with my schedule to be an artist," she said.
There are a lot practical terms to consider in the art business.
For O'Kane, one main reason to stay at Instyle is the benefits, health included, "which might seem foreign" to students who are just trying to get through upcoming midterms exams.
Whalen said, your career, just as in life, there are a lot of twists and turns aside from benefits. At one point in his career, 200 people were laid off in one day.
"Don't put a timeline on it or schedule – it's life. I've never been anywhere for more than two years. The [art] business is measured in dog years. You're always looking for more opportunities," he said.
Miethner read most students' minds when she asked, "Are grades and GPA important?"
"Grades are like your deadlines [in the real world], you'll always be living them," Dagger said.
In the end, Whalen said, "If you can't handle [life] now, you're about to step into a much hotter fire." So, don't quit your day job.
Conversations like these, between students and professionals, took place at HAGA's networking night at the University Club. (Mary Moore/The Chronicle)