By Chandni Soren, BA (Hons) Interior Design, 2nd Year.
I recently attended the first of four events put on by Sheffield Creative Guild in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University and the Students Union. This was a brilliant event where I had the opportunity to meet lots of creatives, from budding illustrators to fine artists, who were all in a similar situation to me… They wanted to fulfil their creative potential but were unsure of how to go about it.
Throughout the event our questions were answered, by being asked to ask ourselves and our neighbours lots of different questions. These really got you thinking about who you are and what you do. The questions were knitted between inspirational talks by Cupola Gallery owner Karen Sherwood and students from the ‘Starter Studio’ programme by Yorkshire Artspace.
A particular speaker who really opened my eyes was Jonny Douglas. He is an Interior Designer, Events Curator and Organiser, Creative Director, Pod Caster and the list go on. I couldn’t even guess that he did a degree in Product Design. The main thing I took away from his talk is that you don’t have to do or be just one thing, being a creative gives you access to a multitude of skills that are transferable across multiple disciplines. There is actually a name for someone who has expertise in many areas and they are referred to as ‘Polymath’. And I have figured out… I am polymath!
So, what have I learnt from this talk?
- Being polymath is awesome.
- It is important that you first figure out what you love and how that is common with what you do. Then ask yourself, ‘how I can make what I love more a part of what I do?’
- Whatever you do, do it in your way and in a way that you enjoy.
- Get networking, say yes! Go to events and meet new people. You never know what will come of it and what opportunities will arise.
- Put yourself and your work out there!
Don’t worry if you missed this event, there are videos of some of the talks on YouTube.
And, there is still time to come along to the next events! I would definitely recommend it. Click on the images below if you would like to find out more about them.
Thanks for reading!
Chandni
