An Ode to Confessions of an Art Junkie

Once upon a time, an eager, opportunity-hungry teenager decided that she wanted a space to express her utmost passion for the arts, from exhibition reviews and artist spotlights to tips and tricks on navigating the career-maze of the arts world.

But this dream began to fade away when she contacted dozens and dozens of arts publications all over the country and received no responses. 

Well! If nobody is going to give me a platform for my writing, she thought, I will create my own. And that is where Confessions of an Art Junkie was born! 

COAJ was not just any arts blog. It was a blog that was accessible and relatable to more audiences than just those who walk through gallery doors. Art speak? No such thing! No fancy arts terms or language that most of us don’t understand. 

My entries were written in my voice, and my voice aims to communicate my passion and love for the arts in a relaxed, casual tone that is easy and enjoyable to digest for everyone, in the hopes that it might encourage others to love the arts too.

Or at the very least, be more interested in it than they were before stumbling across my page. 

Though sadly, with the uphill battle that is forging an arts career (years of study, mountainous tuition fees, voluntary positions, unpaid work experience, working full-time hospitality jobs alongside it all to survive blah blah blah), my commitment to writing for the blog has never been as ardent as I would have liked. 

HOWEVER, Confessions of an Art Junkie provided me with so much, shall we take a deep dive?

My blog led me to securing the opportunity to write for Art in Liverpool, an arts publication that posts regular articles, listings, opportunities and news for artists and audiences around Merseyside online.

This is where I wrote my ‘Outdoor Liverpool Treasures’ - a three-part series that offered Merseyside locals tailored outdoor trails of public artwork to traverse in different parts of the city when museums and galleries were closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

I will never forget the following year when two ladies came into my place of work at the time, asking for directions to the Baltic Triangle, because they were following an outdoor arts trail they had found online. You guessed it, it turned out to be the trail I had created! 

I think most small bloggers can relate to the humbling acceptance that the people who actually read your entries are most likely just yourself and your mother (don't get me wrong, I appreciate those reads Mum!) - but to know that my writing was reaching others was the best feeling!

The series can be found further down my blog page.

Art in Liverpool also gave me the opportunity to conduct my very first interview!

I remember how nervous I was, recording with my iPhone's video setting on the floor to write the transcript later on! Luckily artist Peter Walker and the Dean of Liverpool were very friendly which put my nerves at ease!

This opportunity then led me to write for Bido Lito!, a music and creative culture publication in Merseyside, where I was asked to review an exhibition and interview the Senior Curator of Tate Liverpool, Tamar Hemmes! I still have the Press Pack in my ‘Important Documents’ folder because I still think its sooooo cool!

Bido Lito! was also the first publication that I had my writing printed in, which was also an incredible feeling. My writing was printed in two of their issues before they sadly closed. Though you can find my articles further along this blog.

And then COAJ came on tour with me! All the way to Australia, a country that I fell in love with not just for its beautiful weather and great work/life balance, but because of its incredibly vibrant contemporary arts scene! Which became the main subject for a lot of my blog entries. 

Confessions of an Art Junkie might have been a little blog, but I strongly believed it played its part in the domino effect that became my arts career. It gave me the springboard into writing for arts publications, which then pushed me to edit arts publications, leading me to volunteer within various cultural institutions, guiding me into working within these same institutions, to then pursuing a creative MA to then, well, now!

But all good things must come to an end, and with me moving into post-graduate life, my focus has expanded slightly beyond writing. That isn't to say that I will stop writing, but I needed a platform that was multifunctional. And that platform is right here, beneath your literal fingertips.

So welcome! I'm so very excited to begin this new chapter, and hopefully you can join me in seeing where I go and what I do.

I want to say a very big thank you to everybody who took the time to visit Confessions of an Art Junkie over the last 4 years, whether that was just for a quick browse, reading an article, or taking part in one of my trails! All of my previous entries are on this site, so feel free to take a look if wish.

Perhaps COAJ will come back in the future in a different capacity one day...

Who knows!

Sending my love,

Your dearest art junkie,

Bryony