Daniel Lehan Ambition ~ I Want To Be An Artist / Reasons To Be An Artist ~ You Might Get Famous

When I work in schools I am asked whether I am famous, or if I am rich. Sometimes if I am both. Recently, during a Bow Arts drawing project, I asked a group of Year 5 pupils ‘Why be an artist?‘. The unanimous answer I was given – You Might Get Famous.

The two slogans for Artsmark are based on conversations with pupils about being an artist. When I was at school the idea that you might get famous, or become rich being an artist was absurd – I was always being told to think of another career, one that would pay the rent. I am delighted to note the change in expectations.

Daniel Lehan ~ former paperboy, choirboy, shop assistant, ice cream seller, chip shop manager, petrol pump attendant, pub caterer, post office worker, theatre usher, cleaner, adult education tutor, leaflet distributor, front of house manager, t-shirt designer, screen printer, children’s book author, gardener, teacher.

Education projects devised and facilitated for ~ The British Council, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bow Arts, Chisenhale Gallery, Geffrye Museum, Hackney Museum, ICA, Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames, Livesey Museum, Greenwich, Borough of Newham, Gallery, St Paul’s Art Space, [ SPACE ], South London Gallery, Studio Voltaire, Britain, & .

This artwork is one of six commissioned by Bow Arts in celebration of the Artsmark programme 2012. Bow Arts are London’s leading arts and creative learning provider, taking world-class artists into schools to improve the lives and learning of children and young people. www.bowarts.org