Atkinson (1998) highlights the importance of being aware of my own perspective or ‘frame of reference’. The extent of my prior knowledge of, and experience within, the field was made clear to participants prior to the interviews and aided in developing rapport and in enabling the flow of the interview without extensive explanation of colloquialisms and industry specific shorthand.
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At the core of this research, however, are the in-depth, career history interviews which are designed to allow the responding artists to discuss in their own words the course of their career and issues which arose during that time. The career history interviews which were loosely structured with a few carefully selected, generic, open questions which were intended to elicit a conversational response that it was felt would encourage more frankness (Gilmore et al 2011).
A semi-structured format allowed me to guide the process, and flow, whilst allowing me to “probe beyond the set list of questions” (Herman-Kinney & Verschaeve 2003: 231). The semi-structured interview also allowed the artist to retain control of how they wish to respond – this is particularly relevant since a career history should be led by the subject; avoiding the researcher introducing their own perspective as fact or assumption since it has yet to be confirmed. Although I describe the interviews as following a semi structured format they were all formed around the career history method which is led by the interviewee, in this case the artists. The career history method privileges the voices of the artists and how they want to tell their own story and my questions mid interview acted merely as prompts to keep the conversation going in some circumstances. In others the artists need no prompts leading me from their training through to their present circumstances with no input from the interviewer.
The interviews which this thesis draws from were sculpted around a career histories method in encouraging the artists to talk about their careers and lives from their own perspective, both personal and professional, highlighting what they felt was most relevant during this timeframe rather than arising from theoretical categories (Becker 1970). The interview questions were divided into three sub-categories, or themes, which acted as a guide to the specific questions asked. These prompts offered a base structure to the interview and functioned as a reminder during the interviews of topics to try and cover during the conversation. These themes were: education; work transition and early career; career trajectory and decisions.
The Figure 8 lists the broader questions that were used as guide questions - prompts which I could use generally to keep the narrative flowing. The second table lists a sample of some of the more specific questions that were asked during the interviews, as derived from the interview transcripts, giving insight into how I tailored the questions for
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particular artists, following my desk research in developing their career history diagrams, as well as through issues which arose during the interview itself.
The topic areas were chosen as they encompass pertinent issues which I sought to address. The questions drawn from these themes allowed the participant to consider their own practice – past, present and future – as well as to consider their position in the art market and amongst their peers. The artists were guided by thematic questions when needed but these acted more to stimulate conversation rather than being an exhaustive list of questions.
FIGURE 8: CAREER HISTORY INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (SEE APPENDIX 4-5 FOR FURTHER
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The initial questions focussed around education and experiences of higher education, usually art school. Often artists need very little prompting to talk about their time at art school and the interviews usually began with, ‘why did you decide to go to art school?’, and flowed from there. Sometimes the artists looked for more questions and I would ask them to tell me about their degree show (the end of undergraduate exhibition) before we moved on to discuss their early career. Only one of the artists had not studied art as an undergraduate so the interview began with asking how that artist started making art, or working as an artist.
The prompts around early career focussed on their activities, jobs and so forth, that helped them survive during this time. Specifically, ‘how did you support yourself?’ and ‘how did you sustain your practice?’ This led up to conversations about their first exhibitions, if these had not already arisen, and their first, if any, experiences of working with a commercial gallery. These conversations extended from their early career and often continued to where they are now. They tended to bleed into the next theme of career decisions and trajectory. This theme focussed on what the artists considered to be their most important decisions or key moments in their career, and if ‘anything or anyone had been a major influence for them?’ As this project seeks to uncover the career structures of visual artists and establish how artists understand and become aware of the art market, then the questions around their experiences of working with galleries is significant in identifying the impact of events like private views or relationships with gatekeepers. The final part of the interview was a chance to address any comments or issues that arose during the interview, for further clarification. Likewise artists were invited to ‘add anything else you felt had contributed to your practice, for example life outside work?’ which gave them a prompt to think about their wider lives outside of their career - families, friends, obligations and so forth.