Christianne Kapps, MFA, 2001

Describe your artistic work. How much time per week do you devote to it?

Since graduation I have focused mainly on digital prints which I can work on at my home computer. Until recently I haven’t had the space or time to devote to a 3-D studio practice which would have been my preference. I try to devote at least one day a week with varying success.

Do you support yourself making art? If so, how? If not, what else do you do?

I have had to maintain full time employment to pay the bills. I cannot support myself with art yet. Lately I started to work as a freelance bookkeeper so I can have a more flexible schedule and reserve more time for art.

Describe your career path.

Right after getting my undergraduate degree I started working in an office full time. In order to keep doing art I took classes in the evening. Eventually, ten years later, I had enough art work to put together a portfolio and apply to graduate school. Again, after grad school, I took a full time job to support my family, but continued to work in my spare time. Finally, I have the space at home to set up a studio and the time available, by doing freelance work, to devote more time to art.

Did you have internships during graduate school? Was the experience useful?

The internships available to artists are few and far between, they are generally unpaid and administrative in nature. I did not feel I could afford an unpaid internship when I could get a similar administrative job and be paid for my time.

What is one thing you wish you knew about your profession as a grad student at Penn?

Artists are more competitive than I thought. I thought that once I graduated I would be part of a network of artists who would work together and help each other out. Instead, there are so few resources available we are all forced to fend for ourselves. Architects and Lawyers usually get jobs in their fields after graduation. It is really hard for visual artists to do that.