Old Girls in the Arts CHRISTINE CURTIS (OG, 1980)
Graphic design “Let’s start at the very beginning. For it’s a very good place to start...” The Sound of Music is one of my favourite musicals which is also an inspiration to me, as we often change career paths which, through transformation, can be an unpredicted success. Presently I live in Sydney, Australia. My journey has been long, varied and exciting. In order to be the person I am today I encountered many challenges and times where I felt confused and despondent but I found the resilience to persevere, to follow my dreams and enjoy life. WGHS was always a school I admired and although I only attended from 1977-1978 my final ‘O’ Level year, I felt so proud being able to wear that uniform. A careers talk led me to think that Graphic Design was the better option over languages and it became my chosen path. I chose the subject I loved and excelled at. After completing a year at Wakefield Art College doing a Foundation Course I was keen to do a degree in Graphic Design and went to Coventry Polytechnic. I felt the course was too technical however and transferred to Newcastle upon Tyne where I loved the Geordie humour, warmth and the illustrative based degree course. It wasn’t easy. I had some private issues to deal with and almost gave it away in my final year. However, I think hurdles are there to make us stronger and I won the National Sign Centre Awards and received first prize and five hundred pounds presented by the then Lord Mayor of London Sir Anthony Joliffe. 22
This achievement opened many doors and I accepted an offer made by Allied International Designers in London in the Corporate Design department and later in the New Product Development department. I later went to Abu Dhabi as my father was working there and worked in an advertising agency there. Cut to Germany where I worked in Aachen and Düsseldorf in advertising and design for international agency BBDO. As you will have noticed, my other passion is travel! Family arrived and I freelanced for many years before moving over to the Middle East once again only this time as a teacher. I later specialised in art and taught the whole of Primary School and later High School. I can happily say many of my students have gone on to study Art and Design and I am proud to lay claim to having some influence in their lives. I am now living in Sydney, Australia where I teach children art after school, give private lessons and when I can find the time, plunge myself into my private world of Art where I paint commissions, usually dog portraits, and produce a body of work for exhibitions and competitions. I enter competitions wherever I can and receive awards after award but the gratification is in knowing that my art has sold and has an admirer. My career path involved many twists and turns but like a tree, it had strong roots. It has a solid trunk which is obviously creative and branches and twigs that complete the picture in their individual yet similar way. My advice to anyone at school today is to follow your dreams, listen to your heart and as the aboriginals say here ‘feel it in your gut.’ You know when it is right for you. Change is inevitable in life and to be embraced and as challenging as it may be, it will make you stronger. I am happy to share with you some recent works I have created and hope you will enjoy the viewing.
Christine J Curtis B.A. Graphic Design