What does an artist have in common with a farmer?
Alex Atkin (BA ’08, Studio Arts) says it’s the ability to make something beautiful come from nothing.
Atkin earned her degree in studio arts from the School of Art in 2008. Since 2011, she’s been the farm manager for Tucson Village Farm.
“When I finished my art degree, I did a series of AmeriCorps terms to figure out what I wanted to do with my life,” said Atkin.
One of the AmeriCorps terms she carried out was on a farm.
“I have always had a fondness for farming and the outdoors too, much of my art was environmental based,” she said.
She said her grandma was raised on a farm and her other grandma lived by an educational farm that she would visit as a kid. After she volunteered at her first farm, she went on to look for different farms where she could volunteer.
“I just fell in love with it,” Atkin said. “I realized how much creativity and problem solving was required for farm work and I really felt like I was still putting my art degree to some use in a meaningful way.”
Since 2011, Atkin has been working at Tucson Village Farm and has been the farm manager since 2014. She oversees farm volunteers, apprentices and AmeriCorps volunteers that help keep the farm in good shape.
Tucson Village Farm is a seed-to-table program with the goal of reconnecting young people to a healthy food system. The farm is a program of the Pima County Cooperative Extension and the University of Arizona.
She said some of the skills she learned while getting her degree were observation, problem solving, and creativity.
“You have to be really a self-motivated person and have a strong work ethic to be an artist and you really have to have those same skills to be a farmer,” Atkin said.
While she no longer practices fine art, she said she still gets to be creative on the farm.
“I am still quite crafty though. I sew, occasionally draw, embroider and make some beauty products, such as soap and salve, for my job” she said. “I still do creative things.”
Atkin thought she would go on after school to work at a museum and practice art.
“But I just kept on seeking what I loved and landed at a place that I felt I connected with and where I felt I could make a difference and be creative and useful,” she said.
“There are a lot of ways you can take your art degree so don’t be bogged down by what you think an artist should be.” — Alex Atkin (BA ’08, Studio Arts)
She said she remembers feeling worried about what she was going to do with her arts degree, but she kept looking for opportunities and putting herself outside her comfort zone.
“There are a lot of ways you can take your art degree so don’t be bogged down by what you think an artist should be,” she said.
Alex is one of 300+ alumni from the College of Fine Arts, who currently work for the University of Arizona.
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