Meet N. Corren Conway
B.F.A. in Visual Communication
Making Art Her Business, Her Way
Returning home to Brooklyn, New York after graduating from AIU London with a BFA in Visual Communication and a concentration in Photography, N. Corren Conway was ready to hit the ground running. Her goal? Nothing short of taking over the art world.
An unexpected setback (days after returning home she was hit by a car) pushed Corren's timeline back a bit. Still, in the two years since graduating, she has had five shows, selling work in at least two. Her most recent show was a competition; celebrity photographer Kareem Black selected the images to be included from hundreds of entries. ACCESS – Intimate Portraits & Public Occurrences – opened at The Gallery @ Harriet's Alter Ego in Brooklyn in mid-October. Corren was one of ten photographers whose work Black selected.
Talking to Corren the day after the show's opening reception, which upwards of 250 people attended, her head was in the clouds. "I can't believe how many people turned out and how many cards I collected."
Corren says the nine other photographers Black selected for the show are "big time." "One of the guys, Jonathan French, had recently flown in from Paris -- where he's also exhibiting – for the ACCESS opening," she says. Corren says some of the other ACCESS photographers are regular shooters for publications such as Essence, Maxim, Vibe, Oprah and Billboard magazines.
"It was a great group to be included in."
Corren's photograph of singer Janelle Monáe wasn't just in the show however. Her image was selected for the show's promotional fliers and ads.
While Corren enters her work in as many competitions as she can, she says that is only one of the things necessary to build a successful photography business. "It is hard to make a living as an artist alone. You must be business savvy too. Photography is definitely art, but, if you want to live off your art, you must be aware it is also a business and treat it as such."
"AIU [London] cultivated my artistic ability and taught me how to use my talent not only as a way to express myself but also as a medium of speaking to people. Since graduation I've been focusing a little more on my business skills and how to expand my photography company, Forever 12."
In addition to competitions and shows, Corren does commercial work for Vibe magazine. In early October, she was in Atlanta covering Clark Atlanta University's homecoming for the magazine. Two weekends later she was in Washington D.C. shooting the Vibe Yardfest Concert at Howard University.
Corren has also done work for The Source Magazine, Capitol Records, and most recently, Yearround Records. (She shot the cover art for Yearround's latest release, Welcome 2 G'Dom.) And, as freelancers living in New York City often do, Corren has a "day job:" photographing antiques for an upscale Manhattan antiques dealer. She also recently accepted a position with Apple Computers. In June, she shot the wedding of one of her former AIU London instructors.
If the stack of cards she collected at the ACCESS show is any indication, Corren will be adding more names to her list of clients in the near future.
"I feel [AIU London] has given me the tools I need to be successful in whatever I chose to do, Fine Art or Commercial."
It would seem Corren is using those tools just fine so far.
Back to Student/Alumni Profiles