As we celebrate our 10th Anniversary of the Wooster Collective website. we asked a group of artists who we showcased in the beginnings of the website the following question:

What's the one thing that you learned in the last decade that you had wished someone had told you 10 years ago?

The following response comes from Jon Burgerman

"Ten years ago I was just about getting used to the idea of not being in full time education anymore. I was living in Nottingham in the UK and had just left the last 'proper' job I'd ever have (fingers crossed). The world was my oyster, although I had no money to indulge in oysters, so cheese sandwiches and a dial-up modem made do instead. The one thing I wish someone had told me would of been; Don't panic. Don't worry. Just keep working.

I am a natural worrywort, everything seems on the cusp of collapse. It's difficult to impart perspective. In my formative years each project and idea appeared to be make or break. I think people probably told me, but I didn't listen, that actually it's a long game; the game of making art for a living and avoiding traditional employment. There are up's and down's and placid plateaus of inactivity and it's completely normal. Just keep being bloody minded and focus on making great work and things will fall into place around you. I think it helps to be proactive, forward thinking, presentable, persistent and polite too, of course.

The spaghetti randomness of the whims and tastes of the outside world can never be satisfactorily untangled. Just work, with glee and enthusiasm, it's the only thing we can truly directly dictate."... Jon Burgerman