Grayson Perry is the Chancellor of UAL at the moment and he came all the way to Wimbledon to give us a talk. Yes, we do sometimes feel like the suburban relatives …

Anyway, he was down-to-earth and funny, as you would expect if you have ever seen him before, and gave us a survey of his career, interspersed with some nuggets of advice.

embrace being uncool and out of fashion

After turning to ceramics as the major part of his practice, he says he sees himself as a conceptual artist masquerading as a crafter.

hold your beliefs lightly

His work often comments on political topics but he is genuinely curious about people who hold different views.

The bit of advice I liked best was

act as if you are an artist

I think this is particularly good advice as we come towards the end of our course. Those with jobs, families, other commitments or just decades of habit to contend with need to work out how to actually live as an artist.