The sign of a liberal artist (5)
I believe the answer is:
libra
'the sign' is the definition.
(Libra is an example)
'a liberal artist' is the wordplay.
'a liberal' becomes 'lib'.
'artist' becomes 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'lib'+'ra'='LIBRA'
'of' is the link.
(Other definitions for libra that I've seen before include "Balance constellation" , "Zodiac sign of the scales" , "Scales constellation" , "stars" , "Zodiacal sign" .)