Blog Question #1- What did you learn from your first week at your internship? Did anything surprise you? Who did you meet and what do they do? Did you engage in any code switching?
During the first week of my internship I learned who to work with Google Sheets and I’m starting to learn the art of asking for money and promotions. I’ve also been learning of the entrepreneurial side of art galleries. While working was surprised of the uncertainty that came with the gallery since my sponsors are renting out the gallery to an artist. Each time we meet it’s at a different place along Colfax. First it was the Tattered Cover then it was the Weathervane, both off of Colfax and this Friday, (9-1-17) we’ll be going off to Colorado Springs to an art event at University of Colorado Colorado Springs. So far I have met my primary sponsor, Allison Bartholomew. She is part of the entrepreneurial side of the gallery so she mainly handles the money and marketing and finding buyers. However she also contacts the artist who present their artwork at the gallery and sell through the gallery. I have yet to meet my secondary sponsor Eric Nord who handles the artist more often than Allison. I also need to meet the artist who rented out the gallery until October, Jonathan Saiz. He makes artwork and sells it in the gallery. Hopefully I will be a studio assistant for him during the remaining time he is there. At the beginning I code switched because I wanted to get a feel of how to act around my sponsor. She doesn’t require me to be professional around her and doesn’t expect me to around Eric. However I know I need to when I meet artist or buyers. She also requires me to write a professional email that will go over what we need to discuss for the next meeting so i can learn how to email properly. Other than that I haven’t code switched much during the internship.
Blog Question #2 –What was the best thing that happened this week at your internship? How did it make you feel? What else makes you excited about your internship?
The best thing that happen during last week of the internship is when my sponsor, another artist (Diego Rodriguez Warner) and I went to Colorado Springs to watch Diego talk about one of his pieces that was in the GOCA Gallery. His piece was a 16x8ft painting on 4 wooden panels. There is no way to describe it to do it justice. I also saw other artist works that were very interesting. There were also other art at the gallery that really interested me. There was a cloth hand exhibit, sexual watercolor paintings, color pencil drawings, some sculptures and other paintings. The pencil color drawings were very interesting since the artist loves evolutionary biology and based his drawings off of it. Another interesting piece of art was this video art that was called the mouth breathers where we watched them sit or stand or sit and read or stand and read. It was very weird but interesting I wish I could’ve heard the artist who made that talk. I also thought the watercolor paintings were interesting despite the mature content since some of the positions were awkward and others had two people in them doing explicit activities.The visit got me very excited for going deeper into the arts. My sponsor is hoping to take me on another field trip. I’m not sure where we’re going, it might be to Denver Art Museum or Contemporary Art Museum. I’m also excited to start working in the gallery soon which might happen in October and get more stable work hours.
Blog Question #3
How do your actions affect your workplace? Do you contribute positively? How do your co-workers actions affect your internship? Which co-workers are you connecting with?
My actions effect the work place by me giving input on how I feel about artists that can be considered for the gallery. I do contribute positively by doing my assignments and voicing my opinion when needed. I haven’t interacted with other co-workers than my sponsor or seen interactions of other co-workers. The closest I’ve been to seeing co-workers interact is my sponsor talking to Diego Rodriguez-Warner which turned out to be mainly gossip so it didn’t effect me. However it was very entertaining. I have only interacted with my sponsor sadly but I can’t wait to meet Eric the co-founder of the gallery. (This would be longer but I don’t have much to talk about since I haven’t interacted with other workers. Sorry)
Weekly Blog Question #4 What are you responsible for at your workplace? What do you think is your main contribution to your work site? What do your day to day duties look like?
N/A
Weekly Blog Question #5
How do you feel like your internship is going so far? What are the highlights and the “lowlights”? Do you feel like you are making connections with your co-workers? What can you do to improve your experience?
I feel like my internship at my new work site are going very well. I was moved to a different gallery. The new gallery is called Chicano Humanities Arts Council ( CHAC ). Some highlights are that the artist who put their work in the gallery come in a lot which means I get to speak with them often. The gallery also hosts a lot of events that give me many hours. I really enjoy the people I work with and my coworkers feel that I am very useful. While working at the gallery I get to sit behind a desk doing some admin work, other times I’m reorganizing papers and sometimes I get to sit behind a desk and make transactions. I really like doing all of them and recently I learned how to answer the phone which I think is a highlight since it will improve my social skills over the phone. However the schedule I have is somewhat limited since they aren’t open all week. I’m making a lot of connections with my coworkers. I believe I’ve met them all. They’re all very friendly. I believe they like me as well. To improve my experience I wish my bosses had more work for me to do since I do it very fast according to them so I wouldn’t have keep bugging them for more work.
Blog 6:
How do people at work treat you?How does it make you feel? If you have in intern one day will you treat them the same? What have you learned so far from your co-workers and sponsor?
People treat me very politely which makes me feel good. No one so far has been rude which I am thankful for. That makes me feel good since that gives me the impression that I’m doing my job right. Even the customers treat me well in frustrating situations. During the Dia de los Muertos celebration the gallery ran out of sugar skulls and people who had paid with card were very frustrated since we ran out so quickly and couldn’t get some as fast as those who paid with cash. I had to speak with several angry customers who paid with card but found out there were no more sugar skulls. The people at the cashier’s also were very frustrated since no one had informed them that there were no more sugar skulls. However later there was a new batch that came out and the cashiers were irked by the fact that things kept changing. I’ve learned from my coworkers how to run the credit card machine and make transactions along with how to answer the phone properly. I’ve also learned how to use Excel Sheets better and how to make an art inventory. Working at CHAC has also improved my typing and organizing skills and people skills.
Weekly Blog Question #7
What is the difference between working on personal art projects and working in a creative business? What have you learned about working in a creative business?
With personal art projects there is no due date except if its through school. If you’re doing it on your own then you have more creative freedom than if you are in school or at work however sometimes its harder to start because you’re not sure about what to make or what you want to do exactly. Also sometimes there is little motivation to continue unlike in school or at the internship where there are deadlines and people pushing you to continue. However when in school or at work art new projects and ideas can be introduced to you that you hadn’t thought of trying before. Either works well and are enjoyable but it depends on the persons preference on how they like to work. In the creative business deadlines are very important to follow especially if its paperwork that needs to be turned in. I’ve had some problems with that however I have gotten better at remembering when things are due. Also in the creative business listening to your boss and doing things how they like it since my only job is to do as they say and keep them happy with the work I’ve done. I’ve also learned that sometimes you won’t always take orders form your said boss. Others who need help should be helped by us interns since it’s our job to do basically what ever we are comfortable with and reasonable so taking orders form others will happen and it will increase your experience in the art field.
Weekly Blog Question #8 :
How is your internship project going? Describe the progress of your project. How did the
conversation about your project go with your sponsor? (If you haven’t discussed the project with your sponsor yet, how do you plan to do so?) Did they have good insights into how to improve or expand the project? How does your project bridge what you do at
your internship and what you like to create for yourself? Has your relationship with your sponsor evolved as you have engaged in a creative dialogue about your project? Art there any challenges you are experiencing planning or doing your project?
I have sketched my internship project however I haven’t started the actual painting process yet. I haven’t talked with my sponsor about it yet however I plan to bring up how identity is a major part of the gallery and those who show there. Which would then lead into my project which is going to be how my identity shapes me and where I come from has made me the person I am today. The gallery is very heritage focused and how the people who work there and show there are very proud to be Chicano therefore I would like to show in my art piece how I am a proud of my Chinese background. Some challenges that arise when I create my project is finding a door that I am able to paint on. My school art teacher has some in her back room that she may allow me to use. I am also in need of looking for paint colors that will be enough to cover a door. Along with that I don’t know what type of paint to use. Acrylic or oil or water or spray or a combination of many types of them. Or maybe I’ll have to go to Home Depot to get durable enough paint so that it’ll stay on the door. I’m also concerned about how I will draw the outline on the door so that it will be visible to me when I paint. Pencil or pen may work but I might have to use sharpie to make sure I can see it. Maybe I shouldn’t do an outline at all but that can be decided at a later time.
Weekly Blog Question #9
What have you seen or experienced in your internship that has inspired you the most on your own artistic journey? Has this experience changed your artistic ambitions? How?
I have seen a lot of peoples identities shown through their work along with being able to see their inspiration through it. An artist named Joaquin does a lot of art of important people like Nina Simone. Another woman would paint her spirit animal a lot along with her journey through life which I got the honor of having her explain it. She had been through so much and her art showed it. Another artist I had the privilege of meeting does most of his art on social issues like how technology has started to take over peoples lives or how people joke about very important matters like suicide. Seeing all of this helped inspire my internship project. I want to do the project on my own personal life experiences that have shaped me. Now that I see what artists do and how they are like I know I would love to be in the industry if not making the art then at least helping. Since I started I have began creating more art that has related to my identity. So far I’ve done some small stuff but now I wanna go bigger and make my art really show who I am and what I’ve been through.
Weekly Blog Question #10 :
Has this experience been a rewarding one for you? Why or Why not (keep it positive, if you had negative experiences, focus on what you learned- make yourself look good!)?
How has the reality of your internship matched or contrasted with your expectations? What is the most important learning you did during your internship?
This experience has been very rewarding. I got to see the admin side of making a gallery work. I loved working at CHAC. I had the honor to meet the people behind the scenes and the artists as well. I got to connect to a new community that I want to continue to be a part of. Coming into this internship I had no clue of what to suspect since the first one I worked at was unorthodox to say the least. However once I got there and got into how it worked smooth sailing form there on out. I did expect some administrative paper work for me to do but initially I thought it was going to be boring however I found it to be more interesting. I thought it was fun to see all the names of the artists and members and then finally put a face to the name when I met them on either first Friday or happen to get to see them putting more art work up. I’m not sure what the most important thing I learned there was. I learn so many important things at the gallery. Transactions, answering the phone, talking to customers, inventory, etc… But if I had to choose I would choose maybe talking to people because basic interaction skills are needed for everyday life and every job I could ever have. Interacting with customers, with my bosses, other coworkers, the artists or merchants was very good practice that I will hold on to and continue.