Thursday, August 19, 2010

DWG from an Intern's Perspective

Written on Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

Hi! My name is Maria and I am a brand new intern at the David Weinberg Gallery. Thanks to Marwen, a nonprofit organization which offers free courses and learning opportunities to underprivileged kids, I was assigned to work for DWG for six weeks. I got the internship by applying for the Art @ Work program at Marwen. I had to select five internship sites, explain why I wanted to work for them, and what I could contribute to each site. I was fortunate enough to be chosen for DWG! For the next four weeks, I hope to post a few blog entries about my experiences in the gallery (good or bad!), personal opinions on the current show, as well as introduce certain areas of the gallery via photos that I will take and post.

I am about to finish my second week here, and I have to say, I feel quite comfortable in an environment I did not originally envision myself in. As I walk to the gallery from Marwen, I notice how busy and on-edge life can really be - crazy drivers, everyone running to the subway stations, etc. The city is very fast-paced, which to me can get fairly stressful after a while. However, when I come here, it's the indoors version of a breath of fresh air. Warm welcomes and happy faces greet me, mixed in with some casual conversation but serious work. There is a solid team of people here (as well as a strong leader and great photographer, Mr. David Weinberg) who run this gallery smoothly. I never realized how much really goes into operating a gallery, but these talented and dedicated people make it look easy (which I'm sure it's not!).

My duties thus far have been mostly administrative work: finding new contacts, entering them into the system, organizing tear sheets into their designated artist folders, etc. I would not give that "six flags" on the fun-o-meter, but it is important work that needs to be taken care of. It is good to know that I can help handle all the small tasks so that Aaron, Meghan, Johnna and Heather can move on to bigger and better tasks. I did get the chance to help install two pieces in the display window to advertise for the current show, though. It was nice to physically see my help, even if it was just holding tools and erasing pencil marks.

Today is different! First, I am making this post, which is totally awesome. Right after, I get to travel with Meghan to Horizons For Youth to assist with a printmaking lesson. Meghan has been doing a collaborative special summer program with Horizons for Youth kids as part of their summer school program, meeting nine times over three weeks. I'm really looking forward to being a part of it! I am sure I will be learning along with the kids. It looks like it's about time to go, so until my next post, enjoy some art and have fun!

-Maria

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