Reflections

Thank you everyone for you patience in me writing my final post for my blog on my experiences during the Internship. I am currently writing this on a flight back from Melbourne after a long week post-25^th birthday festivities when I finally have some time alone to think back on my experience. There had been some great experiences during the internship and I am very thankful for having those but on the whole I do think I blew it due to my waning interest in the arts and my problem with dealing with people in general on an individual level and as part of a team.

I was a very different person with different interest than what I was two years ago when starting this course. Although my parents always advised me every step of the way not to resign from the Masters of Arts Administration, coming close frequently,  now huge HECS debt and lack of intimate arts experience from never having volunteered in an arts institution as it has I had never saw the upside in volunteering my free time.

Doing the Masters degree while working full-time definitely took its toll, coupled with personal ups and downs along the way, some courses I did extremely well in and got distinctions, other I barely scraped through, I was blaming everyone else but myself for poor results. My understanding of the visual art unfortunately fell to sweeping stereotypes and I grew frustrated at the lack of electives offered by COFA while it was being renovated and most classes being further out in Kensington.

My main reason for pursuing the world of Art Administration to me had seemed a natural progression from my past as an artist who did not want to go down the path of selling my work to make a living. As my past as an artist had not been so successful creatively or financially, I assumed that transitioning into the administration side would be relatively easy…how wrong I was! To assume makes an ass out of u and me! It would take more than a degree to ease myself into this industry.

But now as I get older, I understand that we are in charge of our own destiny and why we not make the best decisions any given moment they are still a vital part of our learning curve, no matter how depressing or deep our failures are. I used to think that I could walk through life carelessly and nothing would ever had happen to me, that if I worked hard the fruits of my labour would flourish, I was wrong again not knowing it was how to work smarter, not harder.

Nevertheless, throughout the internship I had been presented with numerous opportunities and industry experience that I am wholeheartedly thankful for to this day and I still have a great admiration of the work that the two owners of the institution I interned at do, despite my personal differences and clashes we had.

I hope that even if I don’t ever end up working or volunteering in the arts again, I can use the Masters degree and all its courses to good use.

I have been able to compile a list of the top 10 things in the internship that I had wish to address that would have probably made it run more smoothly, due to my relative lack of experience, initiative and flexibility had made it that much harder the list goes:

10. It pays to research the institution before you put yourself forward to intern, including its repertoire and also the organization as a whole, including its reputation and its history.

When I had approached the gallery, I walked in off the street with minimal knowledge of the art dealer himself or the artists he represented. Whilst over time I had certainly acquired a great deal of knowledge about the artists and the gallery itself, I certainly could have made a more conscientious effort. In dealing with customers and potential buyers, especially when the opportunity arises for a sale.

Whilst I am happy I had approached and had been successful in interning without any prejudice, there were a lot of times when I had to ask other workers about office politics, internal and external which affects relationships and gave me a sense of each person’s role more clearly in an organizational psychology standpoint.

Over time I had familiarized myself with articles and clippings compiled by the gallery in scrapbooks and an important front page article had came out in the newspaper right in the middle of the internship, which had made me question why it was this gallery that I had chosen and not a smaller artist run space, but in the end I regret nothing and would not trade the experience for anything.

9. Better communication is key

It does pay to listen to instructions more clearly and ask questions if you are not sure, as it will save you from a lot of embarrassment and inconvenience on other staff.

8. Be more assertive in letting the supervisor know what tasks are unacceptable for the intern

During the internship, I had managed to be involved in some great tasks, such as hanging a show, transporting large artworks to and from the gallery, handling delicate works on paper, etc. there had been some errands that I had to run such as doing the shopping and taking out the dry cleaning that really should have best been left to other employees, as it was only something for me to do. In the end it would help with the running of the gallery, but sometimes lines between personal and professional were blurred.

7. Try and build a better rapport with the supervisor, despite personal differences and breakdown of relationships

From the outset, I do emphasize that I do not harbour any negative feelings toward my supervisor, despite not having relationship that was functional most of the time.

However, me and my supervisor came from two very different backgrounds, he came from an arts background with his parents involved deeply in the arts, mine not. He had came from a privileged background and went to private schools, myself not, I was raised Catholic, he was Protestant, me gay, him straight. We had nothing in common except for a love of art. Since many times he seemed uninterested in what I wanted to say if I had anything to ask and the hand came up, it was hard to know when to ask or not.

He had managed to have inherited an empire and successful business from an early age but also we inherit the sins of our fathers, in this case his father’s temper. I tend be more passive and follow the mantra of treating people how you want to be treated. His temper had let rip a few times, mostly at my error, I can understand that being in this industry requires you to take many moral judgments and take on huge responsibilities. I respect that now and that brings me to the next point, which is…

6. Be more honest in my dealings, lying no matter how insignificant is still unacceptable

Like anybody, I have my flaws, personal or otherwise. One morning, when I was instructed to buy lilies I had made the mistake of telling the supervisor when I had bought the wrong type of flowers that there had been none left in the shop (which what I really should have said as the shop was still in the stage of being set up is that I didn’t see the lilies and not had bought them), he had gone back to the shop and came back with lilies and had taken me aside and told me (very firmly) he could accept incompetence and stupidity but not dishonesty. He demanded that I get the receipt for the lilies in my break time and write him an email of apology to send to him by the end of business.

That happened to be a motherfucking horrible week.

The day after, while manning the desk while he was away, a New Zealand lady had enquired about putting a painting on lay-by, when my supervisor had came back, he had instructed me to call her and get her address and write a receipt. This happened to be a very busy time with many visitors and many phone calls and on top of this put labels on invitations. Multitasking can be hard when you are the only person at the gallery. When he came back I had started to write the receipt and he had asked if I had called, as I had previously had gotten her name and phone number and written it on the receipt, he had snatched the pen out of my hand and asked me if I had contacted her and I said yes, he then asked again if I had called out and I shouted out firmly “No”. He then exploded and threw the pen down at me on the desk. 

“Leave”, he had ordered me, I started to get my things, he then backtracked whilst still furious understood nobody else would be at the gallery to look after it whilst he had gone to lunch and I had continued to stick on labels. When he came back he had asked for a full explanation of what had happened, partly in disbelief that he had hired me knowing that I am very intelligent and having read some of these blog entries. From this point on I was terrified of him and always avoided eye contact and started losing motivation. 

He had acknowledged I had made a mistake and would not be able to get a reference from him and would have to email him if I had wished to come back after I had my week at the snow.  I had emailed him, but not had received a response, so I had gone back to work two weeks later. The events of two weeks before seemed a million miles away as things had returned to seemingly normal, however the damage was still palpable.

In retrospect, despite the huge amount of pressure I was under at the time and after admitting that I had made two errors that in the first time was minor, in the second instance had ramifications for the gallery’s and my supervisor’s reputation, and I do not seek any malice. But the experience would have been much different, especially given the circumstances with my supervisor’s explosive temper, still would have had a similar outcome. It taught me an emphatic lesson that honesty is still the best policy, no matter if your heart is in the right place. Now I have read several articles that now I understand he does not suffer fools gladly, or even at all.

5. Be thankful for the experience you receive, despite the ups and downs

I know that being an intern can sometimes be a frightening experience , especially after reading this article: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/mirandadevine/index.php/heraldsun/comments/meet_tomorrows_pc_journalists/ where the intern was shocked to see how un-PC the workplace, in this case a newspaper was and how an intern is more of an inconvenience on the staff there rather than free labour for them. As I had explained before, there had been several moments that I had enjoyed and had put to good use during the internships, despite the obvious hardship I had faced. Working with some of Sydney’s most notable personalities in the art scene and the culinary scene was definitely a highlight, so was working with the many fabulous artists, who were very kind and thankful for all of the assistance with hanging the two shows over the period I was there. I’m still thankful for this to the owners despite not being on speaking terms with them or most likely to ever talk to them again.

4. If in doubt, ask

In any organization and in my full time employment also, communication or the breakdown of it is a major crux for both organizations. This can potentially cause delays, misunderstandings and failures making it less effective as a whole. As on a personal level, I found my supervisor very aloof and upper class I had trouble with developing a rapport, this extended to asking him for many minor details, in which sometimes he was not at liberty to explain in great detail. Nevertheless the time where he had instructed me to paint a grey plinth and unsure of his instruction, painted the wrong side of it, caused another incident in where he chastised me for not asking questions and wasting time painting the entire plinth and the person’s time who would have to paint it white again. This hammered home the message where I had stuffed up twice before, witnessing a lot more irate response.

3. Don’t go too far out of your depth, unless you really know what you’re doing

Not every employee of the company can attempt to do everything 100%. However, I had been warned from the lady who works there and had introduced me that a lot of the time the owners will get you to do ten things in one day, you would do ten things beautifully and ask “What about the tenth thing?” In this industry perfectionism is something to be expected and not asked for, however whatever I tried my hand at, no matter how miserably I had failed at or had done perfectly fine I did the best I could, despite myself being unpaid I still gave the same dedication as a paid staff would have.

2. Count your blessings and celebrate your achievements

I will always remember the good times and the thanks I had got from everybody in the gallery for giving up my free time and taking a pay cut to complete this internship. I really do believe it has equipped me better not just working in the arts world but in the greater scheme of things. Despite leaving the internship more relieved in that I would start to be paid full time again, I will miss being around the lovely artworks and especially the library where there were we thousands of publications from auction houses, art magazines, books of all different artists and art from all over the world, I will definitely miss that.

1.    No matter how hard things get, never give up 

There were two times during the internship where I had hit rock bottom and the thought of leaving or telling the supervisor to get fucked did cross my mind, however I thought it best I keep calm and carry on and finish the internship, rather than taking myself elsewhere, as it was such a long, painstaking process finding internships in the first place. I though it better to let time heal things and keep on with the learning experiences, as eventually things did get better but not to 100%, thing did definitely improve. My only regret is that I didn't stand up for myself more often when minor misunderstandings had been blown out of all proportion.

So that was the last finally post for the internship and I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the many lovely lecturers and course coordinators, in particular Kate Coleman and Arianne Rourke. I would also like to thank the many other students who had helped me and gave me such great advice throughout our journeys throughout the course, as well as my work for being so great when I had to work flexible hours to accommodate the course and the internship.

I would also like to thank the owners of the institution where I had been interning, despite the fact that they would probably spit out their coffee in horror upon reading this blog post (which I know he has read in the past) and whom most probably if I saw in the street or at an exhibition I would probably just keep walking past without a second glance (Hi, by the way!). I really couldn't give a flying fuck what they think about me as I could never have a personal relationship with them, I should have sent alarm bells off when he had asked me what school I had went to, which I guess is perfectly normal to ask a 24 year old male? Right? His upper-class manner of speech, dress sense and temper made him seem a bit of a "young fogey".

They would be very thankful that I did not mention the name of the institution for legal reasons, but realistically this is not great exposé, the personalities and stories by other people are common knowledge. None of this I shared on the other blog entries which was really a whitewashed version of events. For instance, one time the new director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales had came in and was walking around waiting while my supervisor lay around reading his newspaper, I had to get his attention, which was very embarrassing for him.  After the grey plinth incident, he said and I quote "You can also say on your little blog that my boss might be horrible and demanding, but he knows how to hang a show because he listened during his internship". His arrogance speaks for itself.

On the other hand, I still greatly respect the work they do in Australian art and their place is undisputed and I wish all the best success for them in future despite the worldwide recession and personal dramas which had caused problems in the past.

So with this final long post it will be the final time I post any assessment, as now I have been a student for the last 20 years. I am so relieved, but I will never say never as we never really do not stop learning.

Thanks all and best in art, 

Jack

My last day

The internship has finally come to its end. It has been an exhilarating experience with many ups and downs, challenges, learning experiences and struggles along the way. Being able to work with a prestigious gallery has allowed me to learn things out of the realm of most smaller galleries with its extensive collection and important industry events. There is a certain level of prestige with this gallery has that a select few have. Anyway back to the events of today...

This morning was pretty quiet, there was a function here last night and the remaining chairs need to be taken back upstairs through the lift, then there are a few scuff marks that need to be removed from plinths with white paint. The next task is to take photos of the exhibition we help hang last week and then upload them onto the website with the title, caption, size and price. I have a chat with the people of the function and show them where all the kitchen stuff is and where they can .Whilst the owners have gone to lunch I have done this and minded the gallery over this time. In a few hours time, a bunch of people who are having a function start to arrive, then I sweep the gallery on this freezing windy afternoon and print some more room sheets.

The owner has come down again with some paintings which have been purchased by a client who has had a viewing with them upstairs. He has assigned me to wrap them up with bubble wrap then in plastic. My present wrapping skills leave a lot to be desired and this process takes well over an hour to at least present with something passable. Once this is done he says I can go home, I can't believe it's over. I have my 25th birthday tomorrow so the new reflections post will be after all the celebrations are over. Good night.

Works on paper

Today was a moderately busy day, the show had opened already last week and no hanging was needed to be done. Apart from collecting the mail and newspapers, there were some tasks that still needed to be done. Got on to the phone to Apple to get the product code that was lost for a copy of FileMaker. Since there is an exhibition of works on paper in the collection by a famous Australian artist was due to be shown in a few weeks in country Victoria, that the gallery has allowed some of the works to be loaned out. With cotton gloves, I had to delicately handle the works and place them in a portfolio, so they can be taken away to the exhibition.

There were a number of selected works all different sizes and tissue paper held between them so they don't smudge. Handling the works properly is very important as already a few of them have sustained some minor previous damage such as creasing and smudging. I managed to find all of the works except for four, which I can leave that for some other time as it's not a huge priority. After lunch, there are some chairs that need to be rounded up from upstairs for a function not directly related to the gallery held downstairs.

At 4pm me and another gallery assistant have been summoned to another gallery in the eastern suburbs to pick up a sculpture. We take a taxi to this gallery where we come across a huge 6 ft wood carving sculpture, basically just a big part of a tree. The owner says it is heavier than it looks, he was not wrong as it took 4 of us to carry it to the van. We then travel back to our gallery to take the sculpture upstairs in the private collection, it's strange in that it just has to lean against the wall as it has no inbuilt support. If it falls it could potentially kill or maim someone, but the owners are very leased with their purchase and it does look great. Well that was it for today folks, my last day is tomorrow and I already have bitter-sweet feelings.

Final week

Just letting you know that I am finally coming to the end of the internship this week and there will be 2 blog entries and an extra reflections post on what I've learned, what challenges were overcome, what I should have done differently, etc. I'm sure after these three posts there will be much celebration!

Hanging with the Kiwis

Yesterday all the New Zealand artists and artworks had arrived. Today is the day we are hanging all of the works for it to be ready for the opening night tomorrow night. Any remaining works downstairs from the old exhibition have either been placed in storage or re-hung in the lobby or elsewhere. A number of visitors have come in expecting to catch a glimpse of the old show of the famous Australian artist only to see us setting up the new show with tools and drop sheets, etc. strewn all over the floor. Work in progress.

I have kindly shown one of them a catalogue, but it's not as impressive as the real thing, but it's the best I can do. Next up the plinth to hold a few of the sculptures needs to be painted and placed in the back room, then all of the remaining holes and pencil marks erased, spack-filled then covered over with white paint. There are numerous marks on the walls and many of them very high up so after getting the ladder out, removing them can be very time consuming!

Once all the walls are dry and it is important to note at this stage all of the artists have been busy setting up their own areas and are having a drink as of course it is Friday! One of the artists have been busy putting mascara and nail polish remover all over his designated space, which is a first for me. By the way, the end product looks a lot better as there had also been pieces installed on the walls holding various artworks and objects in very intricate and creative ways. the remaining sculptures are placed on the grey plinth.

The last artist has finally arrived from Christchurch and he has assisted us with hanging the final works in the back room, which are photographs on paper. This is the last thing to be hung and he has kindly held the works in place and aligned with a spirit level, before I hammered nails into them.

This is the first time I have had hung a multitude of mediums, not just conventional paintings. My supervisor says it looks great and is a great learning experience or something along those lines at the work we had done this week. The show opens tomorrow and I might come along and have a few drinks and chat with the Kiwis in a more social environment. More next week.

Out with old, in with new

I have come back from my ski break refreshed and uninjured (thank God) and during my absence the previous show of the famous Australian artist had concluded and yesterday was its last day. A new show is due to open tonight and is from a collective of artists from Christchurch, New Zealand who had not been able to show in their home city due to the devastating earthquakes.

Today the old show had to be de-installed in order for the new show to go up. First all the paintings had been sent to stored if they had either been sold or to store long term in different locations. A fraction of the paintings (mainly smaller) were hung elsewhere in the gallery. All of the screws were to be removed and the holes spack-filled.

Once this was complete, there has been one of the galleries' famous lunches, the first in a while, held upstairs and my assistance was needed during this period to set up and clear the table. During lunch, the artworks arrived from New Zealand packed in four wooden crates. An inventory was needed for all of the artworks in each crate and all of the bubble wrap and polystyrene supports removed and put back into the crate to be reapplied once the show is deinstalled and shipped back to New Zealand.

The artists who had been around the whole were very helpful with the set-up in a friendly way and were not too overbearing. They had thoroughly enjoyed seeing all their work come out of the crates and give us a hand with putting it all together, as previously we have had to do at our own accord.

Today was a busy day but a lot of work was done, tomorrow, however will be busier as all the works will need to be hung and there is still a lot more to be done. More tomorrow...

Before the break

Hello people, it's been another week, this will be the last entry before I head off to the snow next week. It has not been a particularly eventful week, apart from having to set up a few works upstairs. The library needed some tidying, as many books and magazines needed to be put away into their assigned bookshelf space. This is a task that is sometimes never ending but very rewarding regarding the wealth of literature that is available to give a quick glance over between filing.

Next up, some invites are due to be sent out and stamping them and putting mail merge labels on them are the next thing in order that can be completed the next day. Apart from some hanging and tidying on the top floor (much smaller area), not much more has had to be done as we are in the middle of a show and the occasional visitor will come through and want to buy an artwork.

Time for a relaxing break snowboarding for me, I will post more in two weeks.

Week after show

Following the show and its opening a few of the artworks have been purchased. In order to reflect this, red dots have been placed alongside and the website updated to reflect this. Some of the paintings have been taken out of the show to be photographed for archiving and packed away.

For the next three hours we are summoned to re-hang a lot of the private collection upstairs as a lot of it has collected dust and newer ones put in their place. This takes a good 3 hours as there were 20 or so specific instructions on where things had to be hung, at what level and what to replace them with.

It pays to write all of these things down to save yourself for being yelled at the end of the day. Due to this being a commercial gallery, there is a buyers room and paintings have to be showcased there for the prospective buyer to sit down with the manager and negotiate a price. This room has to be kept very tidy, to impress the buyer and the paintings are laid out to specific mathematical instructions. That work continues on today....

Post show

After the hanging of the show last Thursday, the private opening dinner was held on the Friday and the public opening was held on Saturday. That Friday was quite a busy day to say the least. It started off with having to clean up parts of the show, so everything looked spick and span.

Walls had to painted and spack filled to hide any pencil marks or holes left from hanging. Once this had been done, plinths had been laid out to showcase some of the artist's journals and sketches, they were extremely heavy and required 3 people to move.

Once this had been finished we had been summoned to the kitchen to help guest chef Tony Billson prep for the evening, which was an experience in itself which led to me having to drive to the Chef's Warehouse in his car to collect some new trays as the ones we had brought previously had holes in them and the fat would just drip out.

Between the prepping and serving the tables which were hired had to be set and cutlery laid. Then for the rest of the night mainly waiting tables and pouring drinks while the owners and artists gave speeches.

That was a busy day/night with a 9.00am start and finishing at 11.00pm!!

What's hanging

Today is the big day, as one of our artists has his big show opening this evening. Yesterday we had spent the whole day hanging and positioning the paintings, not an easy feat.

However the formula used by another of the employees made it a lot more simpler.

For example, the width of the inside canvas minus the interior frame plus the 62 inches as the bottom limit of where all the paintings hang, regardless of the height. This formula is the basis for how all the paintings are hung in this exhibition as given as instructed by the curator. Once all the markings have been on the centre, two arbitrary marks are placed in a T shape on either side to mark where the screws are placed to hold the painting in place.

Once they have all been marked, they are ready to be drilled with guiding holes, then the screw is finally inserted about an inch out to hold the painting in place. Then we add the screws and the painting is ready to be hung.

Aside from taking the bins out running around getting all the food and drink ready for the opening night tomorrow, everything has been hung. Now the walls just need a lick of paint to cover the pencil marks and it shall be ready...

Week 2

Back to work, it's week 2, have the opening of the gallery and setting up down pat. No more dawdling then accidentally letting the alarm go off...Today we have a new intern start and I have to show her the ropes by collecting the mail and papers for he owner to read and cut new keys.

A big show is expected for this weekend so printing 750 invitations and putting them in envelopes with price sheets has taken up the vast majority of our time today...three hours later it is already time to drive them down to the post office praying that it's not too late before the post goes out.

These last minute rushes are to be expected when there's staff shortages. More tomorrow...

Day one

First day of the internship...really had no idea what to expect, and probably this was the best way of experiencing it as I was in for something I would have never expected. First off, had to run down the newsagency to grab the newspaper and collect the mail. Then went around the gallery for the safety induction which was very thorough and the owner pointed out all the fire exits, etc.

Then after getting all the paperwork I had to do some arranging of paintings onto racks split into the owner's collection and those to be returned to the artist. This took a few hours until I was summoned to set up for lunch as the owner had a big lunch on with a couple of the artists. Apparently this happens every Thursday and I would have to keep this in mind that it will eat into a lot of time required for other tasks. Unfortunately on this day of all days the lift broke down with the ice for the drinks inside and we had to make a quick mercy dash to the bottle-o to retrieve some more ice.

As you can see, nothing is predictable. For the rest of the day, I revolved around cleaning up after the lunch, entering new collections onto the gallery website and placing posters of previous shows into frames.

The owner has gone to Brisbane this weekend and he had told me how to set up and close the gallery. Well, tomorrow will be a lot quieter with spending more time on the floor and assisting customers with their enquiries. The fun continues......

The beginning

Hello people! My first post and my internship starts next Thursday I am so excited after sending thousands of emails across the country to all sorts of galleries, public and private, big and small and finally I landed a placement after walking right into a gallery, calling them the next day and I find out they have a place open on Thursday and Fridays whilst one of their staff is overseas.

I get an email back, walk into the gallery and have a chat with the owner and he seemed impressed about this course and all of my previous experience and hires me on the spot. I have never had anything offered to me so easily like that. I was chuffed.

He had taken me up to the storage room and explained to me that I will mainly be doing the hands on stuff which I love and will perfectly balance out my sedentary office job the other 3 days, drilling, hanging and shifting and maybe some canvas stretching which I haven't done in over 5 years or so.

I also discussed him the topic of my research paper on the necessity for Blockbuster Exhibitions and agreed with me on their existence is necessary for the arts to survive in Australia. I was so pleased by all this it seems like everything is in place.

We'll see how we go after my next blog post after Thursday.