Week 2

This week was very important for 4Art. Every 3rd Friday of the month the art center has an opening where almost every gallery and studio displays it's work. This meant that the gallery needed to be spotless. some of my tasks included a few more hangings, cleaning the glass, vacuuming, rearranging furniture and replacing light bulbs. A lot of Thursday was spent choosing what bulb was right for each painting or sculpture and pointing it correctly. This was a good chance to learn for me. Robin explained the difference between narrow flood, wide flood, and spot bulbs. This is one of my favorite things about Robin, she always explains how to do things with clarity. Also, if she is doing something she explains how she does it and why she is doing it. The most beneficial experience of this internship will most likely be talking to Robin as much as possible. Although doing different tasks is beneficial, her knowledge about art gallery management is vast and is backed with many years of experience.
On Friday we had our first opening of the summer at 4Art. I was a little nervous coming into this day since I really didn't know what to expect. Robin and Maggie helped to explain what to say to people and reminded me of things I should know. As people came in I wasn't sure what to do after I greeted them. Many of them knew artists that were there, were family of Maggie, or were very focused on the art. I wanted to talk to more people but I was hesitant to interrupt them while they were looking at art. I didn't know if there was an etiquette on this. Nevertheless, the evening as a whole was a lot of fun. I met Derail Howery and Dennis Burke; two of Robin's artists. Derail was hilarious and incredibly nice. Dennis and I talked for awhile about his work and he told me about some current artists that were impressive. To me, Dennis's work is some of the best work in the gallery. Before I left 4Art I got a chance to walk arouind the entire building. The amount of activity was crazy; there wre singers and DJs on the first floor, studios in the basement, other galleries on the third, and more studios by 4Art on the fourth. I love the fact that 4Art is not its own building. In just two weeks I have had an incredible opportunity to meet many artists and see a large amount of work and different styles.

Week 1

My first day at 4art was on May 11, 2010. After taking 3 trains and a bus to get there I wasn't sure what to expect. I had heard great things about Robin but the only galleries I had been to were in the River North art district. Once I got there I was impressed with the Zhou B Art Center: it was well kept, had a nice cafe and lots of impressive work. I ventured to the fourth floor and began my internship. I met Robin and her other intern Maggie. I got right to work which I really liked. On my first day I was already framing and learning how to hang paintings. As the day went on I met quite a few artists. The art center houses about 3 galleries and many studios. 4Art Inc is a gallery with about 8 different artists that are showing there work. The gallery also includes the work of my supervisor Robin Rios. I quickly realized that the art center was it's own community of artists. I got to have lunch with other artists and had some really interesting conversations. It's nice to get to meet so many people everyday.
Later in the week Maggie and I hung more paintings. I never realized how difficult hanging something can be. After a few mistakes it was getting easier. However, some of the arrqngments that are stacked are hard to do. We spent quite a bit of time hanging 4 pieces by Sonia Katz with 2 inches between each one.