As I reflect on my summer in the fellowship program many memories come to my mind: walking around Philly with Megan looking for children bedsheets, building the Broad St. window display, prepping Philamoca for the gallery show, and many more fond memories. But there is one story I debated whether to blog about or not because I found the experience shocking. Looking back, it was a valuable work experience about professionalism and how artists carry themselves, but at the time I was a bit disturbed.
I believe it was May 28th, the week after we set up the Broad St. window. I met up with Veronica and Jessie Clarke of CHER at her apartment and then we drove to Olde City to meet a possible artist to collaborate with. He was a gallery owner and painter.When we got to the small gallery we were welcomed by the artist who started to stare inappropriately at us once he let us in. He led us into his studio in the back. There were hundreds of paintings everywhere, many torn or bent up. Veronica found pieces she thought were interesting through the piles and asked about his process and inspiration. He would give short answers about the colors and gave no explanation about his artistic choices which is a big factor for Veronica. She then told him she was willing to show his work in a future collaborative gallery but he was completely uninterested in sharing space with other artists. With that he showed us the door and we left.
In the car on the ride back I was listening to Veronica and Jessie talking about the meeting. They both felt that his inappropriateness of how he stared at us was a major turn off. Also seeing his paintings not being properly stored and maintained gave a sense that he really didn't take his work seriously. Finally being able to talk about your art is very important especially to potential clients and collaborators and he avoided all of Veronica's questions directed towards his art. I later asked Jessie and Veronica if I should just pretend this meeting never happened and they said absolutely not. It's good to learn from all experiences, good and bad. I now know that communication, appearance, and presentation is very crucial in the art world.
The Summer Fellows Program provides opportunities for high-achieving UArts students to gain meaningful experience in a creative field during summer break. Fellows are matched with a UArts alumni host, who invites them into his or her workplace to observe, engage, and participate in unique projects and programs. Here are their stories.
Well said, Lydia!
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