As an intern at 621 Gallery, I am learning a great deal about the behind-the-scenes of working at a gallery. I am co-manager of the 621Stor, a title I share with another intern. Together we work on bringing new artists and new styles of art into the gallery store. This entails contacting new artists and current artists about replenishing and refreshing the art selection. This helps me to learn how to properly converse with artists about their work and how they would like it to be displayed. We also handle installing (and deinstalling) the new artwork into the store as well as keeping track of all of the works by logging and labeling everything.
I also handle the press release work for the gallery and the 621ANNEX. This involves posting on various websites for each upcoming event we have and making sure to meet the deadlines for certain websites and newspapers in order to be published on time.
Along with the PR work, I also handle the accounting each month for the gallery store. I make sure to properly distribute the profits of the sold artwork between the gallery and the artist.
This experience has allowed me to meet new people and also make some great new friends, not just from the art community. Every First Friday we work side by side with volunteers who donate their time and energy into helping out the gallery. So far the most important thing I am learning is how to properly manage my time in order to successfully meet deadlines. I hope to continue learning more about managing a gallery and all of the different types of work that I required. Ultimately I would enjoy learning about the process of selecting artists to be featured in the gallery and how one would go about coordinating.