Making Connections in the Art World

At the end of the Arsenale in Venice, Italy

I came back from Italy this summer tired but happy. I mean it was a summer of amazing art, I did not just see it, I lived it. Art classes in Italy, sketched and painted on many inspiring places. I was able to attended some of the best museums, the Guggenheim Collection, Biennale & Arsenale in Venice were just a few I can name. 

Our teacher caught some of us sketching. I am trying to be a loaner on the left hand side
to sketch the replica of David.

Someone caught me taking pictures
of the beautiful view from 
the Bell Tower.

Yet I was thinking of some relaxation time before I started school. Oh I was so wrong. I met a wonderful soul on my summer study abroad trip to Italy. Who as soon as I returned to the states became my boss. I am very blessed and thrilled to be working with someone that has been a huge part of the Houston art community. Yet there has been no down time for me. School started a few weeks after I began working. I am only working part time my schedule rotates around my school classes yet it is only one more direction to stretch myself for. 

This is not my first job but it is the first in the art world. I am trying to make my brain turn into a sponge to absorb all I can. I love working in an art gallery surrounded by art, learning how it works and preparing events. It is my dream job.

I felt in my element in Italy. Artists were everywhere.

I meet a lot of art majors that refuse to do unpaid internships. I feel bad for those people who think they do not have to pay their dues. I know of artists that do not want to have a regular job they only want to be "artists". I get why but unfortunately we all have to pay bills unless you were born wealthy. 

On the train heading to Venice, Italy
with classmate & artist friend S. Ahnriel

I am not afraid to work, I have done it since I was 17. Maybe that is why I am comfortable to get a degree in Studio Fine Arts. Believe me when people find out what I am majoring in they tilt their head and say very quietly "what do you want to do with an art degree?". It makes me want to laugh! I probably know what I want to do with my degree than most business or psychology
majors. (There are a lot of those in my school) I have worked in corporate america and made serious money and was unhappy. I always knew I had to be in the art world and tried following society's way of 9-5 career and it was not for me. Yet I know I can do it if I have to.

Moral of my story is to be nice to people that you meet in life. You never know when it may be a door opening  for a possible dream job. Networking is a must in life but it is most important in the art world. Internships are the experience you need to be able to compete for the job you may want in the future. When sitting patiently for you to become the famous artist you know you will be, it is not selling out if you have a job to survive.