What is Link?
Leading Internships for New Knowledge (LINK) is a three week program where students are able to connect with the real world by choosing an internship they feel will be beneficial to them in the future. It helps students gain more insight on whatever their passion may be or career path. The internships can also help students decide if that career path is really a right fit for them & help strengthen or change their professional, academic, and career goals.
Reflection
For my internship I really wanted to do something that I know I am passionate about. I decided to intern at the Create Art & Tea gallery downtown Durango for the first two weeks and then I finished the last week of my internship creating painting and learning tips from my Aunt Gayle who was an art professor at San Juan college.
Discuss skills and abilities coming in to LINK that were most useful (with specific example)
Before I started interning at Create Art & Tea I had already had some experience in retail & marketing. I worked at Nature’s Oasis for a round a year & my main job was to sell products, market & promote the products, & helping customers. Having the knowledge in retail before starting my internship was very useful for me from the start because I could just jump right in without having to learn the basics.
Discuss the most important skills developed during LINK (with specific example)
While I was at Create Art & Tea I learned a lot from Caprice (the owner), she taught me about all of the artists that display their work in the gallery and how the artist price their paintings. She walked me through the gallery and how to help promote the artist & their work. I was able to help Caprice learn how to use social media to spread word about events at the gallery and special pieces of art that artists bring in. I learned how to run an art gallery; and I gained a lot of background knowledge on how artists sell and market their art.
Share how you grew through shortcomings or challenges encountered during LINK
Caprice was only able to mentor me for two weeks so I had to find a new internship which was probably the biggest struggle I had during the three weeks of my internship was finding a new internship for the last week of link. Luckily I was able to contact my aunt who was an art professor at San Juan college; she gave me some great information about what she does as an artist and a little background on how artists can market their art.
Argue for your importance within the organization and make a case for the mentor to accept high school interns in the future
I feel that I was able to help Caprice open up to new ideas on how to advertise her business more now that everybody uses social media to market their businesses, especially when it comes to small local shops. I was very thrilled to be a part of the Create Art & Tea experience because as I was there I got to see how much people enjoyed it. As for the time I spent with my aunt, it gave us an opportunity to get closer and really share our ideas about art with one another. I was very thankful that my internship went the way it did because I wouldn’t have gotten to finish my internship with the final art pieces I created while I was with my aunt or have gotten to learn as much as I did about painting specifically.
Describe how the internship experience has helped you plan for next steps for college and/or career readiness
Overall, I really enjoyed learning about the marketing side of the art industry and I gained great insight into the lives of local artists and how they can make a living from their art. I feel that although my internship might have had a challenging bump in the road, I am glad things worked out the way they did because I was able to work in a art gallery and learn the marketing side of helping artists sell and promote their art; then I was also able to actually create my own art pieces and learn from an artist with experience. So I feel fully successful in learning from all different sides of the art world and I feel that I learned enough to be able to be a successful artist on the side of my work life in the near future.
Before I started interning at Create Art & Tea I had already had some experience in retail & marketing. I worked at Nature’s Oasis for a round a year & my main job was to sell products, market & promote the products, & helping customers. Having the knowledge in retail before starting my internship was very useful for me from the start because I could just jump right in without having to learn the basics.
Discuss the most important skills developed during LINK (with specific example)
While I was at Create Art & Tea I learned a lot from Caprice (the owner), she taught me about all of the artists that display their work in the gallery and how the artist price their paintings. She walked me through the gallery and how to help promote the artist & their work. I was able to help Caprice learn how to use social media to spread word about events at the gallery and special pieces of art that artists bring in. I learned how to run an art gallery; and I gained a lot of background knowledge on how artists sell and market their art.
Share how you grew through shortcomings or challenges encountered during LINK
Caprice was only able to mentor me for two weeks so I had to find a new internship which was probably the biggest struggle I had during the three weeks of my internship was finding a new internship for the last week of link. Luckily I was able to contact my aunt who was an art professor at San Juan college; she gave me some great information about what she does as an artist and a little background on how artists can market their art.
Argue for your importance within the organization and make a case for the mentor to accept high school interns in the future
I feel that I was able to help Caprice open up to new ideas on how to advertise her business more now that everybody uses social media to market their businesses, especially when it comes to small local shops. I was very thrilled to be a part of the Create Art & Tea experience because as I was there I got to see how much people enjoyed it. As for the time I spent with my aunt, it gave us an opportunity to get closer and really share our ideas about art with one another. I was very thankful that my internship went the way it did because I wouldn’t have gotten to finish my internship with the final art pieces I created while I was with my aunt or have gotten to learn as much as I did about painting specifically.
Describe how the internship experience has helped you plan for next steps for college and/or career readiness
Overall, I really enjoyed learning about the marketing side of the art industry and I gained great insight into the lives of local artists and how they can make a living from their art. I feel that although my internship might have had a challenging bump in the road, I am glad things worked out the way they did because I was able to work in a art gallery and learn the marketing side of helping artists sell and promote their art; then I was also able to actually create my own art pieces and learn from an artist with experience. So I feel fully successful in learning from all different sides of the art world and I feel that I learned enough to be able to be a successful artist on the side of my work life in the near future.
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Create Art & Tea is a small local art gallery with over 60 artists' work on display. Caprice Fox (the owner) holds different art classes directed by local artists and high teas. The high teas are where people make a reservation over the phone to come in for tea, scones, sandwiches, and special desserts from Cream Bean Berry (which is right next door). There is comfortable seating in the upstairs gallery for people to come in, sit, and enjoy their tea while viewing the different art pieces.
While I was interning at Create Art & Tea I was able to be part of one of the best art shows that Create Art & Tea has held. There was a series of paintings in the upstairs art gallery where there were around 4 artists that painted the four seasons; the artists that painted the paintings came in during the event to answer questions and try to sell their paintings. There was food, tea, and there was a man that came in to play music. The art show had a very good turn out and we even sold one of the paintings upstairs which made Caprice and the artist very happy. I had an amazing experience interning here and I learned so much about how local artists can promote their work.
While I was interning at Create Art & Tea I was able to be part of one of the best art shows that Create Art & Tea has held. There was a series of paintings in the upstairs art gallery where there were around 4 artists that painted the four seasons; the artists that painted the paintings came in during the event to answer questions and try to sell their paintings. There was food, tea, and there was a man that came in to play music. The art show had a very good turn out and we even sold one of the paintings upstairs which made Caprice and the artist very happy. I had an amazing experience interning here and I learned so much about how local artists can promote their work.
Studio Art with Gayle Lewis
During the week I spent with my aunt we spent time going through different techniques and styles of painting. We planned to go to a plein air painting group with her art group and then to go to a live model art group as well. Over the week I spent my time working on three different paintings which were my plein air painting, my portrait photo of the live model, and my still life painting. I think I learned the most from my still life painting; my aunt was able to show me past examples of still life paintings that she has created to help me on mine, she helped me learn how to start to painting step by step from the shadows and dark undertones, mixing the paints using only primary colors, to finishing highlights and touch ups to give it a nice “real life” look.
More about Gayle's Art WorkThis is her public profile and online art gallery, it shows many of her best paintings:
gaylelewis61.faso.com |
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The Process & Final Products
For my final project I created two different paintings; both are different types of paintings as well. I created a still life painting and a pleinair painting.
Still Life Progress & Final
Plein Air Progress & Final
Unfinished Portrait Piece
Create Art & Tea Photos