The First Few Weeks

A few things I've learned so far:

Quickbooks - This program is a lot simpler then I would have thought. I can do a number of things through the program now. I can (and have) write estimates, receipts, and invoices.

Working on Main Street can be dangerous - There are many great restaurants, shops, and bars on the street. Every time I walk to my car, "Ohhh, that's cute. When I get paid... No! Must, save, money!"

I still need to learn more about sales, how to get someone more interested in what they are looking at. I guess that will come with more experience. I hope.

I've written a handful of estimates for pieces. I suppose I just need to continue to follow up with them. I keep crossing my fingers for a responds to my calls, or emails. Anything. The assistant director, Kelly, is a marvel. People are always calling her back. I hope I just have to give it time, and to learn more. I have been trying to watch her carefully

I have luckily had the opportunity to show off my small amount of experience with InDesign. I created their Father’s Day promotion email. It’s nice to be able to do something for the gallery that no one else really has the know how to do. We all have our own strengths and talents. It’s nice to be valuable to the gallery.

The director Deborah, when it’s slow, sends me to the other galleries on the street. It’s nice that she wants us to know what else is going on in the community. I’ve been to many of the galleries before but I always love seeing what they have this month. I’ve been to: The Phoenix Gallery, Nature’s Images, and the Kimble Art Center.

I love the pieces the Phoenix has. They are all so textural. There are some really great pieces in there. I suggest you check them out sometime. Also, while you are on Main St, come visit me at Scanlan Windows to the World.

I hope to see you soon, here is to the future!

Big News

I am now officially employed! Yes my friends, Erin Carr works in a gallery. I have a job in the field that I spent four years learning. I think it's pretty cool.


I had an interview about a month ago with Deborah Flamish of Scanlan Windows to the World. She didn't hire me because I didn't have enough sales experience but the interview went so well she told me she would give my resume to a gallery down the street. One which she has close connections with.

In my quest to get in touch with the gallery during Park City's mud season I continued to stay in touch with Deborah. One day that I called there was a pause on the other end and suddenly she says, "Let me call you back, I'm going to do some math. I think I can give you a position." About half an hour later Deborah called back asking when I could start.

I have worked there for a week or two now. I really enjoy it, the people, what I'm learning, the location, it's a great place for me to be right now. I wrote up two estimates last week, so hopefully I will make my first two sales some time soon.

I'm excited to learn.

Main Street Galleries - Park City, UT

Friday my uncle allowed me to borrow his car to get up to Park City.

Park City's main street has around 20 galleries, and a few more located off of main street. I dropped of around 13 resumes at 13 different galleries.

So I would like to thank the following galleries for putting up with me and allowing me to drop off my resume.

Julie Nester Gallery
Thomas K. McCarthey Gallery
Thomas Anthony Gallery
Mountain Trails Gallery
Gallery MAR
The Phoenix Gallery
Scanlan Windows to the World
Coda Gallery
Rich Haines Galleries
West Light Images

I would like to give a special shout out to Barb at Stanfield Fine Art.

She was very sweet and helpful. She sent me down to the Redstone Gallery. There is some potential for part time work. Now let's just hope I can get my car fixed by the time I need to get up there. That is, if I get the job.

Saturday was another productive day.
I had lunch with Erin Lander of the Kimball Art Center. She gave me more great advice. I'm forever thankful. I will for sure take any chance I can get to help the Kimball Art Center.

As soon as I was done with lunch with her I stopped by A Gallery to drop off my application and resume.

Now all I have to do is finish dropping off resumes down here in Salt Lake City. I think the Kayo, will be the next stop.

Please employment gods, point something good in my direction!

Me in an Art Article

I guess Miss Krista was reading my mind. Here is the article about the student art show!
Thank you Krista!

Looking for work, working for art

Looking for Work
My big plan to look for work last weekend did not go as planned. Computers and snow, AKA the Universe, were against me.

My big plan was to finish the last edit of my resume grab my list of Park City, UT galleries and drive up the hill. Saturday did not go as smoothly as that. My computer was moving slower then as if I was on dial-up, and word was not letting me format the way I wanted; and so I decided to run to campus and finish it. This was fine with me, I decided to use InDesign instead of Word.
However, the computers on campus had apparently been fraternizing with my computer. Nothing wanted to work the first time through, including spell check.

As I sat in the library wanting to strangle the computer's cords the weather decided it wanted to turn from a small drizzle of rain to a small snow storm.

At this point, I said "Okay, fine then. I'll finish this as quickly as possible and just trek around Salt Lake." Well the computer decided to fight with me until 3 p.m.. I made it to one, and only one gallery.

The gallery was pretty amazing, and the woman at the front desk seemed very friendly. So I picked up an application for the A Gallery. I will fill it out this week and go back next weekend.

The next day I found that it was a good thing I didn't make it up the hill. At midnight I went to move my car for the neighbors and it died. Sunday I took it to Pep boys and found out I need a new fuel pump. I also found out a couple other things:

• Fuel pumps are expensive
• Pep boys rip people off
  

I couldn't afford to have them install a new pump for 8hundred-and-some-odd dollars. So in the end I paid them 130+. I paid for a tow there, for them to tell me what is wrong with the car ($90!) and a tow home. Needless to say I'm car-less and broke.

Working for Art
Other then looking for a gallery who would love to have me around, I've been scanning some negatives and working on my art.

I got the film back from Borge that I shot in San Diego. There are some great shots and I thought I would share some.


Toes in the Sand


The World is a Bubble


Life is a Beach

I haven't finished working on all of the photos but these are my favorite so far.


Along with working on these and some new works I was contacted by the school paper about my pieces in the student show. The reporter said I'm one of her main focuses. I'm excited to see what she has written.

When the paper is posted online I'll link back to it here.

Looking for Work This Weekend and Next
This weekend I will be taking the bus all around down town Salt Lake City going from gallery to gallery. So, if you see me out there wave and wish me luck.

I will also be meeting with Erin Lander the Exhibition Director of the Kimball Art Center next weekend for lunch. She signed up to "Take a Griffin out to Lunch." The gist is she is a graduate of Westminster and she has offered to let me ask her about what she does and the art gallery business. I'm excited to talk shop with her.

She offered to show me around the gallery, but sadly I have no way of getting up the hill, so she was nice enough to offer to come down to Salt Lake. Hopefully I will gain some wise knowledge about what galleries look for in someone they are thinking about hiring.

Reume Material

Trust me, it looks a lot prettier on paper. I did a simple layout in InDesign. The sections are in large green rounded font. I left my phone number off of the the blog for obvious reasons.

Cover letter-- I am, of course, customizing this letter for each different place and job when I can.

Erin Carr Davison

To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Erin Carr and I am currently in my last semester at Westminster College. I will graduate in May with a Bachelor of Arts Administration, and I am excited to start work in the gallery business. Your gallery has caught my eye.

I am an appreciator and creator of art. My goal is to be the conduit between artist and
art-lover.

I have a strong understanding of drawing, painting and photography. Some of these
subjects I have been studying for as many as 6 years. I have also had pieces of my art work hang in a hand full of shows in and out side of school.

I am proficient in professional writing, and have good communication skills. For almost 3 of my 4 years at Westminster College I have taken communication courses. I have been able to take what I have learned in the classroom and put it into action in the real world, writing press releases and professional letters. In order to keep the lab running smoothly as the manager of the Westminster photo lab, I must make sure what I say is communicated well to students and employees.

I have been in several juried student art shows at Westminster. I have worked at the Meyer Gallery as a gallery assistant. And during my last semester at Westminster College I will present a formal report to change the Arts Administration program to be more beneficial to students.

I have attached my resume and will contact you some time within the next week.
Thank you for your time,
Erin Carr

ecc0621@westminstercollege.edu



Resume ----



Email: ecc0621@westminstercollege.edu
Erin Carr Davison

Objective
To work in a fine art gallery in order to be the link between the public and the world of art.

Education

Fall 2006 – May 2010 Westminster College Salt Lake City, UT
• Bachelor of Arts Administration with an art emphasis and a minor in art
• Deans List every semester attended

Related Coursework:
Art History
Professional Writing
Principals of IRM
Survey of Art
Principals of Management
Writing for the Mass Media
Public Relations


Fall 2008 Florence University of the Arts Florence, Italy
• Study abroad program through Study Abroad Italy (SAI)


Gallery Experience
May 2009 – August 2009 Meyer Gallery
Susan Meyer ###-###-#### Salt Lake City, UT

Gallery Assistant
• Selected, arranged, hung and helped light art work.

o Selected new pieces from the vault to be hung.
o Hung pieces to museum standards, and helped with lighting them.
o Reorganized the art safe.

• Organized filing system
I cleaned up and reorganized the filling system which kept track of
artworks, artists, buyers and other information.

• Assisted in selling art works
Along with working day to day in the gallery I assisted on Gallery Stroll nights.

• Wrote press releases
I wrote a press release describing an art show involving two Utah artists. The story was picked up 2 different local papers with another bimonthly paper calling to ask about future story opportunities.

Other Experience

Spring 2010 Westminster College Photo Lab
David Baddley ###-###-#### Salt Lake City, UT

Photo Lab Manager

• Created lab work schedule.
I created a schedule to allow all employees to work the amount of hours they requested.

o Works for the employees, giving them the hours they want and needs
while working around their class schedules
o Complies to the number of hours allotted by Westminster College
o Allows for the lab to be open 7 days a week.
o Allows photo students to be able to work in the lab from 10 a.m. to 10
p.m. most days.

• Keep chemicals in stock
I make sure chemicals are purchased and kept in stock. I also make sure chemicals were always mixed and ready for students and lab monitors use.

• Help students with their photography and the photographic equipment.
I check out equipment to students working in the lab and help with any questions or problems they have about the photographic process.

• Keep the photo lab clean, making it a good working and creative environment.
I clean spills in the wet lab and kept the digital lab free of clutter. I also kept the lab and equipment in working order.

o Replace light bubs in enlargers
o Keep up with repairs needed of the digital and traditional photo equipment (scanners, printers, computers, enlargers, etc...)
o Purchase new equipment and supplies when needed

• Wrote press releases
I wrote a press release describing an art show involving two Utah artists. The story was picked up 2 different local papers with another bimonthly paper calling to ask about future story opportunities.

2007- Spring 2009 Westminster College Photo Lab
David Baddley ###-###-#### Salt Lake City, UT
Photo Lab Monitor

• Help students with their photography and the photographic equipment.

• Keep the photo lab clean and a good working and creative environment.

Summer 2008 Executive Services Group Holdi Salt Lake City, UT
House Cleaner

• I thoroughly cleaned high-end homes in the Promontory community

• I was responsible for myself and my own duties

The only instructions given to me were to clean well and to do it by a
certain time. I was responsible to motive myself and to work quick and
efficiently.

Summer 2007 Quebeduxe Pontiac – GMC Tucson, AZ
Receptionist
I was the main receptionist for a fairly large car dealership

• Answered multiple lines and directed calls.
• Greeted and directed guests to sales, finance and other departments

Interests
Art (creating and enjoying), learning, reading, rock climbing and traveling.

Last Student Art Show

The last student art show I will be in opened last night.

Westminster College has a student art show every year. Any student of the college may submit up to four different pieces. The pieces must have been made while attending Westminster.

I submitted four pieces and two were juried in.



Love Me Too


Love-Me- _ _ _ _

They are both self portraits digitally shot with my Canon D20.

I printed them to be about 20"x 40". I can't remember the exact dimensions off hand.


The show this year was great. The paintings were particularity nice this year. Lots of textured pieces with beautiful colors. I'm going to go back and look more carefully this week. I always get distracted by people at the openings. I didn't have time to truly focus on the art.

As an Artist

I've just about finished my piece for the Salt Lake PDA show. I'm not sure how happy I am with it, but it has led me to using materials differently. Because of this little exploration I've started to really think about what I want to do for the student show at school.

I'm exploring more self portraiture and using dry pastels on matte printer paper. I'll be posting some of my experimentation after the weekend. But here are some links to the photos I'll probably start to work with. I'm also going to work on taking some more photos this weekend to try and push the idea forward.

http://irelands-gem21.deviantart.com/art/Deviant-ID-4-144106259
http://irelands-gem21.deviantart.com/art/PlacingYourself-Into-the-Light-137545064
http://irelands-gem21.deviantart.com/art/PlacingYourself-Into-the-Light-137545064

Have a great week.

Arts Administration

I have had one problem with the Arts Administration program at Westminster so far and sadly I won't be able to enjoy the change that looks to be coming. A classmate and I are creating a curriculum for a cap-stone class for the program.

The program will have the Art Administration students coordinate with the art students, bring in guests speakers, and take the students to real life organizations to see how the art business is run. The big goal is to take our scattering of knowledge and bring it all together in a hands on type of class.

I think my favorite part about the class is the fact that students will be able to use the knowledge they have gained from their art, business and communications classes together to be able to coordinate and put together art shows, festivals and perhaps auctions. All of this while also reaching out to the art community in Salt Lake City and bringing that community back on to Westminster's campus.

I spoke with the provost of Westminster at an event I was photographing. I talked with him about the possibilities of this class. He seemed pretty interested, enough to ask me to send him a copy of the report once it's completed for class. I'm pretty excited about what this could turn into. I know that future students have much to gain from this new curriculum.

Plus, it's something if successful, which could look great for my resume. It looks like there are no negatives to creating this class, I'm excited to get started!

Works in Process

Life has been busy with "Grown-up Stuff" which I need to get done. I have paper work, bills, maintenance orders and the like.

I have to call my insurance and the physical therapy place that I've been going to to find out why I was billed instead of my insurance. This seems to happen quite often. It could be because I have 2 last names and for some reason my father doesn't know that it is not hyphenated and that is what is on my card. Oh well.

I'm also trying to help Westminster create a cap stone class for the Arts Administration Program here. I know I will not get the benefit of it (except for maybe my resume) but I know future students will get something great from it. Here at Westminster College the Arts Admin. program is a great splattering of knowledge between business, communications and art, but we don't have a class which brings it all together. I'm trying to fix that, I've talked to Nina Vought, the head of the program. I've also talked to the small amount of the Art Admin students here to see what they would like. What I've heard so far sounds pretty consistent, some sort of portfolio type class with guest speakers and an understanding of how art businesses work.

I've been following this cool little blog: http://www.artsjournal.com/artfulmanager/
He also has a twitter as Theartfulmanager. He has some really cool little posts. I've also started to follow some galleries around the southern California area. I'm crossing my fingers for a job. As soon as I revamp my resume this weekend I will be sending e-mails like crazy! I'll hopefully also be able to do some research about galleries around the area I'm going for spring break this weekend.



The darkroom in the photo lab has flooded a couple times this last couple weeks. I asked the campus maintenance to replace the drain pipe because the chemicals have finally eaten away at the metal to the point of major leakage.

I need to contact the U and ask if we can recycle our chemicals with theirs. We're just so small here at Westminster that no one recycles that kind of thing.



In other news, the Reel Griffins are about to finish a script, create a short video for a group on campus and start another scrip for an animated short. Miss Mae has been to busy to work with the Griffins so I've kind of had to take more charge of the group then usual. It's kind of nice and so far it has been going fairly well. If nothing else we've been productive thus far.


I'm also trying to work on my photography more, especially since the student show is coming up. Work is due the 26th of February I believe. I have been working on some self portraiture. I'm playing with the idea of how you make the viewer truly understand that these images are from your eyes and view of the world and combining it with the idea of self and discovery of the self. I just wish I had the money to fix my beautiful A1, oh how I miss it. I guess for now my digital will have to safice. I just want to make the most of the darkroom since it's my last semester. Though, I'm kind of excited about bringing my photography into color any how.

I probably post some photos once I get working on it.

Taking Life in a New Direction

I have less then six months until I graduate. There are so many doors open to me, I just need to find the opportunities that are right for me.

I could stay here in Salt Lake City, move onto a new state, an old state. I can work in a museum, write for art magazines, a non-profit, or go back to a gallery. My internship with Susan Meyer at the Meyer Gallery here in Salt Lake City was so enjoyable that I believe that this is what I want. I just have to find the gallery which is right for me and that wants me.

There is another path entirely which I could go down; I could take a year and go to Yosemite, work and climb for a year. In the winter I could be a lifty. Especially since this winter I have only gone boarding once and will probably only go once more. (That's all that I will be able to afford) It would be just plain fun.

Or last but not least, I could go back to school. Hummm, maybe not, at least not right now. I think I'm schooled out.

I've been doing homework and looking for potential future jobs all day long. It's so exciting what opportunities I have open to me. Oh Arts Administration. So much I can do, it's kind of scary, I won't lie.

I've found some hopeful prospects. I also found a few cool little twitter things and a neat little blog. Go ahead and check it out:
http://www.artsjournal.com/artfulmanager/

I believe that he even talks about good old Park City in one of his posts.

Well I believe that is all for now. Tomorrow it's back to the photo lab, and Composition and Design class.