Post 10: My last day at WLE

The last day at my WLE was a really busy day, but also really fun. I spent the day preparing for the night, cleaning up, making copies of things, unloading, ect. I also got to meet a few people that I spoke to earlier through e-mail and other interesting people whole have traveled. The rest of the night was fun, there was a variety of different art pieces to look at and performers playing music. Throughout my WLE I've learned the I can quickly become a reliable person, the people at my internship really trusted me and gave me the responsibility to work behind all of the organization that goes on at RPS. I would consider my WLE project complete because I have gained lots of people skills, organization skills, and thought critically when working on the task that I was given. Which connects to my project question of what are the main skills are needed and necessary. Even though the skills I've learned may seem simple, they helped bring a community at RPS because I helped transfer information from one person or place to another which gets more people together and helps create something bigger in the future. I took some pictures on my last day and I a got a few pictures of the show. My hours are complete.      

Post 9: Description of my workplace

My workplace is pretty small, but they've managed to put reversal things in there. It has a gallery space for their monthly shows, retail area where art work is sold, a craft area were classes take place, a zine library where anyone is welcome to read at, the front desk, and a small office area upstairs where all the filing happens. So as you can tell, lots of things can go on in one small space. There is also a window in the front that they decorate and change each month, its better when there is a to theme it. Upstairs is where the zine library is and where the small office area is, they also have their storage space upstairs so there is always random stuff up there. Down stairs is everything else, including one bathroom and a utility closet where all the cleaning supplies are kept. Every day of the week there is different people working at RPS, but when I'm there, it's usually Ava, Ara, Sam, Ramon, Lydia, and Eugine. I would consider RPS a small business, but they work together with other businesses which make them larger. Their main focus is art and displaying, creating, and spreading the word about art. It employs any one who is interested, so anyone is welcome to join. The people at my workplace are very young, some are current college student or not going to college at all, working at RPS doesn't require a college degree. RPS is located in downtown Oakland, so there's lot of crazy people yelling on the street, it's a nice area though, it has lots of places to hang out at.     

Post 8: Looking at other people's blogs

I tried reading a few blogs by the student who which I am curious of knowing how their internship is going, but it was a little tough to figure out if they are learning more or less than I am because lots of people haven't been keeping up with their blogs. I was curious about reading Michelle's blog posts because I know her internship is involved with creating/displaying art, which is somewhat similar to my internship. I noticed that our internships have their differences, because her internship mostly focuses on murals and art classes for children while mine is more about gallery shows/hand made art and the classes at RPS are more diverse. Michelle didn't keep up with her blogs as far as I noticed, which still left me curious about wanting to know more about her place. Doing blogs is not something you have to show someone how to do, you just have to remember that you have to do it. I think a lot of people forget about writing the blogs and thats why they don't keep up. I really like my internship, so when the WLE is over I think I'm going to continue showing up, possibly Fridays after school. Me and my mentors have grown really close and I know that they probably really need me at RPS because they rely on me with a lot of things, they even gave me the key to the place. Today, I trained someone (two people at the same time actually) for the first time, I was kind of nervous at the beginning since I never done it before, but next thing I knew, I was talking and talking to them about how things run at RPS. I'm proud of myself because I gained some people skills and some talking skills.        

Post 7: How my WLE project is going

Todays work was down. All the things I needed to do had to be done on the computer but unfortunately their internet was down the whole day. My task was to create a digital calendar that everyone can look at so there is no confusion about whats going on which day and who will be there. This task is really helpful with my WLE project because my I'm figuring out ways of building a community using leaderships skills, and creating a calendar that is really helpful and clear for everyone is a way of communicating affectively that no one is confused or has issues with what goes on at RPS. I will definitely be continuing on this next week. I am currently on track with my hours.     

Post 6: Mentor Interview

My mentors name is Ava. She is the volunteer director, her job is to talk to the volunteers about whats going on at RPS, she in charge of training the incoming volunteers and scheduling them. She became interested in RPS when she was a high school student and thought it was a really cool place. She tried coming to RPS several times in to find out more information about the place but it was always closed, so she emailed and was told about the orientation, thats where she had the chance to meet Mark and Ara who which on this day she is very close to. From then on, work was easily given to her and today she works with all kinds of people. Being a flexible worker and polite to the ones you work with is something Ava highly advises to someone doing or getting into similar work.     

Post 5: December 17

Today, I did lost of stuff on the computer. I began with the volunteer intake forms and adding people onto our spreadsheet. Then, I added new people onto our mailing list, which was a short and quick job. I also spent part of my day helping Ara design a new receipt for the art sales, and I was told about who I was going to be e-mailing real soon for the up coming Art Mumur. Today seemed pretty mellow but work was still done. So far, I am completely on track with my hours. My essential question for my WLE project is How can I use the Leadership Skills to help build a community when organizing Art Murmur? and my answer to this question, which is my thesis was Communicating Effectively would be an important and useful skill because organizing event requires speaking to a lot of different people in preparation on what will happen at the event.  

Post 4: December 10 - Leadership Skills

I think the leadership skills that I'm definatly using at my internship are Communicating Effectively and Collaborating Productively. Communicating Effectively is a huge skills that I've begun to use because today I sent a couple of e-mails (with some help from a member) to art organizations about including them to our upcoming First Fridays, and I also helped some of the people who have walked in and out of RPS, who had questions or needed help. Collaborating Productively is another important skill that I know I will develope here at RPS because all of the shows that RPS works on involves other galleries in the area, therefor people are constantly contacting each other. My role as a student at Impact is much more different than my role at RPS as an intern. At my internship, I'm the person who is always helping others and at Impact other people are helping me. 

Post 3: December 3

At my workplace, they serve anyone. It's volunteer run. So if anyone would like to be part of the group, then they are welcome to no matter what kind of experiencing you have. One strength about my workplace, is that everything that they do, (events, classes, galleries) always brings all kinds of different people together, as they have the chance to enjoy and view art work, which creates a friendly community. The only thing that I notice that would be better for my workplace would be a bigger place, they seem like they have a lot of stuff and need more storing space and gallery space. Besides that I see no weaknesses. 

Post 2: November

My second day at my internship, my mentors told me that RPS (place I'm interning at) are no longer the ones to runn/plan/help set up Art Murmur, which really sucks because I am the Art Murmur intern. My mentors are really sad about this change and told me that they are going to try to straighten things out at their next meeting. They say that if this change really does happen, then I'll become the gallery intern and I'll work with the people who are incharge of gallery stuff. Other than that, I had a good time at my internship. I helped Ara decorate the window, because they change it every month and I helped her come up with a theme to decorate it. 

Post 1: October 29: First day

My first day at my internship went pretty good. My mentors showed and told me a little bit more about the gallery. It was kind of a slow day. I was in charge of helping the customers out when they wanted to purchase something. In the middle of the day I got to paint a wall in preparation of Art Murmur. Later on my mentor showed up and she told me how peoples files are organized and then gave me the task of adding a list of new e mails that she needed to contact on her computer. There was lots of down time throughout the day since there wasn't that much work to do, but they made sure to include me if they needed any help. Right now I have no questions for my mentor or academic seminar teacher, I'm fine with how things are going.   

Intro Post: How I got my WLE: Oct 26

I began my search by e-mailing and calling multiple places without a reply, which made me stressed out. Later, Micah told me about an arts collective that he said would be a good fit for me. I called them once but no one answered, later that day I sent them an e-mail. Then I received an e-mail from an event producing company and scheduled my interview. The next day, the art collective e-mailed me back and scheduled and interview with me. I had both interviews one the same day, they are both located in Oakland, so I didn't go to school that day. When i finished the interviews I thought about which place I wanted to pick. I chose the arts collective because I really like what they did, and sent an e-mail to the event producing company letting them know that I wont be going. My mentor is Ava Anderson, My internship is at an arts collective called Rock Paper Scissors, which is where they organize gallery events and create different kinds of art classes. This is located in Oakland. I'm going to help them work on Art Murmur, which is an event that they help create every first Friday of the month where they close down the street and put up art for the public to see.

POST 14: Almost Done

Today, I finished making almost all the letters for the the picture frames like I had promised myself to do. Next week I'm going to fix and add what I need to onto the the pictures to be completely done and finally put them into the standing picture frame. My mentor's feedback is what really helps me know what I should do with this project, so I will keep on talking to her so I could finish much quicker. I didn't know there was a Mentor Appreciation potluck, I wonder if my mentor knows about this? so I don't know which food I will be bringing yet. Right now my hours are good, I have 98.

POST 13: How my WLE project is going

Today I began making a couple of the letters that will be fixed onto the frames, I plan to organize these letters onto the standing frame in order to make it say "to inspire". My mentor always gives me feedback on the things I design, she'll let me know what she likes and what she thinks I should change. I plan to have most of my project done perhaps next week by completing most of the letter I can. I have about 91 hours right now, I think I'm on track so far. 

POST 12: How my WLE project is going

At my WLE, I continued creating the images that will be placed on the standing picture frame, which is what I plan finish and present as my project. For the exhibition night, I want to show a before and after picture of the standing frame and reflect on the ideas and steps I went through making the images. These pictures are combination's of abstracts, illustrations and collages. There are 15 pictures total, I will try to finish as many as I can, but if happen to run out of time, the ones I don't get to, will be done on the computer. I'm not behind on my hours at this point, I'm right where I need to be.

POST 11: Mentor Interview

I was finally able to interview my mentor and had learned some interesting things about her and her work. Stoller Desing Group was founded by Tia Stoller in 1989, which is dedicated in identity, print, advertising and web projects. I learned that every piece of work or project is taken seriously, in order for their clients to be satisfied when presenting the work. On a typical day, Tia would work with the designers on creating or improving designs.Some programs that are used are InDesing, Illustrator, and Photoshop. Tia was always interested in art as a child and a teen. She went to a 4-year college and got her degree in fine arts, then went to a graduate school at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, where she learned about typography and design fundamentals. She advised that its a wonderful field and also competitive, best for someone who is really passionate about being a designer. My mentor had made more curious about the graphic design field and other fields involved with art.    

POST 10: Music Inspiration: March 24th

So far, I am on track with my hours, I have done about 70 hours at my internship. Today, I continued working on last weeks project. My task was to think about how I can create a picture that shows how music is inspiring to me. To begin, I grabbed a few books of illustrations and advertisements to help me brainstorm some ideas for my picture. Then I finally figured out what I wanted to make and began to work on it. This project that I'm working on now, could be something I would show on the WLE exhibition, because its taking a lot of time and thought to create.

POST 9: Creating Symbols: March 17th

Today I continued working on a project where I have to make different pictures that show inspiration, which will go into 15 different frames. On one of the pictures, I used the sun as a symbol of new beginnings, to do this, I cut out different shapes out of paper, and pasted them down in a way that the shapes can look like they are forming into a sun, then I began brainstorming ideas for my next picture, which was music. I showed my mentor what I had accomplished, and said she really loved the sun picture that I made. I'm not sure how the WLE exhibition will be organized, but there are several things that I have already made that I could probably be able to show and talk about on exhibition night. Maybe an essential question for my project could be "How can a designer know that what they are making, is what will attract the viewer?"   

POST 8: Analyzing my Workplace: March 10th

I work at a small place, there are 4 employees working along with Tia who are part of her group, and the space is also shared with about 4 other people, so its really quiet here most of the time. Maybe if it was bigger here and there would be more people working here, and it would be a lot louder. I'm getting use to working in this quiet space, where I'm mostly on a computer. I'm sure that with other student it might be the opposite at where they work, they might be in a crowded work place where they might be on their feet most of the time, which not really a bad thing. Here, Tia is the one in charge and/or the boss, everyone seems to get along with her, she is a really friendly person. I work at an office, so I would say this is a professional workplace, its not really about looking or dressing like a professional, its just making sure that the work that you do here is done professional. I like working in this environment, I get to meet a lot of the professional type people who work here and the people who come visit Tia and her employees, and I get to explore new things in this type of environment. 

POST 7: Photo Searching: March 3rd

I decided to read the blogs of the students who are also a intern at a graphic design firm or a design office. For example, I read the blogs written by George, it sounds like he is excited about his internship just as much as I am about mine. I noticed there were many students who didn't have their blogs, so I wasn't able to find out how their WLE was going. In general, I can see that I, along with many other students, are learning new things everyday at our internships, everyone writes about the new things that they did. Since I've been hare for a while, I now know more about what the work is like here, when I am told to do something, I don't need to much explanation on how to do the work , I feel that I have quickly attached myself to this work place. Today I was searching images to be used on a cover of a newsletter for Kaiser, my mentor was surprised with a "Wow! these are nice" when she took a look at the images I found.

POST 6: Grading Myself for WLE: February 17th

Every week I walk into my WLE with my green folder with my time sheet inside of it in hand, I listen to the instructions I'm given about what I will be doing for the day, then I get to work, I think this shows I have good college work habits. As  for the Leadership Skills, I put some of my own creative ideas onto the projects that I work on, by deciding what would looks best and what should not belong in my project. I know how to work InDesign a lot better now, I never even heard of that program when I started my internship here, I noticed I'm a quick learner since I go the hang of it so quickly. My mentor knows that I am not a professional designer, but she tells me that I am at a great start. I think my overall grade would be a 4, because I don't think I'm doing anything wrong that would put my grade down.