Hello and welcome to our brand new shiny blog! Before I go any further, please let me introduce myself, the gallery and this blog.
Who are you?
My name is Eve and I am the Glass Tank gallery Intern for this academic year. I started my position at the start of September, so not too long ago! I am an Oxford Brookes University graduate (this is one of the criteria for becoming an Oxford Brookes Intern) and only graduated this June. My degree was a combined BA(Hons) in Fine Art and History of Art, which really helps me out with what I do now. I do try to continue my own practice within the arts which is process and material based…
My days at the Glass Tank are completely varied. We have a very small team here in charge of the whole gallery, which means that we all get a fair share of varied jobs. So I look after the social media for the gallery. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter… Newly added to the Glass Tanks profile is our Snapchat and Flickr, and of course WordPress. This in itself is a large task and is a great tool for marketing the gallery and broadcasting our artists and our exhibitions. I sometimes spend my time fixing and patching up the permanent and temporary walls, plinths and picture frames too. Advertising online on various platforms… I’m also in the process of creating a to scale model of the gallery. I help look after our wonderful Student Art Collection and many many more things. However, I don’t want to bore you on our first post..
The Glass Tank gallery space is synonymous of its name. A unique space which has been characterised by the great abundance of glass as a building material. If you have never been, please come and have a look, as it is an exhibition space like no other. The vast quantity of glass that the gallery has provides natural light and a cutting edge space which is indicative of the varied and spectacular exhibitions which are held.The space is primarily dedicated to Oxford Brookes students, staff and alumni. What I mean by this is that if you are one of the three said categories exhibiting within the space is free of charge (as a dry hire space). This allows us to celebrate the research, talent and achievements of our University. Of course, the gallery is not limited to students, staff and alumni and we have high profile exhibitions frequently come to the gallery. In February last year we had the Hayward Touring exhibition ‘Claude Cahun: Behind this Mask’, a breath-taking exhibition which encapsulated Cahun’s take on portraiture, gender roles and ambiguity. Themes all too present in our society as of current.
Well, the blog is new, brand new in fact and it was an idea I had to archive the experiences we have here at the Glass Tank. What I hope is to provide people with some insight into the goings on of working in a gallery, the bits you don’t necessarily get to see, the highly charged bits, the sorting out the store cupboard bits. Everything.
As well as you hearing from me on a regular basis, this is a space where we can hear from our artists about their exhibitions.. Regular interviews will be documented for you so you can get an idea of an artists perspective too.
Exhibition reviews, artist interviews and my ramblings aren’t everything though. As we hope to include the writings of the students in Oxford Brookes. Writings about contemporary art as it stands, museum and gallery faux pas, current issues and interesting things that are prevalent to the next band of artists, art historians and architects. So.. please do watch this space as I am hoping (more than most) that this will become a hot bed of great opinion.
So, what’s it like to work in a gallery?
Different. Well, different to what I thought.. It’s varied, and the type of job that requires a lot of multitasking and energy, which is great for me.So far things have been pretty exciting, working with living artists and working in a small team has given me such a wealth of knowledge and I have only been here for a month so far.Yet, of course, things are still new for me too, so as I learn and adapt hopefully your knowledge of the gallery will do to!
Eve.