work for a museum of fine art just for the fun of it

I worked with J tonight at the musuem. They had an event there; a birthday party for a former curator. This woman was celebrating 80 years, so you can imagine the average age of the party attendees.

That’s fine; old folks are cool and all. So we weren’t worried that things would get out of hand or that we’d have to intervene in any crazy situations. But the problem is that this museum has a lot of steps. Imagine this combination: old people + wearing their fancy-clothes shoes + drinking a lot of alcohol (according to the bartender) + stairs. I was cringing the whole night. Basically my job was to point out the steps and offer a hand to those who might need it. No one would accept my help, so I had a kick-back night.

So my evening was different than I had imagined it would be, but still I got to hang out with my buddy J and look at a lot of art and do nothing that resembled hard work and still get paid for it.

Don’t forget:

Saturday, March 3, 4 – 9 pm. Riverside Art Museum. Dress professional (ugh!)

I got a call from J last night – the museum needs an extra security guard for an event Saturday evening.

My buddy JL works at the Riverside Art Museum and he told me a couple of days ago that they’re looking for security guards for when the museum holds events. I’m not so intimidating looking, I don’t think, but making a bit of extra cash sounds great, and working along side my friend would be super, and being employed by a museum sounds excellent.

He said he’d let me know in the next few days …

Swweet! They asked me to intern! Looks like I may get to make this done far sooner than I anticipated! w007!

I applied for a volunteer intership with one of the local museums—I hope I get it! I would love to work in a museum.

This is way off in the future.

but ended up with a Bachelor’s in accounting…..what the hell happened?? LOL

I am a curator of contemporary art. My job is to pick art, get the gallery or artists to lend it to my institution, write about it, decide how to display it etc… Most museums have several different departments, including education, exhibitions, marketing, development (raising money) and administration (the buildings require a lot of upkeep)

To become a curator I earned an MA in Art History. That is generally considered the professional degree for contemporary art institutions, while modern and other fine art institutions require a PhD.

To find jobs check out the aviso web site.

I must warn however, working in a museum is very difficult, I am actually considering turning in for a different career.

my dissatisfaction stems from:

1. Very Slow Pace, I only organize a few exhibitions per year, and the shows are often more than 24 months of planning.

2. can take some of the sheen off of the art objects we love. To think about artworks as objects that must be crated, shipped, insured, and handled carefully detracts from stepping back and absorbing them as works of art. Also I often have to talk with artists about how they made their work, and some technical issues which can detract from my personal experience of the artworks. sometimes I avoid working with work that means a lot to me because I don’t want to destroy the illusion.

3. Money is a big deal, but you won’t make much of it. We in the not for proffit sector have very tight budgets and we have to cultivate donors and write grants, and think about money a lot. To most artistically inclined people (like myself) this is a stressful task.

I have always loved art of all kinds and was surrounded by the arts as a child. To be able to work in a place surrounded by it just to soak it all in and memorize every detail and hand stroke of every piece would be a dream come true for me.