Ricardo Davis Another New Intern!

I started working at Art House as an unpaid intern, and it has been an enriching experience. My first major task was to install tiles into five pillars in front of the Constellation Stockyard School. The project was headed by Angelica Pozo, and she taught me and another volunteer how to mix cement, grout, and to properly apply the tiles. The individual tiles were decorated by Stockyard’s students and faculty, which filled us all with pride. The installation process was lengthy due to the changing weather conditions, so it took over two weeks to complete. Even though the work was difficult, I tried my best to not complain, despite the intense heat and aching knees. I realized that it was worth it after seeing multitudes to students exiting the school building. The children thanked us and praised the good work.

From June up until now, I’ve been reorganizing Art House’s inventory of art supplies. I have been relabeling the various items, and some even had to be transferred to another room in the building. This is currently my favorite task at Art House, because none of the staff had been able to clean and reorganize their supplies. I’m proud to be helping my supervisors in making their establishment presentable and well organized. I have also assisted in restoring two wooden sculptures that were presented in Art House’s past exhibitions. This involved drilling, sewing, and trimming fabric. Also, both sculptures couldn’t stand on their own because they lacked stands and proper balance.

I assisted in messaging people who are participating in the Artist Inventory Challenge via email. I had made a mistake or two, but I was quickly corrected by my supervisors, and I was able to help set things right. In addition, I helped document evaluations and surveys into Art House’s Google Docs. These surveys were submitted by the various elementary students who have participated in the Urban Bright Program. By using the Google Docs survey template, I had counted all of the responses, which were all digitally calculated on graphs. Lastly, I accompanied my supervisors to the Spectrum Community Event to help promote Art House to the locals in Cleveland. I handed out flyers and explained what the art center is all about. Overall, I enjoyed it because I was able to talk and be friendly with complete strangers. The people who stopped by our booth seemed genuinely interested in Art House’s classes and open studio days.