Hello y’all! My name is Lucile and I am a Communication Studies major with minors in Art, Africana Studies and Women Studies. This past summer I interned at 1301pe art gallery in Los Angeles.

I found this internship by networking in the Art Department with one of my professors who shows at the gallery. This was an opportunity I felt a great privilege to have experienced during this pandemic. I was still able to go into the gallery as it was just two of us running operations and we were able to maintain social distance guidelines. The gallery was open for appointment only, thus with only one person allowed in at a time to view the space.

My overall responsibilities during this internship were to positively represent the gallery to all patrons, maintain my knowledge of the current art world in order to engage with my supervisor and work on three main projects throughout my time there. I developed an understanding of the artist’s works and the budget that goes into running a gallery space through my first project. My second project involved curating and packaging art for a group show in New Zealand to be shown in August. The third project involved a takeover of the gallery’s Instagram. Here I was able to post an ethnographic video I created (which you can view on their Instagram @1301pe). Finally, I was able to work on an installation for a show by Rikrit Trijiavani regarding news media and political messaging.

All the classes I have taken in communication on interpersonal and group communication were of great benefit to my ability to develop a professional relationship with my supervisor which will continue to be maintained throughout this semester. I am proud and pleased to announce that he offered me a paid position at the gallery to continue the work I started and be apprenticed by him. I believe this opportunity came to me because of my willingness to meet every task with hard work and gratefulness-as those commitments pay off. This is exactly the advice I will leave with you if you are interested in the art gallery scene.