Impact Arts asks students who have worked in the arts industry about some of their funniest moments. This week Isla McLachlan and Ingrid Jauffret share their gallery giggles.
What is your funniest story or most memorable moment?
”To encourage their creativity, I did a physical impression of the route their pens could take, running around and changing direction in the process’’
Isla: Inspired by abstract artist Peter Cartwright, we were encouraging children to let their pens run over the paper in an abstract style. To encourage their creativity, I did a physical impression of the route their pens could take, running around and changing direction in the process. I went too far, and when trying to run backwards, lost my footing, did a mini flip in the air and fell in a momentous demonstration fail. Disaster!
Ingrid: Most days, a couple of paintings and a dozen postcards were sold. One day, I sold a painting for 5,300€, and I suddenly became my boss (let’s call him Mr Z’s) most respected consultant. The harsh reality of my internship in a small gallery in Nerja, Spain, was that art never mattered, but the money did. Mr Z did not care in the slightest about any of the art pieces, he was purely a businessman.
Who was your best visitor ever?
”The reaction to the sheep testicle handbags was something else’’
Isla: At Lakeside, Elpida’s ‘Making Beauty’ exhibition saw many ‘ews’ from children as we informed them the ‘pretty drapes that look like orange peel’ were made from pig fat. Similarly, the structure resembling hair was actually lamb’s intestines filtered through a cow’s stomach. But the reaction to the sheep testicle handbags was something else, and the rule of ‘no running’ went out the window, as eleven year olds zoomed across the room, each wanting to be the first to tell their classmates about the dirty phenomenon in the corner.
Ingrid: For my year out, I was excited to pursue my dream of working as a gallerist, representing and supporting local artists. Two Andalucian artists, Fransisco Martin Molina and Antonio Hidalgo Serralvo, were legitimate passionate artists whom I was very happy to work with and promote. The only hiccup was working for a money-driven individual who set all his focus on sales and called himself an authentic artist.
What are the worst customer, visitor (or owner!) habits?
Isla: Giant horses and huge heads were part of an Elisabeth Frink exhibition, and as it was sculpture-heavy, children were inclined to ride the horse, fit into positions where parts of sculptures have been knocked off, and cuddle forlorn-looking dogs. I now know the meaning of the phrase: ‘eyes in the back of your head’!
”My boss was pretty hilarious. After the 5,300€ sale, Mr. Z walked in with hundreds of Euros worth of clay, canvases and posh paints’’
Ingrid: My boss was pretty hilarious. After the 5,300€ sale, Mr. Z walked in with hundreds of Euros worth of clay, canvases and posh paints. He had never been interested in creating before he realised he could make money. I do believe that you don’t need to have a degree in Art History to make art, but he was going too far. Another day he walked in with a bronze statue. “Look, Ingrid, this is my newest creation!” he said. What a joke. The most absurd fact is that, as he took out more of the art pieces by other artists from his gallery, of his seven “authentic creations”, none of them sold.
Isla McLachlan and Ingrid Jauffret
Questions by Amy Wilcockson
Image Credit: Herry Lawford via Flickr
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