My first day at ArtFields was just as I expected: good. I interned with ArtFields last semester, but not for school credit. Back then I was doing grunge work and a little design work for them. I pretty much did everything except clean the bathrooms. (They're nice enough to not make me do everthing!) I thoroughly enjoyed being an intern with them last semester, and I was thrilled when Sandy told me they were planning on having me back in the Fall. I was elated that I was fortunate enough to hold an internship while in college. Living in South Carolina, especially in Florence, it's not easy to get graphic design internships. While ArtFields is not only graphics, but a mixture of a ton of different art related jobs, I still have a pretty good grasp on what it's like to work for a company. I look at it as, instead of working for an ad agency where I work for many companies doing design work, I create for just one company, but for a wide audience.
Sandy didn't wait for me to dip my toes in the water; she pushed me in the pool. On my first day I spent the day designing and putting together a "thank you" letter/Inside Out Project letter. The Inside Out Project is world wide and was created by JR, who is a French photographer. He wanted to change the world and look at it from the inside out by photographing the world's inhabitants. Lake City took part in this Project and chose its business owners to be the spotlight. Some of these people were ArtFields venues from last year and some were not, but it was great to get to see their pictures enlarged on the side of a building on Main Street. My job was to now take these pictures (which are regular size now; 4 x 6) and put them in envelopes with the letter I did the lay out for. It took me the full 4 hours I was in Lake City to complete this because Sandy and I kept going back and forth about what we liked and didn't like. Typical day at ArtFields, but I love it!
**The letterhead is not a product of mine. It is ArtFields' leterhead and watermark.
Friday, August 22, 2014
When I came into the office on Friday all the letters had been printed on ArtFields' letterhead. It was such a beautiful sight to see all the crisp white papers sitting on top of the table I work at. They were just calling for me to stuff them into envelopes. Sandy gave me a stack of photographs from the Inside Out Project, envelopes, ArtFields stickers, a pencil and a pen. She then told me to fold the letters in half, place the picture inside and write the name of the person and their business on the envelope. Easy, right? I decided I wanted to put time into each hand lettered name on each envelope, but I soon found out that your hand can start to hurt very fast when you do that. It also takes a very long time to do fifty-something letters this way, so I simplified my hand lettering. I didn't finish doing all the lettering and envelopes and stuffing on Friday, which then carried me into today, Monday.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Today I finished addressing envelopes without addresses. I then checked off that we had everyone on our list and I set them aside for passing them out on Wednesday. After that task was finally complete, Sandy then gave me a new job. (There is always something to do at ArtFields.) She told me at our meeting over the Summer that she wanted me to do more design work this semester. Hearing this of course made me very excited. Today I got my first big assignment. I will be putting together venue manuals for each venue to have before and throughout ArtFields 2015. Venues play a HUGE role in the 10 days of ArtFields, but it's not actually just 10 days. ArtFields is a full year of work. For example, right now ArtFields is having it's call for submissions for artists. (If you're an artist and want to hopefully win some money, submit your work! Go to artfieldssc.org for more information.) Having a call for submission means that we also have to call on venues to sign up for ArtFields 2015 so we can get them started on the monumental process. My task is to get the venues ready for the process with a beautifully, well designed manual that they can refer to whenever needed. Another task that I was given today was to aid in calling businesses to register for ArtFields 2015. I am designing a flyer that will be handed out and posted to give possible venues more information about how to register to be a venue for ArtFields and the dates that are available to do so. I am very excited to put the knowledge I learned last semester about typography to good use.The third and final task I was assigned today was to make two seals. One being an artist seal and the other being a venue seal. This will help give personality and ownership to aspects of ArtFields that relate to each group of people.
Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines. That's all I see in my future right now.
