By Liberty Lewis
My name is Liberty Lewis, and I’m a senior at Concord Carlisle High School. For my spring semester, I decided to join the Senior Internship Program, through which I got work experience in place of classes. Since art has always been my passion, I chose to intern at Concord Art, a gallery, museum, and school in Concord Center.
I have learned so much.
I was present for intake for the Members Juried 2 exhibit. This specific show entails members submitting art of many different mediums and a juror choosing the art they favor to be shown in the gallery.
The best thing I witnessed was watching the juror accept or reject the art. It was intense and exciting, especially with my own art possibly being chosen.
Once I saw my work accepted, I realized I could be talented enough for a professional gallery show. All my life, people have told me that I have great artistic talent, but I didn’t realize that I could qualify for serious opportunities such as this. It changed my view on my abilities and definitely gave me a confidence boost. I learned that I will be able to grow my knowledge and skill and do something bigger with it in the future.
One of the things that stood out to me during the jurying process was how I disagreed with what the juror selected for the show. Once I thought about it more, I noticed the differences in my taste as a young person first stepping into the art world and someone who’s been educated in art and has seen many types of work.
My contribution to Members Juried 2 involved handling the 400 pieces of art submitted and making sure they were safely situated for the juror to go through. As an outsider, you never think about the physical work and logistical decisions that go into an art show. I have learned firsthand how much effort goes into setting up exhibitions. I’ve also seen how organizations like this have to plan so far ahead in the future and how much thought goes into details people may overlook.
During my fall semester, I took a class at CCHS called “Rivers & Revolutions.” This program focuses on field trips and learning outside of the classroom. My experience included many visits to different art museums but did not include a trip to Concord Art.
I brought up the idea for the spring semester class to visit Concord Art to the teachers and my supervisors and both parties approved. I got to independently lead the way for their visit since I knew how the class operated.
Orchestrating the event was a lot of fun, and the teachers were open to ideas and on board with my plan. The class very much enjoyed their visit. They had a collective interest in art, and it was refreshing to see the students’ excitement. It was such an eye-opening experience because I realized that planning and handling the programming of the visit made me aware of my abilities, including my willingness to stick to a project and take it seriously.
It has been so exciting to be a part of a serious operation like this. I have met a lot of artists; I find it interesting to see the people behind the art. I have learned about how artists here in Concord get more recognition using this organization as a resource and how potential teachers get started with their teaching here, starting with Artist Demos and working their way up.
As an artist, one thing I am working on is shifting my perspective on art. Being surrounded by many forms of art all the time allows me to view it as a more complex subject. Contributing to something professional like this has been so rewarding. I get the best of both worlds here, and we have plenty of conversations about the creation of art that I previously hadn’t been exposed to. Learning logistics and technical work behind the scenes has been extremely beneficial for me.
It is amazing to see the variety in the exhibitions and I am so glad I have gotten the opportunity to work at Concord Art. I cannot wait for the future exhibitions and all of the things I will get to experience here. This is such a fruitful experience for starting my career.
