Introduce yourselves
Dina:
Hi, my name is Dina, and I study at a school in Cambridge. The subjects I take are: Drama, RE (religious education), Spanish, English, Maths and Science. I like fashion, making new friends, baking and exploring new places, also I like to look at realism art which is my favourite type of art.
Orlaigh:
My name is Orlaigh and I am currently studying at a school in Cambridge. The subjects I’ve been studying are Art, Drama, History, and then the subjects required for GCSE, e.g English, Maths and so on!
Why did you want to do your work experience at Kettle’s Yard?
Dina:
In the past I have visited Kettle’s Yard before and I have greatly enjoyed my many times at Kettle’s Yard. I had come many times as a child, with my primary school or just a day out with my family. All of the objects and paintings really fascinated me, but one statue really stood out to me which was the ‘dancer’. This is because I loved knowing the backstory about how it was made, and the backstory of the person who made the dancer. As a person I would say I’m creative, this is because I have many different ideas whenever someone asks me about my opinion, because I like sharing my opinion for everyone to hear and make an impact when sharing my ideas. I also love to draw in my free time, because I find it very therapeutic to draw what comes to mind.
Orlaigh:
I have worked with Kettle’s Yard several times before and always found it a fascinating place, the environment is warm and welcoming and definitely somewhere I would love to work. Art has always been a great interest of mine and something I love to do in my own time, I believe art is so much more than what meets the eye and I felt Kettle’s Yard would help me explore my ideas to a greater level. I love to see different aspects of art and I knew Kettle’s Yard would help me do that.
What have you done so far? How have you found it?
Orlaigh:
Whilst working at Kettle’s Yard we first had an introduction on where we were going to be and what was going to happen throughout the week. We have looked at different pieces of art looking deeper into artists, but also explored each persons roles and jobs of the Kettle’s Yard team. It has been interesting learning how it works in Kettle’s Yard and gave us a large variety of jobs we may be interested in, in the future. We have worked with primary schools, helping plan and work with the kids. One thing I loved doing was learning about the art in the house, then teaching other people the knowledge I have learnt whilst working at Kettle’s Yard. People were interested in what I had to tell them and the stories I told about different art pieces. I enjoyed working with the public and in the house as it’s one of my favourite places due to how beautiful it is in there. There is so much to learn at Kettle’s Yard and I am eager to learn more. Seeing different aspects of Kettle’s Yard and the art was such an amazing experience and I am so grateful for it.
Dina:
So far at Kettle’s Yard, me and Orlaigh have done an introduction on Monday, which was going through the code of conduct and health and safety rules and Imogen (the Learning and Engagement Coordinator) introduced what she does in the learning department. Imogen had showed me and Orlaigh around Kettle’s Yard and told us about each room and sculptures and paintings. After, we helped prepare for the primary school visit that was coming on Tuesday. That included cleaning the floors, putting out the chairs for the tables and putting out the activities that included for tomorrow onto the tables. The next day we were given a task to look at loaned paintings and checking the conditions of the frame and glass. After we helped with checking the conditions for the paintings we helped the primary school children with getting around and helping with giving supplies to the children when needed, and after the primary school left me and Orlaigh helped tidy up. After that the host, me and Orlaigh sat down and had a debrief on how the day went and anything that could change for tomorrow’s year group that was coming. The next day we just worked at the front desk shadowing the team, and after a while we were in the house helping people by telling them about the artefacts on display. What I liked the most was that Naomi (Assistant Curator) had told me and Orlaigh about the backstory of Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, which was my favourite part and that she had showed us actual letters Henri sent to his wife when he was in the war. My favourite part was also working at the shop and getting that feeling of helping customers and getting a step-by-step lesson on how to work at the till, which really helped me a lot.
Gallery
Here are some photos taken by Dina and Orlaigh whilst exploring the Kettle’s Yard house
What have you learnt from your work experience?
Dina:
What I have learnt is that giving good customer service is important and I learnt that art comes in different shapes and forms. Also working here for work experience gave me a good memory about artefacts and about Jim and Helen Ede and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, that I could tell people when they were keen to know about them.
Orlaigh:
I love looking into art and exploring stories that could relate back to the image and being at Kettle’s Yard, and I’ve definitely done that. During work experience I have learned how to look even deeper into art. I’ve enjoyed this. We also learnt all the different skills that are required by the Kettle’s Yard staff. I also have learnt that in art there are no right or wrong answers. How YOU see art is what art is. Remember that art is what you make it.
