Art on the Underground: I'm a Professional, Y'all!

A few weeks ago, I started my new placement at Art on the Underground. For those of you who don't know much about the London Underground or why someone would want to put art in a tube station, click HERE. What makes AotU cool is that many of these stations have been open since the mid 1800s, so there is so much history, and over 2 million people use the tube a DAY. The underground is something that connects the entire city together- anyone who lives here immediately recognizes the roundel (see picture above)

My first day, I had a brief meeting with one of the curators, Louise. She explained what her job was and asked if I would be interested in working close with her on the Mark Wallinger Poster Project and school Station Visits surrounding the Labyrinths. Mark Wallinger is a VERY prominent artist in London (he is known globally as well). He has become the first artist to put in artwork that connects a citywide railway system- all 270 stations in the city! 

I will be acting as assistant to the curator, talking with schools about submitting their posters for the Poster Contest. I was also excited about meeting with Mark Wallinger to judge the contestants (gasp, excitement, gasp!). If you want to learn more about the Labyrinth project, click here! It is very exciting to finally be doing what I’ve wanted to do all year. I’m really looking forward to learning all the odds and ends of what makes a program like AotU work.

In front of the Woodside Park Station Labyrinth

I will also be assisting on school group Station Visits. On Wednesday we went to Woodside Park Station to meet up with a group of 11-13 year old special education students. We asked them to present work that they brought with them- they had drawn their own Labyrinths and colored them. Many had very clever things to say about their work like, “Then I got off the tube and saw a dragon, and slayed it with a sword,” or “I went on the tube, saw a spotted blue dog, and then decided to get off for a spot of tea.” (a ten year old actually said 'spot of tea')  

Speaking of tea, I thought it was funny that my office has a tea station! There are thousands of tea bags, a fridge full of milk/cream and three water boilers. I've been drinking about six cups of tea a day- its an obsession. The funniest part is that next to the station they have tube seats for a sitting area! People of London, you know exactly what I mean, but for those of you back home I've posted a picture. 

This week I have been heading the School Poster Competition, which is a pretty big deal! Lots of responsibilities. I've been contacting teachers with inquiries, keeping track of schools on the registry list who have uploaded successfully, and at times uploading images for teachers myself when they are unable to.  I have learned a lot about using Word Press efficiently, which is the system that uploads information and images onto the website.

 As we have had almost 800 entries from 50 different schools I’ve had my work cut out for me. Of the 15 different teacher/headmaster inquiries/technical difficulty reports I received, 13 uploaded images into the contest successfully. I also designed a system for how Mark judged the posters.

Mark Wallinger in his studio judging the Posters! 
I went to Mark's studio today with Louise, and I was COMPLETELY prepared with a huge box full of entries! Mark was so friendly and welcoming to me as a new face on the project, so I really enjoyed it (and, lets be real, I was SOOOO excited to meet such a well known artist and get to pick his brain). The process could not have gone more smoothly. We now have 12 winning images: first, second, third, and runner up for each age group. The winners won't be announced until October, so I'm a little bummed that I won't get to see it through. 

Afterwards, though, Louise told me that I had done "brilliantly", and that  she wished she could hire me on for another year! I have been working really hard, and more often than not I'm the last person in the office at the end of the day, so having all of it pay off felt amazing! 

I've been a very busy girl and working really hard. I think cubicle life suits me :)