There's No Place Like Home

Well, things have changed.

A few weeks ago while I was still semi-regularly blogging, I was based in Glasgow, working as a waitress, doing some voluntary work in the arts sector whenever I could. Now, I am back in my home town entering my fourth week of a six month curatorial internship at The Model gallery here in Sligo.

This is thrilling for me because I remember doing art classes in the old Model building before its refurbishment in the late 90s/early 2000s. The building itself has always been an imposing but beloved one in the Sligo townscape.

The Model is one of Ireland’s leading contemporary arts centres. It is home to the impressive Niland Collection of art, one of the most notable collections in Ireland, featuring works by John and Jack B. Yeats, Estella Solomons, Paul Henry, Gerard Dillon, Norah McGuinness and Louis Le LeBrocquy among others.

The Model is a public space, it offers an eclectic music programme, offering a venue for all music, from classical to contemporary. There are weekly international film screenings, in association with the IFI (Irish Film Institute). It also hosts Craic In the Box, a regular comedy event. There are a number of educational programmes for adults and young people, such as the Young Model programme, and more recently Young Curators, whom curated the Double Vision exhibition that is currently on show.

I get to walk through the doors of this beautiful building every day -


Front entrance


Back, main entrance
Source.

& here's what it looked like at the turn of the century!

Source.

I'm greatly enjoying the experience so far, its a privilege to work behind the scenes. I won't forget the first time I was taken into the art store, and I was up close and personal with some Jack Yeats, including a personal favourite Communicating with Prisoners.

My work is varied, mainly involving a lot of admin work, phone calls, running errands and packing artworks. Everyday brings a new challenge and I enter it with renewed enthusiasm, never having possessed quite this level of motivation in the workplace before.

The Model is all over social media, with their facebook, twitter and flickr.