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6 Lessons I learned working at an art gallery

On agency, doing value-aligned work, and making your job fun

The Artist's Garden at Vetheuil, Claude Monet, 1880-81 I was the only person who applied for the job at the gallery because it was so shitty: it was basically selling coffee all weekends with lousy pay and no vacations during summers. So instead of selling coffee, I looked into how we could streamline the café and the cash register so that the volunteers who help out at the gallery felt comfortable doing my job, then I made myself a small office where I sat down to analyze the business and figure out how to improve it. It felt like the end of one of the movies of my life, and above my desk as I write this, I keep, as a memento for my years at the gallery, a framed receipt for a sculpture I sold Queen Mary.

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