Knock, Knock Mr Gormley
For several months, I had been sending my CV for internship positions even if I was already way too old to be one. I figure, no one is too old in this field especially because it is probably the only platform where people are allowed to aim for limitless possibilities – and so I thought that yeah it's still a very open industry.
Well, what do you know? I received multiple slaps of rejection e-mails and it came to a point when it already became monotonously predictable. (Hey Universe, can you surprise me a little bit?)
Last January, I decided to e-mail Sir Anthony Caro, the famed British sculptor and asked him for a job just the same way he did when he went to Henry Moore's studio years ago. And here was the response:
Dear Tuesday,
Thank you for your email and your C.V. In the last 4 months, we have just taken on a full-time P.A and studio coordinator to Sir Anthony. Before we used to have part-time staff and interns but we have now changed our system and only employ one, full-time employer in the office.
I assume you are looking for office work and not fabrication work in the studio? I have heard that Antony Gormley is looking for some office assistants. Perhaps you could contact him?
I will keep your C.V on file, if anything does come up I will let you know. Best of luck, Pat
Well, I was floored!
It was just an email from his studio coordinator but Mr Patrick Cunningham was really gracious enough to answer an email from a fan who's longing to work with this artist. Imagine having an email mentioning both Sir Anthony and Antony Gormley! woohoo, I was already on the moon.
The next day, Pach, my hubby woke me up and told me to get dressed. He said, "we are going to Antony Gormley's studio today and we are going to hand in your CV". When we arrived at Antony's Camden studio, all I could see was a big towering silver gate and a glimpse of the roof of his giant studio. My first reaction was, wow, he's got a lot of space to work on his stuff. I made 3 deep breaths before I rang the doorbell. I was waiting for someone to say something on the other end but there was silence.
Then the big giant silver gate creaked open.
I had to step back because it felt cinematic. Then a beautiful girl in studio clothes opened the door to the studio and asked me what was going on and I handed her my CV. Damn, she was pretty and so lucky to be working in that studio. She quickly hurried up the external stairs to hand it to someone —- I wished it was Antony but I knew on that fine day he would be working. It was such a thrill that it didn't matter when I received an email from Laura Mcnamara, his assistant:
Dear Tuesday
Many thanks for dropping your cv in today. Unfortunately, there are currently no positions available at the studio.
Best wishes Laura