Ashley Craig is an Public Relations Intern working in our communications department as part of her program at Durham College. This is a blog post about her experience working here in the past few weeks.

I am a public relations intern at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery and up until this year, the only other art gallery I have ever been to was the ROM. I went when I was six and I don’t remember seeing any of the exhibits. I just know that I held a snake while I was there. The majority of the artwork I have ever been exposed to were the paintings hanging in my grandmother’s old apartment. The paintings were mainly scenery, flowers and one of a little girl that looked like she belonged on a Cottonelle ad.

So it is safe to say, I have no artistic background. I can draw a stick person, if that. Now interning at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery once a week, I am exposed to all forms of art. Instead of thinking art was just paintings and photographs, I now see art comes in all different styles. I sometimes feel I don’t understand the art, however I am able to appreciate it for what it is, for instance, this piece from the new Micah Lexier & Kelly Mark: Head-to-Head exhibition.

So far my experience interning at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery has been educational, since I am gaining knowledge in the PR industry. It has also been interesting to see all the works, which I probably wouldn’t have thought of as art if I didn’t come here. I would say my experience so far, has allowed me to open my mind to different things.