Working at Stay

Working at Stay Gallery was, to say the least, fascinating. Just by stepping in, I could see the imagination and smell the creativity. From the serene environment, to the good-natured minds behind the organization, I could tell this was a safe space for inspiring artists. It’s a place where those who are starting out, or those with years of experience, can share a common ground and further bloom into talented people who can expressive themselves through the color of their canvas, the mood of their words, or the tone of their song.

As much as this place is useful to the community of Downey, in return it as much motivates the people behind the organization. In the time I spent helping the Stay Gallery grow, I could clearly tell that they love doing what they do and that they do it all for the benefit of uniting people through art. In saying that, their main purpose in life is to inspire others by assembling people at exhibitions and workshops to ensure people can use their creativity as a main source of expression; and if that isn’t beautiful I don’t know what is.

On a personal level, I loved how my mentors, Juliana and Gabriel, gave up their time to get to know us better. They got to know our interests, hobbies and aspirations to find out what we wanted to grow on and learn at Stay, so that in hindsight we could make the most out of our internship. Overall, I thank them for their time in teaching, mentoring, and most importantly, bonding with us.

What I Learned

Our mentors gave us the knowledge of graphic design, web design, running a gallery, and managing a nonprofit organization, something that will stick with us throughout school and help us achieve our aspiring careers.

Gallery Design & Curating

I helped measure out their gallery-section of the building and then designed the layout on Illustrator and transferred the recorded measurements onto the Illustrator document.

For curation, I would help set up the gallery, such as install artwork and overall make it look nice. I would also type up written statements of what the artists’ work meant to them and rewrite them on a Google Doc. Later, we printed out the labels and placed them next to the art, so that when it was time for the exhibition, the people who came to see the gallery could understand what each artwork meant.

After the exhibition, during de-curation, I would take down the artwork, take out screws or nails in the wall, and patch up the dented or damaged parts of the walls. We then repainted those very walls, so that for the next curating session the walls would be ready.

Flyer Design

I helped design flyers for four upcoming exhibitions at Stay: “Pizza Box Exhibition”, “Thirst Project Exhibition”, “The Digital Project” and “Warren High Art Exhibition”.

Graphic Design Project

I also completed a project featuring my own graphic design artwork and poem.

The Path

Plans hardly followed

Successful-Lane was distant

Lost friends, never found

When difficult, you should’ve stopped

And yet you still kept walking

But look where you started

And how it led you here

With bad fears nearby

But goals and dreams as your guide

You ran and never looked back

A Note from the Artist

With the thought of “change” in my mind, I thought of all the losses and gains of my efforts (that my mind could barely remember), it took to move forward. That the path was not only a journey to move forward, but the experience it took to change. I thought of the bitter moments in which I lost a lot, but in which I gained the most from; The pain that taught me to live, The guilt that taught me to grow, and The loss that taught me to love.

And if it weren’t for my parents, I wouldn’t have made the decision to view my losses as such gains, something they called experience. And although it wasn’t always clear on the path ahead, at least with experience as my guide, it made the journey of change, a whole lot easier.

Walking on this path will get easier and it will get better, but the hard part is walking on this path everyday.

– Evan Chiriboga

Field Trips

Our mentees also took us on two fun field trips to learn more about design and art!

The Hundreds

We took a tour of the design studio and screen printing facility of The Hundreds with our mentors. We got to learn how they make their incredible graphic designs through Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Not to mention, we got to see these same designs being made on screen printers to be used onto clothing and bags.

Palos Verdes

Our mentors took us out to Palos Verdes for our last day of mentoring with them. Surrounded by miles of water and the spirit of nature, it was a perfect place to get inspiration from. We each interpreted our view of the ocean through our paintings, whether that be different colors, textures or perspectives. But overall, we enjoyed ourselves and bonded closely with our mentors on the trip.