Fine.

I had the most amazing September in Venice.

I would like to thank the people at the PGC for firstly accepting me on to the program and then being so welcoming and friendly when I was there. It was an experience I will never forget and I will always be grateful that I was given this opportunity to work for the Guggenheim institution.

I would like to thank Marina who was such a lovely hostess. I have promised her that one day I will go back to see her and speak to her in Italian!

Also I would like to thank my wonderful Guggies. September was such a fun month! I don't think I have ever laughed so much!

The Guggies were so welcoming and supportive which is what you need when working in a country where I didn't know anyone or could speak the language!

I'm so happy I was able to meet such interesting and clever people. I really enjoyed being around people who have the same passion as I do and are working hard to achieve what they want in life.

I wish them all the best for the future and I hope I will stay in touch with them all.

Lastly I would like to thank you guys for reading this blog! It started off as just something for my Mum to see and it has grown and grown so thank you all for spreading the word!

Thank you for taking the time to read my silly rambles. Now you are free to go and do something interesting with your lives!

Last few days in Venice

I stayed on in Venice for a few more days so I could have a chance to be a tourist!

I was actually unbelievebly tired from such a busy month so I didn't go too mental on all of the touristy things.

I spent one morning at the PGC giving my Mother a tour and having one last look at all of the works. It was really weird seeing the Guggies working!

So my tourist activites were going shopping for lots of jewellery, going to the beach on Lido, going to Palazzo Grassi again and going to the Arsenale half of the Biennale.

I thought Arsenale was going to be smaller than Giardini because I didn't think it was possible to have more art in one venue but I was proven wrong. Arsenale was yet another perfect venue for holding contemporary art especially those on a big scale. I was there for quite a long time but I would definitely go back and look at it all again!

I have been so impressed with Venice's contemporary art scene and it's such a shame that it's not that known internationally. Here are a few of my favourite works

Oh and there was a video called 'The Clock' which is a 24-hour film where the artist has put together clips from films where they talk about the time. The film matches up to real time which is pretty impressive. It must have taken ages!

After three lovely days in beautiful Venice I had to return back to the UK.

My plane journey home :(

Festa Fine Mese Pictures

Day 31 (Last Day)

This morning I was up really early to move out of my house which was I didn’t enjoy because it meant getting up at stupid o’clock and saying goodbye to Marina.

Being up early allowed me to go to the PGC before anyone else and I had a chance to say goodbye to all of the artworks. The Ileana Sonnabend exhibition in TES is closing on Sunday with all of the works going back to New York so I took some photos

It was quite a quiet day with everyone going about their business because we knew it would be upsetting later on when we had to say goodbye.

The new interns were in for their training day which was rather upsetting. I can’t believe it’s been a whole month since my first day of awkward conversations with the other interns and trying to get my head around the ridiculously complicated schedule! It went far too quickly L

The new newbies were really nice so I’m sure they’ll have an awesome October with the Guggies.

I did my last ever talk at the PGC about ‘Unique Forms of Continuity in Space’ which went well. I definitely enjoyed doing it more than my first talk!

In the afternoon I guarded PC3, PC4, Matteoli and TES1 which are my favourite rooms so I was very happy about that!

When we closed the museum for the evening we were given ‘Backstage’ which is a magazine made by a few of the old Guggies filled with pictures and articles from our month spent together. There is a funny spread about our beloved boy lion mascot called Mary, funny quotes said by the public and all of our confessions! It’s a really nice souvenir to be taking home.

We left all of our goodbyes until Giulia’s and Katy’s party which was this evening. Having drunk lots of alcohol and then having to saying goodbye to people that you have grown so close to caused lots of tears at the party!

Day 30 (Penultimate Day!)

I had a whole plan of what I was going to say to you today but I'm afraid I have run out of time this evening because I need to get on with my packing! I leave 3395 Dorsoduro tomorrow morning L

I have been talking to Marina for the last couple of hours about everything there possibly is to talk about!

I am really going to miss her.

She's twice my age and we don't speak the same language but we somehow manage to get on really well. She makes me laugh and I manage to make her laugh somehow.

We speak mostly about language and how 'nice' is it (this seems to be Marina's favourite word because she says it all of the time!). I have definitely learnt about language from her then I have done from anywhere else.

I am so happy I was able to spend a month with her. A funny, confusing and sometimes crazy month but nevertheless it was perfect.

Day 29

Today I got to the PGC early so I can take these sneaky behind the scene pictures for you!

Actually I just took them for myself but I'll let you have a look at them.

I love walking though the galleries when no one else is there and the morning light is perfect to view the artwork in!

I was guarding in TES this morning which was freeeeezing because they've gone a bit OTT with the air con. in there at the moment. When we were all in opening positions and before the gallery was open all of the lights went out in TES which was really scary! I was in the room with that freaky dog hybrid thing and I was not too happy! It didn't last for too long though so that's ok :)

I gave my Ileana Sonnabend talk in the afternnon and it went really well! I had 6 people on my tour which was a perfect amount because it meant they were able to give their own opinions on the artworks too. I managed to do my 30 minute tour in 20 minutes which is a new record I think. They seemed to enjoy it and were very grateful at the end :)

I only have one talk left now :(

The wonderful Giulia made this for the student room from the photos she took at Monday's leaving party.

After work we had a talk by Jeremy Miller who was an intern in 1999 and is now an Art History lecturer. The talk was called 'Fashioning the Artist: Man Ray's Modernist Practises'.

He told us a lot about Man Ray's more commercial work and his time spent with Parisian Haute Couturist's such as Paul Poiret and Coco Chanel. He showed us some of Man Ray's beautiful photographs and told us so much about his life. The good people at the PGC brought us down Man Ray's 'Silhouette' and let us look at it closer which was really cool!

I'm afraid I can't be bothered to write all of my notes up here but if you would like me to tell you more about the talk just let me know. Here are a few of my favourite photos from the talk:

Silhouette 1916

Denise Poiret 1922

(The Brancusi sculpture in the background is currently in PC1)

Noire at Blanche 1926

Sleeping Woman 1929

Lee Miller 1930