Q. What were your ambitions when studying with us, and how closely has your career followed them?
I was attracted to the hands-on learning that Christie's Education offered, which I didn't see offered by other Master’s degree courses. Getting to see and handle objects from the British Museum, the Museum of East Asian Art in Bath and the British Library was such a unique opportunity, as was visiting a range of museums, art fairs and auctions in Beijing, Hong Kong and Taipei to understand the different career paths one could follow after completing the course.
I worked in auction houses (Christie's, AuctionMyStuff, Auctionata, Paddle8) for several years after completing my degree, and the online art market became especially interesting to me when I started working on Christie's newly launched Online Only auctions. While the Chinese art market was starting to slow down, the online art market was expanding across all art sectors, and there was lots of opportunity to grow and experiment in this field.
Q. How long have you worked with your current company and what do you do there?
1.5 years as a Gallery Partnerships Manager. I work with Dutch, Scandinavian, Central European and African galleries to their promote programming and artists to Artsy's international network of collectors.
Q. What do you enjoy most about working with Artsy?
I get to spend most of my day talking to galleries - about their programming, artists, digital marketing strategy and the art market in general. I have to pinch myself sometimes to believe that I'm actually getting paid to do something I would choose to do as a hobby! Getting to use Artsy every day also means that I have learned a great deal more about emerging artists and markets - I've developed a passion for Contemporary African Photography that I would never have discovered without Artsy's recommendation algorithm. It's really an amazing tool for self-education, discovery and for honing one's taste.
Q. Do you keep in touch with many fellow alumni?
Some of my classmates and I still meet up for the annual Asian Art in London gallery crawl in the autumn. I meet Christie's Education alumni from different years or courses all the time at galleries and fairs and it's always great to discover that you have that in common and reminisce about the professors or class trips.
Q. How should a new student make the most of their time at CE?
Use this as an opportunity to network. Keep in touch with your classmates and professors, and follow up with the guest lecturers. Take advantage of how much free art there is in London, including art that is outside of the field you are studying. You might discover a new field of interest, or another angle through which to understand your main subject of study.