Her Story
About Christen
I've been in the arts field for about 10 years now, and I'm approaching my one-year anniversary at the Creative Arts Guild this March 25th. My journey into the museum world started when I was volunteering at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts after getting my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art with an emphasis in installation sculpture from Murray State University. The staff got to know me and when a preparator position opened up, they offered it to me. I worked there for 4 years, installing artwork for exhibitions and handling collections care, and that's really where I fell in love with the museum world. My passion is exhibit design. During COVID, I decided to go back to school and got my Master's in Museum Studies in 2021, completing a two-year program in 2023. I moved to Florida briefly, then my husband got a job here in Dalton, Georgia, and this position at the Creative Arts Guild opened up and lined up perfectly with my museum background. Now I work with arts education programming and classes, and I manage the sculpture garden here on property, bringing in that collections management aspect. I work with three counties worth of public schools, providing performing artists like musicians, dancers, and visual artists to go into the schools, and we have residents that work with our high schoolers. I provide these opportunities so kids can experience the arts in ways they ordinarily wouldn't be able to, which I believe is so enriching and important in a child's life. I'm a good connector and organizer of all these moving parts, making sure everyone's on board and on the same page. One of my biggest accomplishments was launching our digital guide in September, which I really headed up. It's been wonderful to see the results and check the statistics on how many people are opening the app and scanning the QR codes. I created different themed tours like a Latino artist tour for our large Latino community here in Dalton, and a Valentine's Day tour, making our completely free sculpture garden more exciting and different every day.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Christen
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Not everyone has the same path, and if your measure of success is someone else's measure of success, you can't live up to it, so you need to make your own measure of success and do what works for you.
02What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Staying true to yourself and remaining ethical in all manners of work and personal life is incredibly important to me. I believe in staying true to your beliefs and virtues, and not falling into what other people necessarily want you to do. If you don't feel that it's right, you need to just stick by what you believe is right.
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