Felicia Follum WOW Update

Image from Make it Plain, my most recent body of work

Although I do not update this blog regularly (and it was created for a class), I would like to conclude with some of what I am currently doing for WOW (a project of WWBC). For more recent updates see my art blog or Facebook page. I am no longer the graphic designer for WOW, though I still do some design work when asked.

My main projects currently include creating, building, and expanding WOW’s online presence through social media, specifically the blog and Facebook. I am always researching new social media sites as well. In addition to managing the social media, I am excited to say that I have given a couple of Facebook lessons, on how to use Facebook as a marketing tool, for artists and would love to continue this.

Another major project that I am currently working on revolves around the gallery and exhibitions. I have been hanging shows, and even coordinating a couple. I hung the Fabulous Women show (I did have some help, especially with the larger pieces) and set up the Black Friday one day show.

There are other tasks and duties that I perform, but these are a couple of my favorite. I love being surrounded by artists and artwork and I look forward to see where my experience with WOW as an intern will help take me in my art career.

Image from the Black Friday sale marketing campaign for WOW on Facebook

Ideas for Next Year

Brainstorm Session:

This internship has been a great opportunity to learn about graphic design, art, and my personal goals. I would like to continue working for the Works of Wyoming Gallery and The Business Center. Some of the projects that I would like to work on include working with a variety of organizations on behalf of WOW and leading art lessons (since the position is AmeriCorps, it is expected that I volunteer at places other than WOW and WWBC, so this is perfect), and helping generate show ideas that go along with the mission statement.


Here are some of the beginnings of those show ideas.

Gallery Show Ideas That I would like to work on (and would like to see happen)


Volunteerism and Civic Engagement


Everyone volunteers x number of hours (maybe 5) and the show will be composed of works inspired by or created from the experience. The work could include why volunteerism is important.


I also think that it would be great to include a list of organizations including but not limited to


The ARC
The Cathedral Home for Children
Big Brothers, Big Sisters
Various old folks homes
High school art students
Partners of the Americas
Soup Kitchen
Interfaith Good Samaritan


Golden Key and Special ED project.

Golden Key would like to work with some students from the ARC and/or the high school and have a formal reception with them and the community. The GK Presedent really wants to work with persons with disabilities and give them a chance to dress up and have fun and I thin that the this type of show at the WOW gallery would be a great opportunity. All work sold could go 50% to the ARC (or another program, like special Olympics), and 50% for WOW. Maybe GK could sell art from the workshop in the Union (we did this for Partners of the Americans and raised over $400 for the organization.)

More show/event ideas that relate back to our mission --- Mostly just for ideas of events that could relate back to social awareness and issues of those in Laramie. These could probably tie into one or two events as well, I just broke them down so that we could weed out the ones we don't want (and the ones we do).


Cultural shows/events

Dia de Los Muertos - we already talked about this some.

Black history Month (other months) - no specific ideas here either, but I will have a body of work that focuses on AA issues by November (for the UpGallery). Maybe ABSL (Association of Black Student Leaders) or WASA (Wyoming African Student Association) could work with us on this.

Hip hop culture (not to be confused with rap, hip hop is very social justice oriented and focuses on the oppressed of all races) - this could go with a Latino History month or Black History month. We could possibly round up enough street artists and work from WOW artists to pull this off. This could also go along with the mural and the idea of street art (one of the 4 aspects of hip hop culture). Hip hop is deeply connected to social justice issues...

Social Justice Issues (any issue that affects society, positively or negatively that can be related back to justice.)

A show dedicated to the education of social issues that affect individuals in this community. Can be personal or a friend. Everyone is or knows someone who is affected by some sort of social problem. (60% of Americans have struggled with depression and WY is one of the worst states for domestic violence and suicide. In this sense awareness about the stigmas toward depression or

ways to prevent domestic violence could be addressed.) Why not illustrate these problems beautifully and show that there is hope of some kinds especially through honesty.

Womanism (or something to do with gender studies) - no specific ideas here...Maybe we could break down the negative stereotypes about Laramie and Wyoming. This really could go along with the Fabulous Women show and simply be a deeper understanding, for us, about how it relates back to our mission.

Native American Day (many places/people call it Columbus day, but we could celebrate Native American Day along with South Dakota). I just talked to some girls in the American Indian Studies program at the University and the issue of the Arapaho language dying came up. There are less than 100 fluent speakers in the US and they are all over the age of 50. Maybe we could have an elder come teach a language workshop and an artist teach another workshop (using some more Arapaho terms and cultural explanations).

The Figure Show is arguably about social justice as well.

In additions to these ideas, I have also been working on some of my personal goals for WOW (how I want to help) and some ideas for what I want my job description to be...Maybe I will post them too. But for now check out my summer goals.

Mid - Intership Reflection

What have you learned from this internship?
I have learned a lot about business. I have learned more about working with clients as well. My internship has encouraged me to enter work in the gallery. This has been a good experience to learn about pricing and selling work. I have sold more work in the current show than ever before.
I have also learned a bunch about InDesign and actually had a chance to use the program. I am also learning iMovie (and iPhoto).
I am currently working on an annual report. Annual reports are something that I was not familiar with in the past.
What do you still want to learn?
I would really like to lead a workshop. I am thinking either something to do with art journaling or paper bead making. In the past I have given art/graphic design lessons to people and would like to continue developing skills to better give lessons.
What is your favorite aspect of your internship?
My favorite aspect is that I get to do a combination of art and design. I love designing logos and working with business people but I do not want to give up my artsy, less corporate side as well.
What is your least favorite aspect of your internship?
Joomla. The program seems like it has great potential; however, it is extremely frustrating. I think that we are not using the full potential. I don’t really understand the program that well and it is not intuitive.

Training Week

After the first week I am extremely excited and a bit nervous, for my internship. I am excited about working with the Works of Wyoming gallery, their events and my client work. I am not sure how much I will be doing with each part of the organization. I think that this internship will be a good combination of art and design. I love both. This week I was also given a quick introduction to Joomla. I think I will pick it up fairly quick but it will be a challenge. It seems more complicated than what is necessary.

I really enjoyed last semester’s internship and I am excited to learn more about another gallery and gain experience. I have heard about some of the gallery’s events in the past but never really knew much or exactly what was going on. That being said I am in a good position to promote WOW to the art department through Student Art League. I am looking forward to becoming more involved with the gallery and hopefully will be able to produce some work for a juried show.

In addition to the gallery, I am excited about working with my first client. There will be a lot of work that she will need. (Hanna was able to complete her logo.) I will basically be designing a booth for a trade show.

There will need to be promotional material, maybe a video, and trinket type handouts. We talked about coming up with a theme that will travel throughout the booth, as well as various ways to make the company’s booth stand out.

I am going to begin with a chart that Georgia has given me. The chart is a bunch of circles that touch each other in an attempt to show the two factors (material and technique) that go into the product and produce a way for the consumer to save money. This task seems like it will be a challenge. We discussed the possibility of using color and maybe some icons to depict this information to two different audiences. One is the tech-savvy engineer and the other is the businessman who cares about it working, not really how. This portion could lead to some design and images that could carry throughout the booth. If this plan of action works the design of the other material and the rest of the booth should fall into place. After this work is designed, I will be starting on the design of their website. I am a bit nervous about this aspect but I think it should be doable. It is one area of design that I don’t think I have learned much in but want to learn.

After the first week, I still have that nervous feeling I always have during training for a job. The nervousness that maybe I cant do this. I have always been fine in the past so I can assume that this will go fine as well. The feeling of excitement is always just as strong as the nervousness and thankfully that is true in here as well.

Intership Questions

For my last internsnip, I was given a series of questions and figured they would be beneficial for this internship as well.

Why did you choose this site?
I chose the WWBC for several reasons. It seems like I will have a wide variety of experiences. Designing logos for businesses will be a great way to build my portfolio. I think I may be able to force myself to learn more about website design (even if it is just various WYSIWYG editors). I am really excited to work with the individuals and the art gallery. After my internship this summer and my internship last semester I think that this internship will be a wonderfully fun learning experience.

What are you expectations for this internship?
I expect to learn more about the business side of art and design, to create some pieces for my portfolio, learn more about website design, be surrounded by art, build relationships with interesting women and people, and hopefully be able to use my creativity.

I expect it to be challenging at times. Twice over the summer when I was able to work for clients on a specific project, I had a nervous doubt about my skill. I would forget the simple fact that I wouldn’t get projects if I wasn’t capable of completing them. They of course ended well and the nervousness was just doubt not truth.

What do you expect to learn from this internship?
I hope to learn more about website design.

What profession are you pursuing?
I know that I want to work with people and do some sort of art. Graphic design is a good combination of the two. You get more interaction both with business professionals and other creative individuals. My dream is to run a music venue that caters to troubled youth and has shelter capabilities.

One part that I would want this venue to have is an art gallery and an area for these kids to work on art therapy as well as graffiti art. Ideally I would be the one designing promotional materials for small local bands and the venue itself. This could include t-shirts, fliers, posters (my favorite to design) and whatever else seemed necessary.

In the process of starting this gallery I would love to fund it through freelance design. The largest difficulty with freelancing seems to be finding clients. WWBC may offer some helpful techniques in this are.

How does this internship relate to your future professional goals?
One of the areas that I don’t have a lot of experience in is that of business. I was able to talk to a designer Sara Nelson this summer and she suggested taking business courses. I was also given the chance to work in a small business as an in house designer. It was a great experience to learn about the business side (and print production side) of graphic design. I do think that this internship will help me to become well rounded as a designer and artist.

In addition to the business aspects, I will be able to work in the Works of Wyoming Art Gallery. I am extremely excited for this because I love art and would enjoy working/volunteering at a gallery. Gallery exposure is great for art and graphic design in the sense that it is an amazing and constantly changing sourse of inspiration, thought, and dialogue.