Isabela C. Varela lives a life surrounded by art. Born in Chile and raised in Edmonton, Varela received her undergraduate education at the University of Alberta, and is currently completing her Masters Degree in Art History, Visual Arts, and Theory at the University of British Columbia. Now, she's returned to Edmonton for an exciting career opportunity -- before even finishing her Masters, she was hired as the new Assistant Curator at the Edmonton Art Gallery this past summer. I recently spoke to Isabela Varela about her background, her new career, and her feelings abou the Arts scene in Edmonton.
Paula: What are your specific duties as an assistant curator?
Isabela: My primary responsibility is to work with the EAG's collection. I develop
shows using the collection, I research the collection, I participate in
developing public programming that involves the collection.
Paula: What is your background, and what made you decide to go for a
career in visual art?
Isabela: I grew up in Edmonton and did my BA in Art History and English at the U of A.
When I completed my BA I moved to Vancouver in 1996 to do a Master's in Art
History at UBC. Throughout my university studies, I've had jobs which
related in some way to the arts and which also gave me the opportunity to
work with the public. As for what made me go for a career in the Arts, it
was pretty much a given after my first year of undergrad that I wanted to
dedicate myself to the study of art. Initially, I thought I'd go the studio
route, but my focus shifted and I decided that art history was the
embodiment of everything that I loved to do -- writing, research, and of
course, looking at images and studying how they shape society and are shaped
by the social. At the end of the day, people choose to study art history
because they are drawn to the visual. I'm one of those people, and being
able to do curatorial work at the EAG is an enormous opportunity.
