Claudia Kishi:
Claudia sat, staring intently at the photographs in front of her. She tried to match every stroke of her paintbrush to the tiny lines she saw within the pictures. Dipping the brush into the gray, she paused again, trying to catch the exact angle and shadow of the figure.
"Ms. Kishi!" she was interrupted by an intern, a college boy around twenty or so, with dark glasses, an eyebrow ring and purple hair "They need you out front."
Claudia rushed out front to find two gallery assistants chatting about a painting hanging overhead.
"Oh, Ms. Kishi," one of them said, "We need your opinion on this: Should we hang the Marcellio portrait here, and the Renaldi photograph beneath it,"
"OR" interrupted the other "the photograph here, and the portrait by the door."
Claudia sighed. They disturbed her creative peace for THIS? She supposed that came with the territory of being a studio owner. There was a time when Claudia couldn't ever dream herself the owner of anything…
Claudia Kishi had struggled throughout high school. The thought of molecules or theorems was enough to give her a headache. So when Claudia was accepted to the School of the Art Institute Chicago on a partial scholarship, she was relieved. However much to Claud's dismay, the SAIC required English, Math and History classes in addition the art courses. Oh sure, most of them were Art History classes, but anything that involved dates and dead people didn't interest Claudia. One bright spot, next to her painting and sculpture classes, was Claudia's new boyfriend, Brett Cho. Claud and Brett were very much alike- misunderstood artists who came from strict Asian backgrounds. They spent many a night discussing their problems over Lattes and Biscotti. By Claudia's junior year in college, they were madly in love.
By this time Claudia was also much happier with school- gone were the days of generic academic gen eds, and she was deeply involved in artwork- PURE creative art. Then THE CLASS hit- "Entreprenurship for Artists", a senior requirement. It was basically a business class taught by Chicago gallery owner when by the name of Charlotte. Charlotte was a tall, salt and pepper haired woman who was smart, sassy and intimidating. Claudia's eyes glazed over every time the words "profit" or "expenditures" were mentioned. She barely passed the class with a C.
Once Claudia graduated from SAIC with her Bachelors of Fine Arts, she began to teach art in a private school on the city's north side. The job was terrific, as it combined two things Claud loved: children and art. What was perfect, however, was Claudia's new marriage to Brett. The passion and common ground the two once shared was gone. Now, it was a stale, bitter relationship which held its roots in bills and disagreements over who should empty the dishwasher. When Claudia gave birth to twin boys, Cooper and Riley, nearly six months later, she was both joyous and saddened- why should two innocent babies have to be reared in such an environment? Unfortunately, her worries did not last long. Brett decided to leave when the boys were almost four months old, and gave full custody rights to Claudia.
As Claudia continued to rear her young sons, she worked hard as an art teacher to support herself and her family. She gave life her all, despite the empty feeling her dissolved relationship with Brett had left in her.
One day, nearly ten years later, when Claudia was almost thirty-three years old, she met a fellow artist at a Sculpture convention her alma mater held. His name was Mr. Santiori, and he was a billionaire, with a great a interest in art, and no family to spend his wealth on. He recognized Claudia's great talent and he told that he would leave her over 5 million dollars if she agreed to open up a gallery of her own work, and that of other up and coming Chicago artists who had no money to invest in their talent. Claudia quickly agreed, not stopping to consider the huge responsibility she was undertaking.
So Claudia quit her job as a teacher, and hired several assistants to help at the new gallery. Her lack of understanding in the financial matters quickly came back to her memory, and so she hired a personal budget manager to handle the finances. This left her more time to invest in the job she did best: creating and selecting the art for her new gallery.
Two years later, the gallery has become a HUGE success. Mr. Santiori was thrilled by it's popularity and how effectively it has helped the underprivileged artists of Chicago. So thrilled, in fact, that he has decided to invest another five billion into "The Kishi Gallery". Cooper and Riley are now twelve years old, and are becoming bright, social, healthy, active young men. And as for Claudia…
"There" said Claudia as she adjusting the photograph in it's new spot near the gallery's entrance. She looked around the bright, colorful, paintings and sculptures which filled her gallery, and for a just moment, she thought she was in heaven. "Perfect". Claudia decided. And then she repeated smiling to herself, " Just perfect".
Claudia sat, staring intently at the photographs in front of her. She tried to match every stroke of her paintbrush to the tiny lines she saw within the pictures. Dipping the brush into the gray, she paused again, trying to catch the exact angle and shadow of the figure.
"Ms. Kishi!" she was interrupted by an intern, a college boy around twenty or so, with dark glasses, an eyebrow ring and purple hair "They need you out front."
Claudia rushed out front to find two gallery assistants chatting about a painting hanging overhead.
"Oh, Ms. Kishi," one of them said, "We need your opinion on this: Should we hang the Marcellio portrait here, and the Renaldi photograph beneath it,"
"OR" interrupted the other "the photograph here, and the portrait by the door."
Claudia sighed. They disturbed her creative peace for THIS? She supposed that came with the territory of being a studio owner. There was a time when Claudia couldn't ever dream herself the owner of anything…
Claudia Kishi had struggled throughout high school. The thought of molecules or theorems was enough to give her a headache. So when Claudia was accepted to the School of the Art Institute Chicago on a partial scholarship, she was relieved. However much to Claud's dismay, the SAIC required English, Math and History classes in addition the art courses. Oh sure, most of them were Art History classes, but anything that involved dates and dead people didn't interest Claudia. One bright spot, next to her painting and sculpture classes, was Claudia's new boyfriend, Brett Cho. Claud and Brett were very much alike- misunderstood artists who came from strict Asian backgrounds. They spent many a night discussing their problems over Lattes and Biscotti. By Claudia's junior year in college, they were madly in love.
By this time Claudia was also much happier with school- gone were the days of generic academic gen eds, and she was deeply involved in artwork- PURE creative art. Then THE CLASS hit- "Entreprenurship for Artists", a senior requirement. It was basically a business class taught by Chicago gallery owner when by the name of Charlotte. Charlotte was a tall, salt and pepper haired woman who was smart, sassy and intimidating. Claudia's eyes glazed over every time the words "profit" or "expenditures" were mentioned. She barely passed the class with a C.
Once Claudia graduated from SAIC with her Bachelors of Fine Arts, she began to teach art in a private school on the city's north side. The job was terrific, as it combined two things Claud loved: children and art. What was perfect, however, was Claudia's new marriage to Brett. The passion and common ground the two once shared was gone. Now, it was a stale, bitter relationship which held its roots in bills and disagreements over who should empty the dishwasher. When Claudia gave birth to twin boys, Cooper and Riley, nearly six months later, she was both joyous and saddened- why should two innocent babies have to be reared in such an environment? Unfortunately, her worries did not last long. Brett decided to leave when the boys were almost four months old, and gave full custody rights to Claudia.
As Claudia continued to rear her young sons, she worked hard as an art teacher to support herself and her family. She gave life her all, despite the empty feeling her dissolved relationship with Brett had left in her.
One day, nearly ten years later, when Claudia was almost thirty-three years old, she met a fellow artist at a Sculpture convention her alma mater held. His name was Mr. Santiori, and he was a billionaire, with a great a interest in art, and no family to spend his wealth on. He recognized Claudia's great talent and he told that he would leave her over 5 million dollars if she agreed to open up a gallery of her own work, and that of other up and coming Chicago artists who had no money to invest in their talent. Claudia quickly agreed, not stopping to consider the huge responsibility she was undertaking.
So Claudia quit her job as a teacher, and hired several assistants to help at the new gallery. Her lack of understanding in the financial matters quickly came back to her memory, and so she hired a personal budget manager to handle the finances. This left her more time to invest in the job she did best: creating and selecting the art for her new gallery.
Two years later, the gallery has become a HUGE success. Mr. Santiori was thrilled by it's popularity and how effectively it has helped the underprivileged artists of Chicago. So thrilled, in fact, that he has decided to invest another five billion into "The Kishi Gallery". Cooper and Riley are now twelve years old, and are becoming bright, social, healthy, active young men. And as for Claudia…
"There" said Claudia as she adjusting the photograph in it's new spot near the gallery's entrance. She looked around the bright, colorful, paintings and sculptures which filled her gallery, and for a just moment, she thought she was in heaven. "Perfect". Claudia decided. And then she repeated smiling to herself, " Just perfect".