My name is Freya Symonds, and Rachel was kind enough to offer me a work experience placement at the Inspiring Creativity Studio. I am currently studying fine art at A level so this type of work experience in a small creative business setting was really helpful for me when considering my career options, as it gave me some idea of what a creative career could look like.

Rachel showed me how to make up her mosaic kits and how to set up for mosaic classes and how to pack them away on my first day. It was interesting to see how things worked behind the scenes. Rachel then let me work on my own mosaic piece that was based on Van Gogh’s Starry night painting. So I could see how the time spent on my own artwork would fit into running a small business. 

On the second day of my placement I made some more kits and some example mosaics that Rachel would then use on her TV appearance. One was used to explain grouting and the other was used as a background piece. It was nice to see how Rachels hard work had paid off and had resulted in something that was seen by many. Which as an artist is one of our main goals, and something I aspire to be able to do in the future.

Later in the month I then went back for another day of work experience as a workshop assistant. Which again showed me how things worked from the other side. On that day I also helped to prepare some backing boards for Rachel’s next workshop which was the bunting workshop.

This work experience placement was really appreciated as it helped me to affirm my decision to go into the creative industry after A levels, as I hope to go to university to study illustration. It was really amazing to see how a small business works day-to-day in the creative industry and I’m very thankful to Rachel for letting me experience that.

Here’s where you can find my work!

Instagram: @freyatheillustrator

Redbubble shop: https://www.redbubble.com/people/freyatheillust/shop