Hire Me. I Am An Asset to Your Team

I am an experienced and multi-talented operations lead who brings people and processes together to build and grow great working environments. In my last operations lead role, I grew with the organization to have responsibilities across finance, operations, facility management, and people & culture. I’m looking for an organization where I can be effective in supporting the team around me, and feel aligned with long term goals. 

I’m also a multidisciplinary artist creating hand-cut art and installations from paper, with a background in photography. Visit my portfolio website to view my work. It’s important for me to mention this because it’s a big part of my identity.

What exactly am I looking for in a job? Let me lay it out for you:

  • Part-time hours between 24 – 30 per week, with a consistent schedule and some flexibility
  • Working closely with a small team of people that includes women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ members
  • Remote or in-person, I am open to both. I am an effective user of digital tools for remote work. I am based in Vancouver, Canada (PST timezone) and enjoy building out facilities so they work for everyone.
  • Variety is the key to work happiness for me. I love having a diverse task list I can tackle daily, and I am good at context switching to focus on the highest priorities. My hours are “getting things done” hours, balanced with improving process and communication so things run more smoothly and faster over time.
  • Earning a living to cover both basic expenses and support my art practice. I am open to both contract freelance work, as well as permanent employment status.
  • An organization with a flattened team structure (not a hierarchy) but with clear leadership and reporting
  • Autonomy over my work, decision making, and responsibilities.
  • Long-term position with room for growth. Yes, even as a part-time worker, I’ve grown my responsibilities, skills, and impact everywhere I’ve worked. I like learning and making things better for myself, my team mates, and the organization I’m part of.

What I have to offer:

  • I am a tech savvy, tech adjacent person with plenty of experience working with people more technical than I am — while bringing my own knowledge of effective company operations across book-keeping, basic HR & benefits, culture building, facilities management, and more
  • I enjoy the challenge of refining and improving existing systems, or implementing new ones
  • Skilled user of social media tools such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills
  • Self motivated and able to work independently to achieve deadlines
  • A team player interested in maintaining an enjoyable & supportive work environment
  • Broad knowledge of web-based software -> Xero, Expensify, Harvest, Humi, Slack, Discord, Squarespace, WordPress, Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Google Docs, Dropbox, etc. I’m also not afraid of digging in and learning new, specialized software, or to research and bring in new tools as needed.
  • Currently exploring web3 and have minted a series of NFTs

Specific Work Experience:

  • Successfully streamlining and updating accounting systems by implementing Xero
  • Internal operations and finance work, including bookkeeping, Accounts Payable/Accounts Receivable, monthly invoicing, banking, and expenses.
  • Internal HR coordination, handling benefits, payroll, and other staff support services.
  • Office culture and employee happiness, tackling everything from snacks, plant care, and office design
  • Event planning company anniversary and holiday celebrations, as well as internal events such as “Build It Days” and a monthly “Lunch & Learn”
  • Booking space and coordinating speakers for community tech events VanJS and Vancouver XCoder
  • Booking space, event planning, and coordinating speakers for Hot Talks at the former Hot Art Wet City gallery
  • Facilities Management: Ordering supplies and equipment, working with external contractors, overseeing repairs and office organization
  • Creating documentation to collect and track a broad range of information on internal processes and tools for the operations/administration of the company

Please view my profile on LinkedIn for the full description of my employment experience. Contact me by email at rkashe (at) gmail (dot) com

I would appreciate you spreading the word about this post. You can easily re-share and tag my Twitter @RachaelAshe or LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/rachaelashe

 

$100 Or Less Art Show at August Studios

I’m taking part in a group exhibition opening next week, the $100 Or Less show at August Studios. Yes, that’s correct! All of the art will be priced at $100 or less, which is a steal.

Join me and 20+ other incredible artists, working in a wide variety of mediums, for an exciting exhibition of art.

Look at that amazing roster of Vancouver artists. I am super excited, and I hope you will be too. Check out the August Studios IG account for a preview of some of the work that will be available.

100 or less

$100 Or Less Art Show
Opening: August 25th, 5pm to 10pm
Location: August Studios, 1320 E Pender Street
Dates: Aug 27-28, and Sept 2-4. Open 10am-5pm. Otherwise by appointment

 

Quilt collage: Pieces of Joy & Sorrow

 On a recent trip to Amsterdam earlier this year, I had the pleasure of visiting the fabulous paper store, Vlieger Papier. I browsed the shop for close to an hour before coming away with a (regrettably) small selection of patterned paper. These gorgeous materials have made their way into a new series of collage, inspired by quilts and quilt-making. 

I’ve been thinking about this idea for a long time, and have previously explored quilts as paper-cut pieces. With this one I was thinking about American “Crazy” Quilts, which are formed from very irregular scraps of fabrics, rather than following a specific pattern. I went with chunky, roughly geometric shapes for my composition, and then made the selection of pattern papers as I went along.

I love the process of creating these, because I construct, deconstruct, and then reconstruct. I construct the composition as a drawing, then deconstruct it by cutting the sections into individual pieces, then I select and glue patterned paper to each, before reconstructing all of the pieces back together again. It’s like making a puzzle.

The finished work is attached to spacers I make by hand from paper, and then float mounted it onto a 11 x 14 inch heavy archival paper as a background. I think these work best as a floating collage.

 

Closing Reception for How to Mix Patterns

A small collection of my pattern mixing collages have been on display at Coup Salon for the past few months. This week we’re having a closing reception for the show on Thursday May 19th, 7 to 9pm.

Come through, say hello, and take the opportunity to view these works in person. We’ll also be celebrating Coup Salon’s 13 years in business!

Find us at 524 Shanghai Alley in Chinatown, just off of Pender Street.

How to Mix Patterns
Location: Coup Salon
Address: 524 Shanghai Alley, Vancouver BC
Date: Thursday May 19th, 2022
Time: 7pm to 9pm

 

Minting Work as NFTs: Phosphate Font in Paper

I’m thrilled to announce I have a new body of work available as NFTs. Please visit my project page on Foundation to view and purchase a piece.

NFTs are a thing. No really, they are. My original position on NFTs up until the end of last year was, “Why would anyone want to do that?” I’ve had a few months to come around to the idea of creating and selling my artwork as NFTs, and I am super excited by the possibilities.

My partner, Boris Mann, is a technologist and entrepreneur, and he is always on the leading edge of where things are heading in the long-term trends and growth of the internet. He’s experimented lots with crypto, and has been a collector of NFTs for some time. Despite my initial reluctance, I now find myself fully invested in learning more and growing my art practice in the web3 and NFT space because of his advice and guidance.

Last week I took the leap into minting my first collection on Foundation, called Phosphate Font in Paper. The pieces are the 26 letters of the latin alphabet, utilizing the phosphate typeface, and created from multiple layers of cut paper.

Here’s what I wrote in my portfolio description for the original work, which are the letter portion of the series I created for 36 Days of Type in March and April 2022.

I worked with the Phosphate Solid font to create my letter and number forms. I chose a palette of four main colours for the letter layers, and a larger range of colours for the pattern layers. The elements are a mix of hand-cut, and machine cut patterns made with Canson Mi-Tientes papers. Each letter was composed and assembled from four layers of paper with foam core spacers in between each, photographed, and then disassembled for further use in the series.

While each letter was assembled from real physical paper elements as I described, these are ephemeral pieces: the “originals” only existed until they were photographed. The digital artifact represents the final version of the work.  They seemed like the perfect body of work to turn into an NFT art series.

What am I hoping to accomplish with this exploration of NFT art? Make money (of course), expand my audience, and connect with new collectors outside of the very limited space of selling physical pieces of art in the small market of Vancouver. There is a lot of ridiculously overhyped and overpriced art in the NFT space, and I don’t want that for myself. I’m just hoping to create a new income stream that is sustainable, and engage with collectors who have a long-term interest in supporting my work. 

I also want to start collecting NFTs myself. Because I am so new to the space, I haven’t yet started to do that. I’ve been buying art a few times a year for many years, and these pieces fill the home I share with Boris. What will it mean to collect NFTs?  I want to continue to support other artists with my dollars, as well as help mentor more artists entering the web3 and NFT space. 

If you’re NFT savvy already, you can follow me on Foundation @rachaelashe. I’ll be sharing more about my explorations and learnings in the space. If you’re a curious artist, you can check out some of the resources from a recent NFT artist workshop that I helped organize in Vancouver.

 

Daily Projects: 36 Days of Type, Numbers Part 1

The letters portion of the series wrapped up at the end of March, and then I began rolling on (on IG) the numbers part of the series. I decided I wanted a new element to use for the numbers, and hand cut a motif of leafy clusters in three colours. I had to create tiny foam core spacers at the back, which was challenging.