By Jordan Chang
While visiting the Getty Center three years ago as an art major at UC Santa Barbara, Tracy Kong realized that the LA museum was where she belonged.
Having graduated in 2018, Kong now resides in Los Angeles and works as a project administrative assistant at the Getty Center’s research institute, helping bring global scholars to the museum. In her free time, she is also a fine artist, focusing on the “beauty and individuality of the human experience.”
In a recent interview, Kong discussed how her work at the Getty has been affected by the pandemic, as well as her passions and experience at UCSB.
UCSB alumna Tracy Kong currently works at the Getty Research Institute, helping bring global scholars to the museum.
Q: Can you tell me more about your work as a project administrative assistant at the Getty?
A: I work under the Getty Research Institute, whose main goal is to bring scholars and fellows from all over the world to do research within the dialogue of art history and the whole art initiative globally. As a project administrator, I help find these people. It has been very difficult lately to navigate this new terrain, but thankfully the scholars program is not cancelled this year－we will just be doing it virtually.
Q: How did you come to work at the Getty? Did any of your experiences with the UCSB Division of Humanities and Fine Arts lead to that opportunity?
A: As an Art major at UCSB, I was able to learn more about museums through a curatorial internship at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Santa Barbara. I was also able to meet professors who were readers at the Getty Research Institute. I remember one of my classes included a field trip to the Getty, and I immediately fell in love with it. I knew that as soon as I graduated, I had to find a way to get there.
Q: Recently you have been involved with a virtual project using work produced by Getty staff. Can you tell us about that?
A: Something that I am very proud of my team for doing is the virtual gallery which we just launched, Getty Underground 2020. The theme is “Vision 2020,” and is meant to inspire and bring together staff after this crazy time apart. It is basically the Getty’s first virtual video game, and focuses on staff-inspired art. I'm completely blown away by the amount of work that 300 of us did in eight months, and am very proud of us as a community trying to bring people together.
Q: As a fine artist, you have a created variety of art, ranging from murals to illustration. Is there a common theme that is carried throughout all of your work?
A: The theme within my personal work is meeting people 24/7 and painting about their stories. I am so inspired by meeting strangers in Los Angeles, as I am never going to meet anyone who is the same. I absolutely love it. When I first moved out here I used to go to bars or receptions and talk with the most random people -- from ex-convicts to first grade teachers. I would then go home and paint about their stories. My understanding of the world is going to be completely different than yours, and that’s what I find fascinating.
Q: How has your time as an art major at UCSB shaped who you are as an artist?
A: What I took away from art and humanities courses is to be able to understand someone's point of view and constructively critique them. If the professors think that you have potential as an artist, they will make sure that you have thick skin by the time you graduate.
Jordan Chang is a third year economics major. She wrote this for her Writing Program course Journalism for Web and Social Media.