Nicole Butterworth isn?t one of those ultra-creative types. She has a background in accounting, has good organisational skills and is good with computers ? which makes her perfect for the Bermuda Arts Centre in Dockyard.

That?s right, perfect.

Miss Butterworth is the curator and administrator at the Bermuda Arts Centre. Her job is to sketch in the little details that the artists don?t have time for such as maintaining deadlines, budgets, gallery security and show scheduling.

?No, I don?t have fine arts training other than fine arts classes in university,? she said. ?I do paint, but for me, not for anyone else.?

Miss Butterworth came to work at the Bermuda Arts Centre while taking a breather after five years in the hospitality industry.

?The Bermuda Arts Centre was short an administrator. Then administrator Justine Foster went on maternity leave. Jo Stanton, the chairperson of the managing committee, gave me a call and asked me if I was interested. My background is accounting. It was the nicest job interview I?d ever been to. It was very relaxed. There were three people interviewing me and I was really comfortable.?

In short, her job is to oversee the daily operation of the gallery in Dockyard.

?I do all the organisation of the artwork that comes in for exhibition. I organise art work on consignment in our shop and replace stock for our shop,? she said. ?I look after the retail aspect of our charity. I correspond with our membership, more to remind people about upcoming deadlines. Sometimes the artists get so carried away in their work that they forget their deadlines.?

She said it is good for The Bermuda Arts Centre to have someone on staff who understands money and cashflow so that the Centre can continue on into the future.

And yet, walking around The Bermuda Arts Centre gallery with Miss Butterworth, it is obvious that she has an enthusiastic love of art.

She has no problem explaining the pieces, talking about the artists and listening to gallery patrons? comments and ideas about what they are looking at.

?I love it when we have kids come in,? she said. ?We have a lot of fun with them. They see the world in a different way. They always want to see the tactile, 3D pieces, and standing sculpture. We have everything from senior art classes to day care children and three and four-year-olds. It is always fun to ask them what they see.?

Miss Butterworth said she is very excited about this year?s new line-up of art shows at the Bermuda Arts Centre.

?We will have some thought provoking topics,? she said. ?We will have something that appeals to the landscape painter, but we will also have something for the artists who like to do something really different with their work.

?The Bermuda Arts Centre has a history of coming up with exhibition topics that appeal to all the member artists at some time during the year.?

There will be 12 shows this year at the gallery this year. In July there will be an all women?s work show, and at another time during the year there will be the Bermuda Audubon Society?s 50th anniversary show.

?Normally our shows have a topic,? she said. ?This year we have three open shows to give artists a chance to show what they have been doing that is new.?

Miss Butterworth said she enjoys her job at the Bermuda Arts Centre because it is interesting and challenging.

?I have sunk my teeth into what the Centre is all about in terms of the art world and art appreciation,? she said. ?There can be such a stigma attached to art galleries. People sometimes have the perception that art galleries are pretentious. The Bermuda Arts Centre certainly is not pretentious and I don?t know any galleries in Bermuda that are. It is perfectly okay for Joe Public to come in off the street and say they like this and they don?t like that.?

Miss Butterworth is currently working on an online degree in information technology.

?The IT world will not necessarily be meshing with this one in the long run,? she admitted.

?I really like project management and working with databases. It is a little different from my liberal arts degree.?

However, she said that when she eventually leaves the Bermuda Arts Centre, she will definitely take something with her.

?One of the main things imprinted on me while working here is that I can see how art is a reflection of the person who makes it.? she said.

?When someone produces something they put so much of themselves into it. I will take that with me back into the business world.?