 "Photo: Josh Nothnagle/The Olympian")
Seated in his workspace in a modest Capitol Hill building, Erik Marquez works on adding to and updating the Warren Knapp Gallery Web site.
“I mostly update the Web site and get the newsletter ready to send, but I also do most of the administrative work as it comes up,” Marquez said about his work at the gallery.
For the past six years Marquez has co-owned and helped run the business side of the Warren Knapp Gallery in Seattle, but the drive to find a new challenge has led him to Olympic College.
Marquez, who lives in Port Orchard, said, “I wanted to start working right after high school,” so he started working in the information technology department of a San Francisco company as the administrator for his companies e-mail server.
“When I was in high school I would see the hustle and bustle of a big busy building in movies and TV shows, and I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” Marquez said.
Marquez said, “I wish I would have started college right out of high school”
But when the opportunity to open an art gallery with artist Warren Knapp arose, Marquez jumped at the chance. After establishing themselves in the San Francisco area, Knapp and Marquez relocated to the Seattle area six years ago to open their gallery in Capitol Hill.
Marquez started attending OC as a full-time student in the fall and wants to learn something new.
“I guess I just want something new, I’m ready for change,” Marquez said, “I’m thinking about following my three brothers into the medical field,” Marquez said. “But I’m not sure. I know I don’t want to stay in IT though.”
His current goal is to apply to the University of Washington or at the University of Wyoming to get a doctorate’s degree in the pharmaceutical field.
“I guess I was just ready for a new chapter in my life,” he said. Marquez went on to say, “I kind of automated myself out of a lot of the work I was doing, and I wanted to do more.”
Marquez said he didn’t think he would like college as much as he does, and that he likes the environment that OC offers.
“There’s a very friendly environment there,” Marquez said, “I like the community feel you get. This is a nice campus, the people who give tours should be proud of this school.”
Marquez said that he likes one class more than his others.
“My favorite class would probably be Ian Sherman’s English 102,” he said. “He makes you think, and the subjects are topical.”
Marquez said the math lab has been very useful to him and that the tutors have helped a lot.
“Lately I’ve been going just about everyday after class to work on my math. I also use the writing lab, just not as much,” Marquez said.
Both Knapp and Marquez are very modest about what they do at the gallery to help where they can. Their gallery has made it a priority to give back to the community in which they work.
“One day you get to a point where you realize that you have to give back,” Marquez said. And give back is what they’ve been doing.
On Sundays, when a customer buys a painting, the Warren Knapp Gallery donates half of the purchase price to a charity of the customers choosing.
“I think our most memorable charity event was when we hosted a give-and-get for PAWS,” he said. “I guess I’m sort of a dog person, I always have been. People sent us photos of their pets and Warren painted a portrait for each of them.”
“I’ll probably be working from home a lot more after I get my doctorates,” he said.
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