I'm Fine Internship

I found the internship through my supervisor, someone who I have been involved with since I was in the sixth grade, and she has been helping me find new opportunities in the local art scene. I’m fine. is a non-profit art community that organizes workshops where people are invited to create clay masks, while also promoting the discussion of mental health. 

I did a little bit of anything that was needed, from creating masks, helping with demos, helping set up the gallery... etc. I am most proud of getting to connect with a handful of people and getting to hear their stories about why they are creating their masks. I got a taste of what it is like to work/run a nonprofit, community art group, which was very important to me. I learned to help a person with little to no art experience channel their thoughts and ideas into the thing that they were
creating. 

The main thing that I’ve gained from this internship was the various methods of how I could create a space that both invites people to talk about difficult subjects and use that to create something/interact with my own work. And I’ll be taking all of this and putting it towards my thesis (To Die In The Woods).

Studio Assistant for Tony Shore

Last semester, I was in Tony Shore's narrative painting class. I enjoyed his class and liked him as a person and artist. In January, he offered some gig work to help him move his then-current studio into his new one. I accepted and helped him for a few days while being paid for the time and effort. After working with him, he offered me a role as his studio assistant, which is how I got the internship.

Tony is a faculty member here at MICA as well as a practicing studio painter. While interning as his assistant, I worked in his studio. I made sure his studio environment ran smoothly. I continued to help him move his past studio into his current. I was organizing, inventorying, cleaning, and arranging his art supplies and objects in his studio. After the move was complete, I continued to assist with the organization and arrangement of the studio. Through this, I learned what it means to have a functional and organized studio while also being an artist who tends to take up a lot of space when working--a trait that Tony and I share.

Part of my role as Tony's assistant is to act as a sounding board and feedback source for project ideas and planning. This has been valuable to me as it includes me in the artistic process of a working studio artist. It allows me a look inside the world of art as a profession via gallery sales and commissions. This was inspiring to me as I aim to be an artist, supporting myself through my studio practice.