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).

Make Studio

Make Studio is a nonprofit organization that serves as a supportive platform for artists with disabilities. Each of the artists essentially work for Make Studio and create work to be displayed either at the studio or at off site exhibitions. The studio also helps manage the sales of work. They provide critique when necessary and offer art therapy to those that need/want it. I had some background knowledge about Make Studio from my research in preparation for the internship fair at MICA, and spoke with their representative at the fair. After speaking with them, I sent a follow up email afterwards and through that correspondence was able to secure an interview. 



My responsibilities included a bit of studio upkeep, but my supervisors and I made sure my experience was more enriching than just that. I often assisted with pulling work for shows and was able to voice my opinion in the process. I installed and selected work for the Everything Else (A Market Space) exhibit featuring Nicole Dyer and Amanda Burnham. I searched for exhibition opportunities for the studio, archived artwork, and spent time with the program artists. I offered critique and guidance while the artists were working and documented their progress and behaviors in studio logs. 


I am most proud of the connections I have made with the people at Make Studio – both program artists and supervisors. I am proud of the projects we’ve all completed together and the insightful conversations we’ve had. I am now able to more accurately install, document, store, sell, and archive artwork. This internship also allowed me see how exhibitions are organized and planned, including the artwork selection process for upcoming shows.




I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about curatorial work. As an artist, it is important for to understand how work is marketed, what type of work appeals to a space the best, etc. I was also able to learn more about art therapy, a career I had considered pursuing in the past, and what type of requirements would be needed to obtain an art therapy license. Most importantly, I learned what it takes to run an exhibit space efficiently and understand how to archive work within a gallery/studio. 

Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital’s Art Ability Office

My name is Sarah Hepworth and I am an upcoming Junior Illustration major. This summer, I was an intern at Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital’s Art Ability Office. The hospital provides both physical and cognitive rehabilitation services to its patients for a range of disabilities. Art Ability is a program Bryn Mawr Hospital runs, which focuses on celebrating artists with disabilities by supplying them with galleries to promote, share, and sell their artwork and crafts. The Annual Art Ability Exhibition is an internationally renowned event that the hospital has been hosting for years. Artists must apply and a couple hundred are hand-selected to be a part of the show, out of which a few are presented with awards.

Working in the Art Ability office, my supervisor was Leighton “Mac” McKeithen, the Marketing Director at Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital. I also worked closely with the Art Ability curator, Susanna Saunders. My main responsibilities dealt with the preparation of the Annual Art Ability Exhibition. Beyond various tasks that Susanna gave me to complete daily, I managed the submissions by the artists for the show— both by mail and through the online system, Callforentry.org. I also had the internship-long project of writing the artists’ profiles for the event’s program book, and created the judging sheet for the jury so they had background information on each of the applicants.

I am extremely proud of my role in being a part of the foundation of this international exhibition. Repeatedly, the curator informed me that I was the only one growing familiar with the artists, so my voice during the jury process actually held a lot of value. For as much as I was able to help the Art Ability program, I got just as much out of it by learning about this more business-focused and structured side of art. Despite not actually making art, I was still able to learn about what art works in certain places, and the key factors curators and companies are looking at when judging and selecting work. This internship experience has helped clarify my career goal by giving me a clue into all of the various components that are valued by businesses, curators, and companies when it comes to their dealing with art. My experience has also allowed me to make connections and network, which I will be able to use in the future for internship and job opportunities.