Artist Internship

I learned about this internship through the Practice & Pie event. I was spotted by someone who told me that an employer liked my handknit sweater, who then directed me to them. She connected me with this artist after the event and I later introduced myself via email. My supervisor is a working artist who addresses and creates conversation around racism in America–with a focus on Baltimore, through craft. Many of her works are woven photography, repurposed ‘trash’ items such as plastic bags, caution tape, and more recently fruit bags. She uses various weaving techniques, hand-sewing, and other innovative joinery to create large sculptural works. My responsibilities were mainly to assist with making tests, or sketches, as she calls them. “Sketches” were like prototypes of larger works or playing around with materials. The sketches I created served as smaller models for larger projects, scalable measurements, potential joinery methods, and/or to learn about the characteristics of the material.

My biggest takeaway from this internship is how to look at art from both a business and passion perspective. It is not difficult for me to schedule around my art-making for class but I am amazed at the drive and discipline of all independent artists. I learned a lot more about project management and how to present your art than I did about artistic processes. Although, she did expose me to many new methods of art making that covered a variety of materials. 

From this internship, I have learned that I do not want to be an independent studio artist. I would argue that this realization can be just as important as learning that you want to be an independent studio artist. I deeply enjoy crafting, but I would like to work with sculptural textiles collaboratively. Designing for the Annual Benefit Fashion Show at MICA clarified that I want to design garments but that I definitely need a team to produce something more amazing. Kim also introduced me to the idea of becoming part of an artist’s team. In conceptual art and other collaborative projects, a team is needed to fully realize the idea. I often struggle with creating concepts for my work and, instead, focus mainly on the craft portion of an assignment. I would like to learn more about assistant fashion designers, co-direction, and collaborative art as a whole!

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).

Blue Light Junction

I found out about the opportunity to intern at Blue Light Junction through word of mouth and social media. I first learned about the organization through a couple of field trips during my freshman and sophomore year. I had followed them on social media, saw them posting about having interns, and decided to apply. I contacted the founder/director of Blue Light Junction to inquire about the opportunity and after a brief interview, we determined that it would be a good fit for me and the organization. She wound up being my supervisor throughout the internship.

Blue Light Junction is a community arts organization with a studio space and an annex garden for growing natural dye plants. They grow, process, and sell natural dye materials and seeds, run workshops teaching about natural dyes and occasionally other gardening and craft skills, and are beginning to work with local businesses to create naturally dyed products for display and sale. They additionally collaborate with local farmers involved in the Baltimore Farm Alliance to expand growing capacity.

Over my two and a half months as an intern, my responsibilities shifted overtime to meet the needs of the organization. They ranged from cleaning and organizing the studio and garden supplies, planting, weeding, and watering the garden, going to partner sites to plant, weed, and harvest, dyeing products and samples for workshops and sales, assisting with workshops, and accompanying my supervisor on meetings with local partners. I am personally most proud of my improvement as a dyer after being given many opportunities to test new dyes and techniques. Some of my samples even became part of the set of examples shown to visitors and workshop attendees. I am also proud of the breadth of knowledge I accumulated about the garden, plant care, and identification.

My biggest takeaway from this experience was the importance of creating strong networks of partnerships. The reason Blue Light Junction is able to be such a flourishing organization is because of its relationships with local businesses, farmers, artists, and volunteers. These relationships are mutually beneficial and create a vibrant community around urban agriculture and cultural preservation.

I have found this experience to be deeply moving and motivating. I have learned that my interest lies in community oriented work and building community around craft and culture. I would love to come back and work at this organization, or a similar one in the future.

NURTUREart

Over the summer I worked as a Public Programs Intern for NURTUREart in Brooklyn, NY. I met the executive director and gallery manager during the Fine Art Review at MICA. Christopher Ho, who was one of my instructors, and is currently the president of the board for NURTUREart later mentioned that they were looking for a summer intern. At his suggestion, I wrote an email to Will Penrose, the executive director with my resume, a cover letter, and professional references. After a phone interview, I was offered the position.

NURTUREart is a nonprofit gallery and arts organization that has been operating in for 20 years. They focus on exhibiting work by emerging artists and curators, and lean towards showing more experimental and challenging works, since they do not rely on sales. They also have several youth education programs in Brooklyn schools that provide opportunities for all grades K-12. I worked directly with Ivan Gilbert, who is the Director of Programs and Gallery Manager.

Much of my day-to-day work involved managing and planning social media posts to promote events and researching organizations in the area to identify potential new partnerships. Over the summer, NURTUREart hosts a series of residencies, so I also helped support the residents through their stay and during public programming. During the second half of my internship, I was helping to review proposals for the upcoming exhibition season; I was proud to have contributed to the process, and felt like my input was desired and respected.

My biggest takeaway was a greater understanding of what goes in to managing an art space, I learned valuable new networking skills and approaches that built upon those I had learned over the course of my first year in the Curatorial Practice program. I also learned that I don’t have much interest in working on the development side of things; I’d much rather focus on executing effective projects and programs, rather than trying to secure funding and recruit donors. This internship solidified my interest in working in the nonprofit world, and gave me an idea of the types of jobs I want to look for as I near graduation next spring.

The Art Studio NY

I found about my internship through one of my father’s co-workers, who happens to know the owner, Rebecca Schweiger, of The Art Studio NY. I e-mailed Ms. Schweiger, who then gave me the contact information of the studio and sent my resume, a cover letter, and a link to my Behance. They invited me in for an interview shortly after. 

The Art Studio NY is a studio that offers art classes for all ages. Their goal is to get beginners feeling comfortable expressing themselves through art, and to be a resource for anyone who wants to make art. There are medium specific classes, teen classes, and children’s classes. For my internship, I was specifically involved with the children’s summer classes. My supervisor was Katiri Helmeid, who is a studio coordinator and adult and children’s art teacher. I was responsible for setting up the studio for the day’s activities, helping plan out daily projects, working hands-on with students, and cleaning the studio at the end of the day. Every so often, I would also be in charge of teaching a project myself. I was involved in projects that taught children about Van Gogh, Monet, O’Keefe, Homer, pointillism, and others. We discussed use of acrylic paint, watercolor, palette knives, pastels, and palette knives. 

I’m most proud of being able to get kids excited about art, of teaching them new ways to experiment and express themselves, and of making connections with so many interesting kids. My biggest take-away was that I actually do enjoy teaching. The most important thing I learned was how to be comfortable in a work environment that required near constant socializing. My interpersonal skills have greatly increased and I feel much more comfortable entering a work environment. I’ve also learned how to lead a room of students and command their attention. Beginning my internship, I wasn’t sure how I would like teaching or working so closely with students, but I’ve found both to be gratifying experiences. This opens up a whole new set of doors career-wise for me.

Jessup Correctional Institution (JCI)

My name is Shelby Norton and I am an Interdisciplinary Sculpture. During my freshman year I took a class called Community Arts Partnership (CAP): Finding Baltimore. An advocate for restorative justice came to talk to the class with a psychologist from the city jail. He liked what we were doing in the class and arranged for us to meet with the art group at Patuxent Institution in Jessup, MD. It was a pivotal moment for the way I view art and my career path. To this day, Dr. McCamant is a dear friend and mentor. I worked with him for a year through the CAP program at the Baltimore City Detention Center in the ward of psychiatric health as an art therapy intern building community. The jail was in unrest with Big Gorilla Family (BGF) scandals, and Dr. McCamant had been petitioning against some of the warden’s unjust decisions when he was asked to resign from that position. He continued to work for the state at JCI, but I didn’t work with him for a full year. I was interested in getting back into the line of work, but was out of touch with Dr. McCamant. I heard that a MICA professor, Mikita Brottman, was doing groups at JCI, so I contacted her and asked to be her intern. After it was approved, I invited both Dr. McCamant and Mikita to an art opening at Gallery 405 where they met and discussed working together.

JCI was a very different experience. The security at the front gate, similar to BCDC, was as tight or as loose as the guard felt necessary. The security on the tier was much more safe. Though it was aggravating to have Sgt. Lynn breathing down my neck about bringing nothing in and taking nothing out (including art materials), I felt safe knowing she was down the hall and paying attention. Only on one occasion when Sgt. Lynn wasn’t in and Sgt. Moore was assigned to the tier did I leave the classroom to realize there wasn’t a guard anywhere nearby, and by this time I felt 110% safe with the men. It was my job, if I wanted it, to run the Art Group with Renaissance Ren. For these groups it took me a few days to figure out what exactly the men wanted me to contribute to the pre-existing weekly meeting, but I quickly realized that they wanted to be exposed to some of the institutional education I have been privileged to have. I was hesitant to go in and take over when they already had a good thing going, but they like the structure and the pace of the lessons and critiques modeled after some of my professors at MICA.  We did quick figure drawing, gesture, and portrait lessons to try to break down some of the photo-realistic habits in the room. We created two zines as a group to be distributed in the library and at the Alloverstreet event at the Copycat building in Station North. We also conducted group critiques at the end of the semester to discuss the personal directions of each artist. At the literature group on Tuesdays I act as Mikita’s intern, taking notes from the group, facilitating discussions about the readings, and transcribing recordings from Clifton Perkins Forensic Hospital which I do not have clearance to attend. I had the perfect balance of observing by being an intern for one group and putting into practice my leadership skills in the other

 

I am the most proud of the ways in which I have grown and adapted to a new group of men with very different needs than the detention center. The men in this group are artists, just as I am. They all have very different interests and needs, which was a challenge to accommodate in each lesson, but by the end of the semester I think I was able to be of some value to each student in the room, if nothing else as a resource with access to the MICA library. I am proud every time one of the guys thanks me and tells me that they hadn’t seen the guys this energetic about their art in years.

I love this work. I can see myself continuing to volunteer in this line of work throughout my career. I don’t think I will ever work for the institution as an employee after seeing what an uphill battle it has been for Dr. McCamant. I have seen from the detention center that I love the therapeutic potential of art in a group, and at JCI I have learned to value the therapeutic benefits as an individual process for the artist that may take the form of any other kind of expression for a different individual. As a therapist I hope to be able to relate to all forms of expression rather than burrowing myself in the niche that is art therapy. Art therapy is something the men were doing at JCI long before I arrived on the scene. 

 

Graham Projects

My name is Melvin Thomas and I am a Junior Sculpture major. After participating in Introduction to Newer Genres with Graham Coreil-Allen during the Spring 2014 semester, I sought to explore my instructor’s public art practice. I found the possibility of assisting Graham in the realization of his public works intriguing since it was completely uncharted territory for me as an artist. Introduction to Newer Genres introduced me to a wide range of approaches to executing concepts employing video, performance, interactivity, and digital media. I saw working for Graham Projects as another opportunity to expand my range as an artist. Craving more, I decided to send my resume to Graham Projects after being informed by the artist himself that he was looking for an assistant.

Graham Projects is lead by the artist, Graham Coreil-Allen, as an independent public works entity. In recent years, Graham Coreil-Allen has taken participants on walking tours around various public sites in Baltimore City to capture the urban sublime. Architectural history, man-made paths and obstructions, as well as public site history are some of the many subjects the artist covers during his tours. Sites we overlook on a daily basis are highlighted and given terminology to activate these spaces.

Working as an assistant with Graham Projects has allowed me to refine and improve my understanding of architecture, video production, and group organization. Throughout my internship, I have managed crowds at Baltimore’s Artscape festival, documented public sites using video, and participated in the process of planning a public works. Even as a Baltimore native, I explored territory I have never seen. These experiences combined have opened my eyes to eccentric practices that will indeed influence my work as a sculptor

Art With A Heart

My name is Akea Brown and I am junior Photography and Humanistic Studies major. I spent this past summer interning at Art With A Heart, as a community service intern. I found out about the internship while looking through the MICA Network and applied for an interview. I interviewed about a week later and was given the internship the same day.

Art With A Heart, is a non-profit organization, here in Baltimore. Their main focus is to positively impact the community through the creation of art. There are many branches of the organization, including the Job Program, which helps homeless and underprivileged youth learn to be professional and market themselves as artists. The youth program, brings together high school students from public and private schools, who otherwise wouldn’t have met, and have them tackle issues about race, politics, and gender, utilizing their different perspectives. The Public Art branch acts as the face of the organization and handles all of the projects out in the community. My direct supervisor was, Jenny Hyle, the director of Public Art and Community Engagement. Her main job was to create, design, and facilitate the community workshops, classes, youth groups, and public art that is conducted in the community. For the duration of my internship, I shadowed my supervisor and did everything that she did. I taught classes, designed and created mosaics, worked on workshops, and created relationships with those in the community.

This experience has taught me so much about myself and a lot about my home, Baltimore. I am definitely most proud of the relationships I made with those in the community, especially the children. Hearing them tell me that I have made an impact in their life made everything worth while. I was very interested in seeing how it all works, as I have plans to possibly continue with community arts, but it was a great experience for me to understand the lifestyle of someone who works for a non-profit, such as Art With A Heart. I didn’t realize until I began working, at Art With A Heart, that this is a 24/7 position and is for those who truly want to make a difference, at the grassroots level.

Art With a Heart

My name is Melissa Hecker and I am a sophomore Illustration major with a concentration in Book Arts. I found out about this organization through MICA’s Career Fair. I did some research about Art With a Heart before the Career Fair and I was really interested in their mission. When I went to the Career Fair, I met Jamie and Audrey who are two staff members at AWAH. Jamie is the Program Manager and Audrey is the assistant to the Executive Director. I talked to them about my experience in working with children through being a member of Community Arts Partnership at MICA, and I gave them my resume with all of my art and community related experience. They reviewed my résumé and called me for a second interview. Hillary, the assistant program manager, interviewed me and told me that I am more than qualified, so I got the internship on the spot. Hillary’s job is to create all the lesson plans for the classes, organize the class schedules, and supervise the interns. As an intern, I helped Hillary organize lesson plans. I also made some of my own lessons for the class that I taught as an assistant teacher. 

When I was at the office I worked alongside with some of the summer job kids where I made samples for projects, tested out new projects, cleaned materials, gathered materials for the classes, and helped out in whatever needed to be done quickly and efficiently. I am most of proud of the teaching aspect of the internship. It was really inspiring to work with kids from Baltimore because were very excited about all of the projects. I was able to connect with them through art. There was one project where the students learned about murals and graffiti in Baltimore and the use of inspirational quotes to express an idea. Many students made their projects about success and going to college. This was nice to see kids at such a young age be motivated and inspired from art lessons and the summer program. The most important thing I’ve learned from this internship is how to network with other art resources in the city. I’ve met a lot of local artists who teach art on the side for Art With a Heart. 

The staff at A.W.A.H. wants to hire me as a teacher in the school year for an art class once a month. I am in the process of getting that set up to start working for them on the side. I will have to work around my school schedule, but I am really excited to start working as a teacher again. This has helped me sort my career goals in some ways. If teaching continues to go well, then I would love find more teaching opportunities in Baltimore schools. I am interested in finding ways to improve art education in Baltimore, and I believe I could be a huge impact on students’ lives. I have no greater joy than sharing my passion with kids and young adults who also share a love for art.

Museum of Cultural Arts Houston

My name is Anda Brown and I am a Junior Interdisciplinary Sculpture major.  I found out about the Museum of Cultural Arts Houston through a segment the founder, Reginald Adams, did on the news. I sent in my application and cover letter and requested a meeting when I was in town last summer, and was able to meet with them over Christmas break to secure the internship. 

MOCAH is a non profit organization committed to bringing art to the culturally underpriveledged, using art and creativity as tools for social awareness and community development. It is a museum without walls. They conduct both on and off site team building workshops and install large scale murals within the community among many other things.

Amanda Flores, Administrative Director, was my supervisior. She worked with me to perfect my skills, fulfilling the objectives I created while there.  While at my internship, I co-facilitated corporate teambuilding workshops and assisted the administrator in making project menus, brochures, and lesson plan examples. I also searched for RFQ’s, or calls for entry for public art projects, and created budgets and spreadsheets. 

I am most proud of the research and groundwork I layed for a large scale virtual mural project that will be happening through MOCAH soon. I am thankful I was able to have this responsibility and create connections to make such a big idea happen. My career goals are more extensive now, as MOCAH has opened up new possibilities of how art can relate to business and community involvement. I would love to work in this field when I first graduate, if not long term. I love the excitement and freedom to think big in public art. The most important thing I’ve learned is how to manage multiple tasks effectively and stay efficient. Time is money when you are working so it's important not to get stuck on any one thing to make sure everything gets finished.

Atlantic Center for the Arts

I am a Senior Painting Major with a minor in Critical Theory. During the summer of  2012, I was an intern at Atlantic Center For the Arts (ACA) in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. The ACA is an interdisciplinary artist residency organization that provides visual, literary, and performing artists the facilities and time to work and collaborate. For each three-week residency, has three experienced “Master Artists,” are selected by a council to mentor a group of beginning and mid-career Associates. While ACA’s Advisory Council picks the Masters, the Masters select the Associates from artists who have submitted to the program. Aside from its main campus, ACA also runs a community arts center downtown, which holds events and public lectures, as well as summer art classes. This year ACA has also begun its Community Artists in Residence program.

While I have intended to run a studio practice out of school, I have also wanted to engage with the arts outside of the studio, whether in criticism, museum work and education, or arts administration. I thought that working at an arts organization and residency program would give me a sense of what a residency was like, while being able to explore other territory. I found ACA on the Alliance of Artist Communities database (l would learn later that ACA was a founding member of the Alliance) as well as MICA’s artist residency database. I sent my application, cover letter, and resume to ACA, as well as several other organizations (Chinati Foundation, Headlands, and Anderson Ranch). I was somewhat surprised to hear that I had gotten accepted to the internship without an interview, but accepted the offer a few days later. I had already received interviews from two other residency organizations but I was waiting on their replies.

I had several supervisors at the ACA, though I worked most closely with Nick Conroy who ran programs and exhibitions at the main campus and Ren Morrison, the community outreach coordinator. For Nick and exhibitions, I researched and compiled information on the history of ACA’s founder, Doris Leeper, a visual artist who worked to establish arts organizations and to establish the Canaveral National Seashore. I wrote and designed material for an exhibition about her and the history of the organization for ACA’s 35th anniversary. With Ren, I helped him run the annual two-week Teen Writing Residency, take photos, and prepare printed materials. I also organized and hung the Summer Camp Art exhibition. These were my main activities among a plethora of other tasks. Above all, I found my work for the LeeperExhibition most rewarding, not only because every visitor to the ACA will now be able to learn from it, but also because I was able to explore a rich history of the area, the organization and its founder, and figure out how a large successful organization like the ACA was put together.

My internship was an excellent experience, much in part to my engaging projects, but also because I was able to interact with artists during residency. I was able to gain perspective on producing art outside of school, and learn how the artists of each field differed in their experience of making art. While my communication and skills improved through interaction with co-workers and others, I also benefited from the Doris Leeper Exhibition, as it was a project that required strong verbal and organizational skills in order to effectively convey information. That being said, my internship has confirmed my speculation that I would like to work in a career other than administration. I am now more inclined towards my original goal when coming to MICA– to teach art and criticism at the collegiate level.  

-Jacob Weinberg '12 Painting