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!

Baremetalco

My four week internship at Baremetalco was exciting and fulfilling. I wanted to further build on my metalworking skills I learned at MICA, so over the summer I wanted to work at a metal shop. Since I was heading back home to Singapore, I decided to reach out to Baremetalco through social media and was accepted as their first intern. Baremetalco is one of the few companies in Singapore specializing in sheet metal fabrication. The company fabricates a variety of steel, stainless steel, and aluminum products such as railings and postal boxes. They also often fabricate metal sculptures for local artists in Singapore.

At Baremetalco, I worked directly with the second-generation owner of the company. They are currently rebranding the company and expanding its focus from fabrication to design and innovation. As it is difficult to sustain the business solely based on manufacturing products, he is attempting to move up the value chain to position Baremetalco as a company that designs and custom-makes high quality metal products.

As part of his push towards design and customized fabrication, my supervisor tasked me with 3D modeling and rendering customized products for clients. During my stint there, I modeled products such as a stool, low table and even a cover for a coffee machine. On top of these, my supervisor also gave me creative freedom to come up with my own artwork/product to be included in the company's showroom.

Leveraging this opportunity, I created an artwork Stool. Stool is a steel replica of 3V's PS703 plastic stools. The ubiquitous red plastic stool is manufactured in Malaysia and then exported to Singapore where it is regarded as a cheap, disposable item easily found in coffee shops and public housing void decks. Stool seeks to transform the ubiquitous item and celebrate its presence in the heartlands of Singapore.

Through making Stool, I experienced the entire process of fabricating metal products from ideation of manufacturing. I have come to beIer appreciate the fabrication industry and the challenges and opportunities fabricators face.

Moving forward, while I do not foresee myself working full-time in the metal fabrication industry, I have made many new friends and I am able to confidently fabricate metal sculptures in the future as part of my practice.

Danae Industrial 3D Printing

Danae Industrial 3D Printing is a 3D printing lab run by a MICA Alumni and winner of the MICA START. Originally beginning as a company focused on the creation and design of 3D printed prosthetics, they have since expanded to become a printing and prototyping service with SLA, SLS and FDM capabilities, taking clients from the medical/pharmaceutical industry, large sports companies, and companies on the fortune 500. I found out about this internship and applied for it through the MICA Network’s list of posted internships. The internship was secured through an email application and zoom interview.

My direct supervisor was the founder and CEO of the company who oversees the management of the company and works creating processes to improve the workflow of the company, as well as securing production deals with potential clients. My main responsibility was to assist the production floor printing technicians with the slicing, printing and post processing of incoming jobs.

Projects I was involved in:

- Creating a pitch for 3D printed products to produce as Danae products

- Prototyping a part for a home tools company as a pitch.

- Designing and printing my own lightsaber

- Post processing parts for various companies (Under NDA)

I am most proud of the design and creation of my lightsaber. I’m really happy with how it turned out, and super grateful to have had the chance to use such high quality printers to be able to print the parts plus learning tolerances and material limitations and possibilities. The biggest takeaway I have had would be the goal setting and career advice I received at my time there. The best advice I received was that to get to a goal faster, setting it clearly in your mind as what you want will help you unconsciously work your way towards it even when you’re not actively trying to.

Some new skills I have acquired as a result of this internship are learning SLS and SLA 3D printing processes. I also learned about tolerances in 3D printing and the potential and limits of several 3D printed materials. This internship has made me even more certain of my goal to become a prop maker, with how much I enjoyed the design and production of the lightsaber, to how comfortable and happy I was with the post processing work.

Photos courtesy of Andrew Copeland

The Institute of Contemporary Art Miami

The Institute of Contemporary Art Miami is a privately funded museum that features established as well as up and coming contemporary artists. It is also one of the only museums in Miami that grant free admission. This summer, I interned in the education department of the museum. The education department at the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami has many facets. The education department hosts Family Day on every third Sunday of the month, where families are encouraged to visit the museum and take part in curated educational art activities that relate to either a theme or a special exhibition at the museum. Although this is not solely what the department does or is responsible for, the overall aim of the education department in the museum is to make contemporary art more accessible to more students, whether it be through local education organizations, programs or schools.

I have worked with the Institute of Contemporary Art since I was a sophomore in high school. Once I graduated, I was asked to be brought in as a contractor to implement a portfolio prep program that I had already piloted on my own at a local library the summer before. By this point I had already met and established relationships with most of the staff and programmers at the museum, one of which was my direct supervisor, Morel Doucet, an alum of both my former high school and an alum of MICA. I reached out to Morel during the MICATalks event about taking up the portfolio prep teaching position again and also inquired about any other opportunities to work in the museum for the summer. He told me to speak to Lisa Fernandez who then offered me an internship position through the education department.

Since both my supervisors had different roles in the museum, my responsibilities were often broken up by scheduled tasks. One of my main responsibilities at the museum was assisting in the summer immersive tours. What makes these tours immersive is that they are taught through the inquiry method; this means that instead of lecturing, we prompt the students to investigate and we encourage curiosity by asking specific questions about the works and the intentions of the artist. This summer I took part in giving over 20 tours during the duration of my internship. Aside from touring, I worked alongside Morel to brainstorm and write out lesson plans for workshops and for immersive tours in the museum, writing and editing blurbs for programming and sending out confirmation emails from the 20+ sites we were hosting for the tours. Alongside Alyssa, I worked on Family Day event activities and prepping. In the weeks leading up to Family Day, I was in contact with the volunteers to make sure they knew where to go and what to do. On Family Day, I was in charge of directing the volunteers to their tasks and setting up the signage around the museum. Throughout the day I helped the families carry out the activities, alongside the volunteers and then help deinstall the room at the end of the day.

Another part of my internship was being aware and knowledgeable of the artists on exhibit at the museum. Upon my arrival, the Visitor service team sent me the powerpoint presentations that the tour guides use to study the work on exhibit and tour the public with. These gave me a base for the tours I took part in teaching, the lesson plans I wrote up, the presentations I had to create based on these artists and introducing these ideas to the students from the portfolio prep program. Towards the end of my internship, I had the pleasure of taking part in co-teaching the portfolio pre 2-week program for middle school students who aspire to apply to magnet art high schools. During the duration of the program, Jacob Marrero, Glysed Barboza and I partnered in creating a curriculum and lesson planning two weeks for these students. A few of the points we emphasized were the elements and principles of design, color theory, contour drawing, perspective, thumbnail sketching, self portraiture, personal narrative, critiquing and the theme of this year’s program was identity. Throughout the program, there are multiple mini-projects and lessons and then one personal project at the end for a final exhibition.


Working as an intern with ICA, everyday I learned something new. My supervisors guaranteed that either through experience or conversation, I would continuously learn about the museum, non-profits, being a practicing artist, outreach, teaching or knowledge on how to function as a working adult. Touring allowed me to understand the works of Ettore Sottsass, a very important designer, Paulo Nazareth, a very politically influential multi-media artist, Guadalupe Maravilla, a performance artist who combines the divine with the scientific and Eric Paul Reige, an influential performance artist. Being that I make wearable soft sculpture and also enjoy doing performance art, learning about these artists have allowed me to understand and consider how wearable sculpture and soft sculpture, specifically, can be considered of high-esteem and have served as an example of how I can showcase this kind of work in a museum. Working on the production and execution of Family Days was humbling: being so directly involved with children and their parents allowed me to have a direct line of impact in terms of the educational activities and opened my eyes, even more, to the power of outreach. Lesson planning alongside Morel has allowed me a crash course on not only the artists on exhibit, but also art history, science and politics. I feel as though I took a class this summer on political science and art matters. Working at the ICA has allowed me to regain confidence in the fact that art and artmaking is impactful and can transcend the white esteemed wall in a gallery. I have a more clear idea of what I want to do with my MAT degree once I graduate MICA: possibly work in the education department in a museum, where one would have more lee-way in terms of teaching non-traditional material in more innovative ways. As a result of this internship I have refined my public speaking skills, I have fine-tuned my writing skills, and have learned to work with younger children. 

I have learned a whirl-wind of information regarding how a non-profit, privately funded museum functions, how an education program within this kind of museum thrives, the logistics of making a project and how it gets carried out, how to give tours and give lessons based on the inquiry teaching method--which has proven to be more effective-- and understand more succinctly how I would like to move forward both as a creator, a student and an educator. I have also created a network of educators and artists that I feel have given me pools of advice that I can confidently take into my next steps as a student and creator.

Jay Hall Carpenter, Sculptor

I was granted the opportunity to work with Jay Hall Carpenter for my internship and I found out about him in my figure sculpture class, after talking to Robert Copskey and Joe Greene, one of our sculpture models. They both mentioned Jay's name to me a few times and told me to consider reaching out to him since I was very interested in figurative sculpture. I found his contact information through his website and sent him an email with my resume and images from my portfolio to express my interest in doing an internship at his studio. 

A few days later, he responded asking me to come into the studio for an interview. Jay agreed to take me on as an intern. I found out that he was working on a very large monument. He was making a sculpture of three life-size women. He was sculpting the women responsible for the cure for Whooping Cough for the University of Michigan State.

When I began working for Jay Hall Carpenter, the Whooping Cough project was just beginning. I was able to be a part of the entire process from making the armature, carving the understructure out of foam, adding the clay, refining the clay work, and even making the molds of the sculpture. I was incredibly excited when I was able to work on some of the more important features of the figures including the arms and legs. By being a part of not only the creation of the sculpture, but the mold making. I realized how important mold making can be.

I found that through this internship I was able to acquire knowledge in how a professional artist’s studio works. Through experiencing the entire process of making a significant monument, I found myself believing more and more that it is possible to have a successful career as a sculptor. This internship has opened my eyes to a few more sculptural career paths and I’ve greatly appreciated my time with Jay Hall Carpenter.

Latino Studio

This summer I was a studio assistant at Latiano Studio, the studio of Jonathan Latiano, a sculptor in Baltimore Maryland. I had worked with Jonathan last summer as his teaching assistant at MICA precollege. We were still in contact, so last semester when I asked if he knew any artists that needed studio assistants this summer, he told me that he himself did, and I got the job.

As a studio assistant, I mostly helped fabricate one of the projects that Jonathan is working on entitled “The Only Thing That’s the End of the World is The End of the World.” It’s a collection of hundreds of irregular spheres covered in thousands of mirrored shards. I did detail work with the mirrors, but also helped build some of the interior structures of the spheres, which have to bear a good amount of weight. Jonathan included me in planning his studio visits with curators for other projects he’s working on, as well as the grant writing and exhibition proposals he’s working on. I helped to prepare the model of a sculpture he’s proposing for a show at the Sculpture Center in New York, and got to visit the Peale Museum with him to plan an installation, as well as meet with the curator Lynn Park.

At the end of the summer, Jonathan took me and his other intern, Andrea, on a trip to New York City to visit his friend who works at DYAD, a design studio in Brooklyn. We learned a lot from her and her co-workers, and got to see some impressive galleries in Chelsea. This internship was so  informative to me about what it’s like to operate your own studio. I feel like I have a lot of in-depth knowledge that will inform me in my own practice in the future.

Lesley Dill

My  name  is  Deanna  Deley  and  I  am  an  Illustration  Major,  soon  to  begin  my  junior

year at MICA. In the spring, I went to the office of Career Development trying to figure out what I was going to do with my summer. I knew that I needed some real-­‐ world experience, and doing small commissions alone wouldn’t cut it. As much as I love working from home, I needed to get into something on a higher level than doing little drawings for friends. I knew that I needed more experience in the fine arts on a professional level, and that at some point I needed to spend some time in a big city like New York. My Peer Career advisor recommended I apply to an internship for Lesley Dill, a reputable contemporary artist from Brooklyn. She’s worked with man college students and has a setup for potential interns so they can enter with ease.

I  sent  Lesley  an  e-­‐mail  and  she  responded  right  away,  asking  for  an  interview. Getting there took some planning: finding a bus available during the week while avoiding schedule conflicts was a bit of an obstacle. I spoke to a teacher of mine who was kind enough to let me take a day off without it damaging my grade. I was interviewed in April and was accepted on the spot. My bus back to Baltimore didn’t leave until late that evening, so I had the opportunity to explore the city in the meantime.

I  moved  to  Red  Hook  in  May,  approximately  a  week  after  the  semester  ended  at

school. I wasn’t lucky enough to receive a scholarship, but was fortunate to have family in the area, an aunt and uncle who allowed me to stay with them. I had four days to get unpacked and settle in before the intern work began.

Lesley’s  studio  is  open  to  interns  three  days  a  week,  from  Wednesday  through

Friday. On these days, we are responsible for building and assembling the materials that go into each piece. The body of work in progress that I was involved with was a collection of freestanding, life-­‐sized dresses, constructed from a variety of mediums from metal to painting. Everything Lesley does is based on a song or poem, and language is the heart of her creations. Each sculpture was either made up of or covered in words that match the literary passages. The piece I was mainly assigned to was made of layers upon layers of cutout metal layers, and then sewn together. This  piece  was  just  recently  completed,  and  in  my  remaining  time  I  was  given various  jobs,  including  painting  letters  on  another  dress,  and  silver  leafing  a chandelier.

I don’t know that my main focus in the future will be sculptural, but I am becoming familiar with all the people involved in making art, both inside and outside the handiwork. I feel this will benefit me in my future endeavors as an artist as well as a businesswoman.  

Dusen Dusen

My name is Lucia Maher-Tatar, I am a rising Senior Interdisciplinary Sculpture major but

an interest in fashion and garment production. While making my summer plans between my junior and senior year I knew I wanted to spend the summer in a new city doing something creatively stimulating where I could practice skills and gain some knowledge to an industry. The goal was to get a glimpse into the post-BFA creative business side of things. I started my summer work search by looking at some businesses that I have

been looking at and following via the internet ranging from clothing designers to furniture makers. I contacted two businesses in March 2014 expressing who I am, where I come from, explained a bit about my interests and interest in their company along with the skills and work I have to offer. In my email I attached a copy of my

resume and a link to my portfolio.

I heard back from both companies and scheduled phone interviews which were followed by a visit to New York for in person interviews. Both interviews were successful and I confirmed with Dusen Dusen. the rest of my summer planning involved finding an apartment to sublet and a paid job. I secured a summer sublet two blocks away from Dusen Dusen’s Williamsburg based studio and contacted a restaurant/cafe called R&D foods, located in Prospect Heights with my resume, which resulted in a part time barista position.

My summer in New York has been a truly wonderful and learning experience! Upon

reaching the city I split my work in the cafe and at Dusen Dusen. Working in the studio has exposed me to the production process and distribution of clothing. Spending many days at the factories in midtown I have seen the whole process from the flat patterning and design process to passing that design along to the factories where the product will be created.

This summer has been filled to the brim with hard work, positives connections and networking (not too mention a whole lot of fun). This summer helped me to understand processes of the garment and fashion world and exposed me to the pace of New York City living and working. I am looking forward to my final year with the exposure and knowledge I have gained the summer and curiously excited about the following year with the connections I’ve made working and living through my summer in New York!

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