I'm Marines Montalvo and I am a Sophmore Painting Major with a concentration in Curatorial Studies. This summer, I had the absolute pleasure of interning at the Rubell Family Collection in my hometown city, Miami, FL. I had been going to visit this collection since I was in middle school, and I still remember how in that time of little knowledge of the art world, I absolutely loved the museum, without realizing that it was really one of the greatest private collections of contemporary art in the world. Remembering that, I knew I wanted to intern here and so in November I quickly got in contact with Juan Valadez-Roselione hoping I'd at least get considered. The director then asked to meet me when I came back to Miami during winter break and after my meeting with him he quickly offered me the position.
At the Rubell Family Collection, I worked alongside 4 other interns in completing our main project and biggest task which was cataloging the Rubell's jaw-dropping research library of over 40,000 volumes, from rare monograms (specially addressed to Don and Mera Rubell from the artists) to every Christie's and Sotheby's catalog imaginable. It was a hard task because it was hard not to look through every book I came across.
Aside from that, I also was part of giving visitors tours of the collections current exhibition, "American Exuberance" (every Wednesday and Friday) and working on the Kara Walker piece "Camptown Ladies" that was being sent out as part of one of the Rubell's traveling exhibitions. I also assisted in condition reports for incoming pieces, visiting the storage units and packing/unpacking and crating pieces such as Mauruzio Cattelan's "Not Afraid of Love" that had just got back from a retrospective show at the Guggenheim. I ended my internship, having to create my own exhibition as if it were to be shown at RFC and presented it to the entire staff.
Aside from that, I also was part of giving visitors tours of the collections current exhibition, "American Exuberance" (every Wednesday and Friday) and working on the Kara Walker piece "Camptown Ladies" that was being sent out as part of one of the Rubell's traveling exhibitions. I also assisted in condition reports for incoming pieces, visiting the storage units and packing/unpacking and crating pieces such as Mauruzio Cattelan's "Not Afraid of Love" that had just got back from a retrospective show at the Guggenheim. I ended my internship, having to create my own exhibition as if it were to be shown at RFC and presented it to the entire staff.
My Internship at the Rubell Family Collection was as great as I hoped it would be. Everything that I hoped to learn before I started was given to me and I've come back to Baltimore with more knowledge that will now help me through my career here at MICA and after. My communication skills improved, I experienced working with colleagues, collaborating and working as a team to meet certain goals. Learned about hundreds of artists I didn't know of and about how a collection and a museum is run. Spent time in my amazing city and met people that could help me along the way and even made lifelong friends and last but certainly not least, I learned about myself as an artist and unraveled a bit more of what my future has ahead of me.
