David Edward’s

I found out about the internship position at David Edward’s through my department, Architectural Design.  David Edwards is a custom furniture manufacture, which has been operating for over 30 years.  They build furniture every day as well as creating new additions such as crating valuable items for long distance traveling.

My responsibilities were variant and flexible. I started out by organizing the literature section of the building and then moved to the design studio full-time to work on photo editing. I then worked with online contact organization and am now on the prototype floor designing furniture and making display stands for our recent health care show.

I took a way so many skills and am most proud of the doghouse I designed and built which was donated to a charity event in Pasadena California. Having the opportunity to work in the furniture industry will highly influence my ideas moving forward as I now have an understanding of the importance of a thorough and careful overview which considers the topics of productivity, cost, problem solving, connecting, networking, and promoting.

Interning at David Edward’s has been the greatest work environment I have experienced because of the strong sense of community and teamwork going into day-to-day tasks. They were truly welcoming and taught me so much about things that I had never given a second thought.  I am very grateful to have this opportunity!

Hadieh Shafie Studio Assistant

My name is Chelsea Gracyalny and I am a senior Film and Video major. During the Fall semester of 2014 I was a studio intern for professional artist Hadieh Shafie. Hadieh is a friend of the family and I was familiar with some of her artwork. I researched Hadieh to learn more about her professional life and her artist statements. I reached out to her over the summer to see if she would be interested in having me as an intern and if she was working on anything that she might want help with.

She said that she had been looking for interns and had an exhibition coming up in February of 2015. We corresponded through email and I sent her a copy of my resume, which included a link to some of my work. We arranged a time to meet in her studio to discuss the kinds of work that I would be doing and how we would coordinate our schedules, and then it was decided that I would be working for her in the Fall.

The show in February will comprise of 15 works total. This includes a variety of drawings, framed paper pieces, and structural floor pieces. Hadieh’s work maintains a theme of written language, paper and color. Most of her work begins as paper that she writes on, in Farsi text. After the writing is completed, the edges of the papers are painted and dried. Some of the material she leaves flat and shuffles into different color combinations and then binds them together. Some of the paper is rolled into scrolls. The paper, both scrolled and shuffled are arranged and glued into a wooden frame. Some of the frames are circular, some rectangular and some resembling cubes with spiked surfaces. Her husband collaborates in the process of making the work and builds the frames in the woodshop in her studio.

My tasks included gridding paper to prep for drawings, painting designs on the drawings, painting and drying edges of the paper, rolling the paper into scrolls, and shuffling the paper to create different color combinations. Everything that I was trained in was how to handle the materials and produce handmade work with the paper.

I am proud of my ability to work quickly and diligently in order to help Hadieh meet her goals on time. This internship gave me insight into the life of an artist and realizing that it takes more than just creativity, it takes, planning, teamwork, time management and most of all discipline. It is very rewarding to be working with someone of such success and talent. It is inspiring to see her work progress from start to finish. It is a privilege to be working with Hadieh and to be able to see some of my participation in a professional exhibition. This internship has helped me realize the kind of work that I enjoy and has given me more direction in what kinds of jobs I may want to apply for after graduation.

EMP Collective

My name is Emilia Pennanen and I am a senior Photography major. During the Fall 2014, I was Event Photographer and Curator Intern for EMP Collective, a non-profit artist run art organization based in the Downtown Baltimore. Since I came to Baltimore in Spring 2013 I have wanted to be part of the gallery and art space scene; the way things are run in Baltimore are so different from the clean cut spaces back in Helsinki and London. I started to look around different spaces and their needs for interns, and through a dear friend and now a fellow EMP Collective member, I got an introduction with the Collective’s artist director Carly Bales. I got the spot.

EMP Collective is a multifaceted art space. It is a gallery, it is a theatre space, it is a performance salon, it is a haunted house… EMP Collective is interested in showing different kinds of art, not just a regular painting show or a photography exhibition. More than anything, EMP Collective is a place where the most adventurous art is made to seen for the public. It is also a non-profit organization, which complies directly with the things they want to show, because that is all that they want to show, because that is what the people behind the Collective love.

My direct supervisor was Carly Bales who is the artist director at EMP Collective. She takes care of all of the promotion of the space and events happening in the Collective, she does the scheduling for the events, shows, and exhibitions in the space, and she writes grants for the space and the events. While at EMP, I was working closely with Carly. We started the internship by looking into their calendar and creating two different performance Salon Shows for which I helped her to curate different aspects of the possible themes and artists. Another part of my responsibilities at EMP was working as a Front of House receptionist for the events at the space. In addition to that, I got to do event photography and studio visit photography of a member Collective artist.

The biggest take-away from this internship has definitely been the experience of seeing creative people being able to work in the world as artists through the power of a collective space and collective energy. The different events in the calendar really push everyone to keep moving with the deadlines, rather than getting too indulgent of making different decisions. I have also learned that if I want to make art as my practice, I really have to keep on taking chances on people, because through the power of great relationships art gets to be experienced and seen. That has clarified my goals in life, because all I want is to make art.

Green Product Placement

My name is Eric Beasman, and I’m a junior Film and Video major. During my 2015 spring semester, I was a marketing and media communications intern at Green Product Placement, a product placement company based out of Baltimore. I first heard about this opportunity through an email I got through MICA’s Film department. The emailed advertised an internship opportunity with a product placement company in Hampden, MD. I immediately contacted the company, and sent them a cover letter and my resume. Later that week, I was called in for an interview. After my interview, I was hired on the spot.

Green Product Placement is a product placement company that specializing in placing sustainable, and socially enterprising products in major Film and TV Shows, to create awareness for “better” brands. The goal is to place socially conscious brands in major media spots, to increase sales. These companies pay Green Product Placement to place their products in Films and TV shows to get exposure to the mainstream market.

My direct supervisor was Beth Bell, the Founder and President of the company. Her role is to run the company, organize prospect client meetings, engage product companies, and make executive decisions for the company’s future. My other supervisor was Lisa Dietrich, the Vice President and co-­‐owner of GPP. Together, they made a great management team, and gave me a positive internship experience at GPP.

My responsibilities were to manage marketing materials, including emails, online digital media files, and marketing packages. I did screen capturing when necessary, helped draft product decks to prospect new clients, researched new clients, and helped with any miscellaneous tasks around the office. The thing I’m most proud of was creating a product deck that was used to prospect a client in Amsterdam. It was rewarding knowing my worked was used to gain a new client. My biggest take-­‐away from this whole experience is that I should work in Business Development and Sales when I graduate. I learned that this is something I’m good at, and enjoy. This internship helped me develop my communications skills, improve my time management, and helped me discover what I’m good at. I think a career in Business Development and Sales is a great future career for me.