Dali Museum

My name is Taylor Shuck, I am a painting major with a curatorial concentration going into my senior year at MICA. Over the summer of 2014 I was a museum management intern at the Dali Museum of St. Petersburg, Florida. I first visited the museum in high school and loved the collection and what the museum has done for St. Petersburg, my hometown. I first learned about the internship on the museums website, which is where I got the application. Family friends on the board of the museum also recommended me for the internship. I heard back from the Dali a month later in April that I was accepted for the position.

            The Dali museum houses the largest collection of Salvador Dali's work in the United States. A new building was built to better protect the art and have a more appropriate architecture that reflects Dali's work. The museum and the grounds are stunning, including large geodesic dome architecture and a labyrinth outside overlooking the water front marina. I really enjoyed going into work everyday and learning so much about the collection and the artist. My supervisor and mentor was Pam Whiteaker, she was the Museum Manager of the Dali. Pam was an excellent person to work under and learn from. She assigned the other 3 museum management interns, and myself, projects and often we worked with her to complete them.

            In my first week I was informed about a new program the museum was working to create. I was tasked on research and development of a program to bring in Alzheimer patients and their caregivers into the museum for special tours titled The Persistence of Memory. I then began research on grant opportunities for this type of program. I then began the grant application for the top choice. I worked on this for some weeks until I was tasked with a different program. We worked on developing a new position called a Gallery Host, which is not quite a docent but located in the gallery to answer questions and give interesting information. The other interns and myself researched on Dali's entire life and were each assigned a 10 year span of his life to cover. We made a powerpoint and presented this information to volunteers and docents interested in the gallery host position. After that we went back to working on the Alzheimer's program, I continued with the grant writing as well as researching other possible partners and sponsors, as well as create an Advisory Counsel for the program. At the end of my internship we presented all of our research to the Education and Curatorial departments.

            I am very proud of the work I completed while interning at the Dali Museum, I was very happy to be working on such a beneficial program for the museum and for the community. My biggest take away was networking with coworkers and offering help in any way possible. I learned to go beyond what is expected or asked of you and always be happy to do so. I learned I still have a lot to learn and am excited for my future career in the museum world. I did take away from the experience that I am less interested in administrative work and more interested in Curatorial aspects of the museum. I will venture further into Exhibition Design and consider Art Handling as an important skill to learn.

           

Smithsonian Natural History Museum (NMNH)

My name is Addie Rodger and I am an Illustration with a Biology minor. Over my winter and spring semester of my senior year at MICA, I interned and eventually was given freelance projects at the Natural History Museum (NMNH). I regularly check the Smithsonian website to see what upcoming exhibits they have, which is how I found out about this opportunity. Having gotten into natural science illustration over the past couple of years, Iʼm always on the lookout for opportunities, mostly within museums, where I can express that. After doing some digging and sending out about a million emails, I was finally contacted by Matt Buffington, a research scientist in the Entomology Lab at NMNH. He called me in for an interview, and I got to meet most of the staff and tour the different floors of this department. The National Insect Collection is among the largest in the world, so most of their job centers around the research of the nature, inter-relationships, origin, and evolution of the insects. Some scientists in this department focus mainly on specimens that have an agricultural impact on our world.

I didnʼt necessarily have just one direct supervisor, I had many. Matt Buffington was only one of many research scientists that I worked with. Among others were Conrad Labandeira, Dale Greenwalt, David Adamski, and Alex Konstantinov, all of which were extremely helpful and informative figures throughout my internship. Both Conrad Labdndeira and Alex Konstantinov were two figures that practiced artistic techniques along with their research, mainly through drawings.

My responsibilities began with insect fossil drawings, which was probably the most challenging. Most of the specimens I worked with were on an extremely small scale, so there was very extensive microscope use. I later moved on to tracings of drawings done by Conrad Labandeira of insect/plant parasitic reactions. This task was more or less busy work, but still enjoyed the subject matter and getting to express my attention to detail. Finally, I worked with Alex Konstantinov doing beetle drawings of various species from India. This was the longest and most intensive task, but extremely rewarding. At the end, I was most proud of the work I had done overall, especially when I was asked to do a freelance project for Dr. Adamski.

The most important thing I have learned from this experience is to always keep making connections and keeping in touch with those around you. Itʼs very important to always meet new people because you never know how they will impact your life down the road. This internship helped clarify my career goals by making me positive that I want to practice natural science illustration with a good team of researchers who are always focusing on something new.

Brian Kaspr Studio

My name is John Vetter and I am a Junior Graphic Design major. During the Summer of 2016, I was an intern under Brian Kaspr at his studio in Norwalk, CT. I first met Brian as my Graphic Design 1 professor during the fall semester of my sophomore year. Over that semester, we found out we had a lot of common interests, including music, screen printing, and most importantly, sign painting and lettering. On the last day of class, he asked me if I was interested in being his intern. I have always loved hand lettering and sign painting, so I jumped at the opportunity. This was a great opening to learn about what goes into being a successful freelance designer and letterer.

When I got started, my first assignment was to scan in, adjust the curves, and retouch some lettering he had done for a client. Since I was commuting and only working with Brian two days a week, I did a lot of work from home, and practiced my sign painting techniques from home as well. The more I worked, the more he trusted me with. 

On all of the screen printed posters, He acted as the Art Director and I was the Designer. He would sketch something out and explain what he wanted, and I would design it in Photoshop. Lots of back and forth with corrections until we nailed down his vision, and were ready to print. During my time there, I learned new and more efficient screen printing techniques, short cuts and tools in Photoshop and Illustrator, and practiced many different types of lettering. 

By the end of the internship, Brian trusted me enough to help him design, measure, project, trace, and paint murals in the Flatiron Health office building in NYC. I am most proud of this because it is the culmination of what I have learned, and is definitely not something I would have been able to accomplish prior to this summer.

My biggest take-away from this experience is to not undersell myself or my artwork. Not only am I devaluing myself and my time, but I am undermining everyone else in the field. By keeping my prices up and steady, I may not get all the work that comes through, but I will be paid fairly for my time. This experience helped clarify my career goals by giving me a great understanding of working as a freelance designer. It was something I had considered, but had struggled to figure out on my own. With the knowledge I have gained, I feel very comfortable leaving this door open as a future career option.

Herman Maril Foundation

My name is Peter Favinger and I am a junior Drawing Major. During the spring of 2014 I
have had the opportunity to be an intern at the Herman Maril Foundation, a foundation dedicated to the life work of Baltimore native and MICA alumni Herman Maril. The foundation is run by Herman’s son, David Maril. The foundation appeared at the the internship fair in the spring of 2013. Upon seeing the internship listed on the MICA website, I knew I wanted to work at the foundation. Dressing in a suit and tie, I presented myself in the most professional manner as I possibly could to David, gave him my resume, card, and a cd of my artwork and conversed with him at his booth for several minutes. Before leaving to view other internship booths I was offered a chance to meet again with David discussing the internship in more depth at his home in Mt. Washington, Baltimore. The home is also the location of Herman Maril’s studio, and
former winter and spring home in the city.

David has been my direct supervisor within the Herman Maril Foundation, as he is the head of the Foundation. Each day I come to the work site, David and I recap what we had done the previous day and continue to work on what wasn’t completed prior. For a large part of the internship I had been documenting Herman’s artwork that wasn’t logged in the personal database for record purposes. Currently David and I are cleaning up the estate, organizing book shelves according to those related to Herman Maril, and others that he had interest in reading that are related to the art world.

Through working at the Herman Maril Foundation I have had the opportunity to help set up a solo exhibition of Herman’s work at the University of Maryland University College with the help of a curator from the David Findlay Jr. Gallery in New York City. The gallery represents Herman and they sent their gallery manager down to UMUC to curate the show, and I was fortunate enough to help choose some pieces and hang up some of Herman’s work.

This internship has given me a chance to take a step into the fine art world, to see how an artists estate is run, and how artwork is appraised. I have enjoyed working at the foundation having the chance to help categorize and organize an artists entire life work. I am very fortunate to have had this opportunity, and I’m very proud to say David Maril has offered me a part-time job working as an employee working at the Herman Maril Foundation, starting immediately once the internship has ended. This internship has helped shape what career path I want to pursue. The gallery world and the life of a practicing artist is a very exciting concept to me, and it is something I wish to become.

Current Space Darkroom

My name is Emily Mason and I am a Senior Photography Major. For the past year I have been working as an assistant for the founder of the Current Space Darkroom, Ginevra Shay, in
Baltimore. I first heard of the position at Current Space from my teacher’s assistant in a photography class who was also involved with the Current Space darkroom. Through speaking to
him I was able to set up an interview with Ginevra to discuss my interest. Shortly after meeting with Ginevra she asked me my availability and started working the next week.

At Current Space I was responsible for finalizing the building of the darkroom, emailing Kickstarter donators, attending show opening, installing/de-intalling shows, acting as dark room tech/assistant, acting as curatorial assistant, and designing T-shirts for kickstarter donors. Through out this year long internship there were a lot of bumps in the road that prevented us from opening up the darkroom on time. Though the wait was long, I am most proud of my time spent assisting Ginevra in teaching the first darkroom class. It was very inspiring to see strangers learn and create a final product using the medium of photography.

Interning at Current Space was a very important experience. I most valued my time becoming a part of a community space that encourages art making. It was inspiring to see the studios of the local artists making work constantly even after graduating. In helping our community thrive, art must be apart of the growth. Working at Current Space has made me realize the reward of making the creation of art possible amongst a supportive art community.

Gallery 1301

I am Aubrey Vinson, a rising junior Art History major, concentrating in Curatorial Studies. I interned at Gallery 1301 in the summer of 2014. I actually found this internship through a friend; it seems simple and coincidental, but word of mouth is very important in the art world. I got the employer’s contact information through this friend, and sent him an email with my resume and some information about me. I actually didn’t hear back at first, but I went to the gallery’s first opening anyway. I met the owner, Joe Bradley, then and he knew exactly who I was and apologized for not responding. We arranged to meet that weekend, and after a brief, relaxed interview, I had an internship.

   How I found this internship is fairly representative of my experience at the gallery, and with Joe. It’s a very relaxed and friendly environment, and I was always given a lot of respect and influence in the gallery. There’s a very small staff, all of which are practicing local artists. We handled everything from curating shows and talking to artists, to cleaning the floors at night and patching the walls. The first few weeks were spent becoming familiar with the gallery and getting to know the staff and business plan. I helped care for the space and artwork while working on my major project for the summer.

    My big project was helping to curate a pop-up show for ArtScape. Joe and I collaborated in choosing artists, planning the layout, and promoting the show. We brainstormed, hung, and packed everything; the very start to the very end. Along the way, Joe mentored and taught me in business communication, patching and painting walls, lighting the art, and just bouncing curatorial ideas back and forth. The show was indeed a success; the very different artworks all played well together, and a few of them sold.

            It was very hard work, though. At times, it was a full-time effort. I learned how important work ethic, planning, communication, and collaboration are in the gallery scene. Working in such a small contemporary gallery showed me all the responsibilities that can fall on a curator. Because I got a sampling of all these roles, I feel well prepared to take on any job in an art institution.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

My name is Kelly Johnson and I am a Curatorial Practice MFA candidate graduating in 2015. This summer i did my internship at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. I found out about this internship as an undergraduate, while doing a general online search for paid museum internships. I bookmarked the link for future reference, and when I decided to move to Baltimore, I sent an inquiry email to the intern coordinator asking about expectations, then applied for it ahead of the deadline.

Founded in 1987, NMWA is the only major museum in the world solely dedicated to recognizing

women’s creative contributions. By bringing to light remarkable women artists of the past while

also promoting the best women artists working today, the museum directly addresses the

gender imbalance in the presentation of art in the U.S. and abroad, thus assuring great women

artists a place of honor now and into the future. The museum organizes exhibitions and

programming related to women artists, contemporary and past; coordinates traveling exhibitions;

maintains a research library dedicated to women artists, specializing in artists’ books; and works

with committees across the world to develop special events related to the collection and

upcoming exhibitions.

My direct supervisors were Elizabeth Lynch, Editor and Director of Publications, and Amy

Mannarino, Director of Marketing and Communications. Elizabeth develops all the printed

materials for the museum including brochures, catalogs, fliers, etc. Amy handles public relations

and develops marketing materials and official communications for press outlets.

My responsibilities included researching and compiling online articles for weekly “Women in the

Arts” newsletters to the museum staff and other museum affiliated persons. For marketing/communications projects, I tracked museum press in print and through an online database, researched pitch contacts for upcoming exhibitions, reviewed and edited press materials and images, and uploaded event content to online calendars. For publications, I researched and wrote 6 blog posts featuring contemporary artists in their current video exhibition, researched image sources for an upcoming online exhibition, and researched and wrote content for the fall magazine, including exhibition listings, and a book review. I also assisted in reviewing and editing the forthcoming Picturing Mary catalog.

I am most proud of the blog posts I wrote for the museum , developing my networking skills with arts

professionals at the museum and beyond, and learning new tips and tricks for writing/editing,

marketing, and professional communication skills.

The most important thing I have learned from my internship is the importance of communication

styles and attention to details. The opportunity to ask questions about how to relate to other

professionals as an editor and as a curator have been invaluable. I have also picked up some

PR and writing tips from my supervisors which I will carry with me into future projects. Overall, it

has been a big confidence builder, which I really needed!

This experience has reminded me that I thrive on structure. While my program focuses a lot oncurating outside of an institution, ideally I would like to work in a small museum or gallery similar to NMWA, because it is small enough so that people have to work between departments to accomplish their goals, but large enough that funding and press are not a struggle. It has also reminded me of my passion for writing, which I hope to pursue more seriously following this internship, perhaps as a freelance writer or perhaps at an arts publication. After speaking with several coworkers, I realize I am in the right place educationally and professionally, and that if I continue to pursue the path I am on—leaning toward contemporary art, community engagement, and writing—I should be able to find my niche. Additionally: these small assignments required to receive academic credit have been great for reflecting on my time here and encouraging me to track what I’m learning and to ask for informational with other professionals. I might not have done many of those things on my own.

The Third Line Gallery

My name is Amanda Almarshoud and I am a Junior GFA major. In Summer 2014, I completed an internship at The Third Line Gallery in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. My own Arab background influences me to explore the art that is being produced in the Middle East. This summer I had plans of going home to Kuwait, and I thought it would my trip to the Middle East worthwhile if I also worked in Dubai. Dubai is a successful, thriving, and growing art and business center in the Middle East, and an extremely international community for the world to gather in.

I started to research and contact galleries during my Freshmen year hoping to have an internship in Dubai during Summer 2013.I contacted almost all of the art galleries in Dubai. Three galleries accepted my resume and cover letter, and notified me that I was allowed be their intern. Due to unexpected circumstances, I was unable to go to Dubai that summer, so I contacted the galleries back apologizing for my decline of the internship offer. I felt so bad! But I knew 100% that I was going to the Middle East this summer so I contacted the Third Line Gallery back during winter break of my Sophomore year, hoping they wouldn’t forget about me and let me still be an intern. I did extensive research on the galleries in Dubai. Out of all the galleries, The Third Line seemed like the most interesting and aligned with my career. I found that The Third Line Gallery is one of the oldest and most prominent galleries in Dubai, one of the most acclaimed galleries in the whole Middle East.

This internship was to purely understand how a gallery runs and to understand and observe how Middle Eastern artists express themselves artistically. I worked with almost all the members of The Third Line team to assist them with their projects, complete quick tasks, research institutions and clients, look through art publications, digitally file documents on the server, and be a secretary frequently throughout the week. I also participated in helping open their Summer 2014 show and hold weekly film screenings. I learned so much about event setup, public relations, management, pricing, selling, buying, organization, finances, and communication between artist and gallery, just from being present in the office for all the conversations and events that occurred. The tasks I was given and the people I met within the gallery, and in the city helped me understand how a gallery functions internally and externally, locally and in the global community. Since the Third Line is a gallery for Middle Eastern contemporary art, I was highly active in observing, researching, and participating in displaying Middle Eastern art.

 Working in an office setting was a refreshing change from art making. We always had fun while working as The Third Line team is one big family. Everyday was a pleasure to work in a fun atmosphere where I could contribute to the growth of Middle Eastern contemporary art and understand the art world through a gallery’s perspective.

MTV News

My name is Julia Kim and I am a Senior Graphic Design major. During the summer of 2016, I was a UX and Product Design Intern for MTV News, a company that is owned by Viacom in New York. Viacom is the largest portfolio of ad-supported cable networks in the United States. It is also among the most vibrant, diverse and culturally relevant collection of brands in media and entertainment. Viacom Media Networks brands are divided into three groups: BET Networks, MTV, Comedy Central, Spike, TV Land, CMT, Logo, VH1, and Nickelodean Group. The team that I interned for sits under the Music & Entertainment Product Development Group. We are the UX & Product Design team and work on all products across the M&E brands.

It’s funny how I got this internship. I actually applied online through Indeed, and was scrolling and saw the title Viacom. I remember thinking, ‘Why not.” I uploaded my resume and gave my portfolio URL and I thought to myself that I probably wasn’t going to get a reply. A month later I had already had interviews with other companies and set my mind on one company. After I had said yes to this one place, I got an email from Viacom and they wanted to set an interview with me. I was going to cancel but decided to give it a try anyways. After I had the interview they told me that they wanted to have a second interview and I didn’t really care about it that much because I still had a feeling I wasn’t going to get it. For some reason out of all the companies I applied to I just didn’t seem to care at all about Viacom because I had such little doubt that I would get in. A few weeks later I got a call from Viacom saying that I had received the internship so I knew right then that I had to accept it. They were only looking for one intern to join their team and I ended up getting that position.

Interning for MTV News has been quite the experience. I have definitely learned a lot. On an everyday basis I would meet up with my mentor, Ashleigh, and she would tell me what my project was and explained what I had to do. As I work my mentor would come check up on me throughout the day to see if I was doing okay and would give me constructive feedback. Ashleigh is an amazing designer that really makes sure that I am doing okay and that I understand everything. She also made sure that we stay connected after my internship is over and if I had any questions during the school year that I should email her. The projects that I got to work on were mostly for the MTV News site. I got to design web banners for featured articles, design an author’s place holder, got to go out in the field with my mentor and ask questions to random people to test out our product, and more. I had a lot of fun. I even got to participate in a shoot for the MTVU television show. I also got to interview someone from Nickelodean, Comedy Central, and Spike.

I definitely feel that I have grown from this internship experience. I got to experience the corporate world and it was such a unique experience. Something I did learn from this internship was that I realized I do not want to continue as a UX and product designer. It was a very different point of view as a graphic designer and I felt like I didn’t get to do what I really wanted to do. My passion is branding and package design and I definitely wanted to explore many things as a designer but didn’t really get to do that at Viacom. I felt like because they already had a specific design already for their brand I wasn’t able to use my creativity and be spontaneous with my designs. I don’t regret this internship at all because it was an amazing opportunity to work at such a well known company and I definitely made a lot of connections. The most important part is, is that I have a clearer path of what I want to do after I graduate.

M Studio

My name is Sophie Fisher and I am a Junior Illustration major with a Book Arts concentration. This summer I was a design intern for a graphic design and public relations agency, M Studio, based in Asbury Park, a town known for its music and arts culture on the Jersey shore. I was searching locally for a creative work opportunity for the summer since I live in Asbury Park, and I quickly found and was captivated by the logos, branding and signage created by M Studio for local businesses I was familiar with, as well as their national work with brands such as Liquitex, Winsor Newton and many more. I had discovered a passion for graphic design and typography back in high school in my role as the art editor for the school’s newspaper and found that this interest would align with the design work done at M Studio.

I sent M Studio an email with a letter of inquiry containing a link to my website. The creative director, Jenna Zilincar, responded quickly. She was enthusiastic about my work and it just so happened that she is a MICA alumni, having graduated in 2002. We set up a phone interview for the next day, and after our discussion, I was accepted for the internship. My time at M Studio has been an invaluable experience. I attended morning meetings, met with clients, and worked on a variety of projects. This included laying out business cards, designing T-shirts, advertisements, and attending a photo and video shoot. I am most proud of a series of illustrations I created that will be used in the rebranding for one of their clients restaurants. I was able to see how a professional design studio operates on a day to day basis while working on deadline based projects for clients, and honing my skills in typography and design. I worked with an incredible team of professionals and observed the creative process of their  approach to initiating ideas and concepts into finalization.

This internship has given me insight into potential opportunities and directions there might be for me in knowing how I might apply my skills as an artist in the professional world.