My name is Cynthia
Fang and I am a senior Art History major with concentrations in Painting and Curatorial
Studies. During the summer of 2018, I had an internship opportunity at Art at Work, a corporate art consultancy in Washington D.C. The company attracts a
diverse pool of clientele, ranging from esteemed law firms to corporate real
estate companies.
I met Judy
Sherman, the principle of Art at Work, through Jackie Milad from MICA’s Career Development
office. During fall of 2017, Judy was looking for a curatorially-driven student
to select artworks for Exelon Corporation’s trading floor at the Inner Harbor.
Jackie, who had known my interest in curation, kindly informed me about the
opportunity and asked if I was interested in being involved. Long story short,
Judy and I had an amazing collaborative experience and finished the artwork
selection with no hassle or stress. Through the opportunity, I had gotten a
slight glimpse of the life of an art consultant; I left the job with piqued
interest in exploring other job opportunities in the art world other than art
curation.
Half a year passed
since Exelon, and summer 2018 was a couple months away. I began to consider all
internship opportunities. One day, I randomly thought of Judy and my lingering
curiosity regarding her profession. I quickly reached out and asked if she
would be interested in having me as an intern during the summer. She
immediately replied and said it sounded very promising; we arranged a phone
call and a week later, I was offered a paid internship position at her company.
All it took was some courage to ask, and I got the best internship experience!
Judy was my direct supervisor during my time at Art at Work. Before starting on June 4th, I reviewed the company’s website to familiarize myself with their service. The full-time art consultancy’s service was described to range from art consultation to artist research, installation to collection management, environmental branding to fabrication and production, and more. Well, that is precisely what I experienced over the course of my internship. My summer was incredibly fulfilling, as I acted as Judy’s assistant and followed her to all meetings.
I assisted with a
wide range of projects and tasks, and Judy made sure I got to experience every little
aspect of the life of a corporate art consultant. I shadowed numerous studio
visits and artist meetings, met Judy’s framers, and sat in during phone
conferences. I spent a week searching for leads, extracting pivotal information
from the Business Journal. I had a very hands-on experience assisting with art
handling and installation. I shadowed and took notes of important meetings with
Gensler, Whiting-Turner, and TSA from Homeland Security.
My biggest project
during the summer was Art Night 2018, a private fundraising event at Hickok Cole’s
D.C. headquarters. Exhibiting artists sell work and split it 50/50 with the
Washington Projects for the Arts. All summer, I researched and reached out to
over two hundred artists. As I acted as the direct contact for artists, I
improved my ability to efficiently correspond via email and communicate with
artists; it was definitely my first experience where I was asked to handle
real-life work.
My biggest
takeaway from the internship experience is that when you need help, just ask.
People are very kind and very willing to lend you a hand, or, direct you to
someone who can possibly help you. The second biggest takeaway is that I don’t
only have to be a museum curator. For so long that was all I wanted to do. This
experience opened up my world to other opportunities. I felt like for the
longest time I knew exactly what I wanted, and it’s scary to realize that all
could change during my last year in college. For that reason, I don’t
necessarily feel more prepared for life after MICA; however, it is not a bad
thing, because my world is now open to endless possibilities. Cheers to the
future.
