INTERNSHIP STORIES

Last winter I exhibited Vestments of the Magus, a suit of steel armor I fabricated during my sophomore year. Nick Ireys attended the opening and was impressed with my piece. He was interested in meeting up to show me around his workshop, which I very happily agreed to! Through my time there we eventually got around to talking about summer plans and internships, at which time Nick offered me this opportunity to work as his summer intern! Nick Ireys is a blacksmith and metalworking artist that specializes in public art, restoration and fabricating high end architectural metalwork. His fine art work blends forged metal with blown glasswork, and primarily takes on a wide variety of metalworking projects through his personal studio label, NI Metal Design. He also started up his own blacksmithing school, Baltimore Hot Metal, where he teaches basic blacksmithing workshops in 3 hour long sessions.  I worked primarily as a workshop assistant for Nick, helping him with fabrication tasks that...

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...

My name is Grace Kwon, and I am a rising sophomore Fiber Major. During the Summer of 2017, I was  an intern for Knox Makers, a makers space and studio in Knoxville, TN. I have always been interested in  makers space particularly after visiting OpenWorks in Baltimore. Because of the growing interest and  popularity of makers spaces around the country, I researched for these spaces in my hometown,  Knoxville. After a couple of intensive internet research excursions and  communicating with artist  professionals in Knoxville, I discovered the newly opened Knox Makers. Knox Makers was not openly  looking for any hires or interns, so I contacted them requesting for a possible opportunity and also  attached a resumé. Knox Makers replied fairly quickly, offering an opportunity although it would be their  first time hiring an intern. For the next couple of months, we corresponded through email and through  phone calls, trying to define ...