I'm Fine Internship

I found the internship through my supervisor, someone who I have been involved with since I was in the sixth grade, and she has been helping me find new opportunities in the local art scene. I’m fine. is a non-profit art community that organizes workshops where people are invited to create clay masks, while also promoting the discussion of mental health. 

I did a little bit of anything that was needed, from creating masks, helping with demos, helping set up the gallery... etc. I am most proud of getting to connect with a handful of people and getting to hear their stories about why they are creating their masks. I got a taste of what it is like to work/run a nonprofit, community art group, which was very important to me. I learned to help a person with little to no art experience channel their thoughts and ideas into the thing that they were
creating. 

The main thing that I’ve gained from this internship was the various methods of how I could create a space that both invites people to talk about difficult subjects and use that to create something/interact with my own work. And I’ll be taking all of this and putting it towards my thesis (To Die In The Woods).

FABSCRAP

My summer internship took place in Philadelphia at FABSCRAP, a textile recycling company. FABSCRAP held a pop-up selling used fabric, trims, and notions at MICA and my professor encouraged me to go and talk to FABSCRAP’s reuse coordinator who was in charge of pop-up sales and would later become my supervisor. They mentioned FABSCRAP’s internship program and I applied for a summer position when applications opened in February. I secured an interview where I spoke about my passion for sewing my own clothes and my desire to learn more about fabric reuse, which led to me being selected for the role of summer reuse intern.

My internship organization’s primary goal is to reduce textile waste from the fashion industry by sorting, recycling, and reselling over 374,000 pounds of fabric in 2022 (and over one million pounds total). FABSCRAP utilizes volunteer sorting sessions to process incoming donated fabric, and once organized, the fabric is either shipped out to be shredded and turned into “shoddy” (used for insulation, carpet padding, and furniture lining) or resold at affordable prices in the reuse store. My role involved sorting specialty bags of material (spandex, lace, and leather), detrimming denim for the shredding process, as well as being trained to use the cash register and assisting customers with fabric selection, program questions, and checking out.

I’m proud of myself for picking up many new skills in customer service, fabric identification, and project management this summer, and being able to combine them with my knowledge of FABSCRAP in order to step into the role of Reuse Coordinator (at times when my supervisor couldn’t be present, I was often the person in charge of the reuse room and sales).

Interning at FABSCRAP allowed me to meet and network with many other fiber professionals, such as the CEO and designer at Fite Fashion, which was instrumental to my career development. I learned that I would like to pursue a career working with clothes with a smaller fashion brand or possibly as a stylist– spending lots of time this summer upcycling FABSCRAP’s mendable clothing has definitely made me feel prepared for any future positions in the fiber industry.

 

Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Media

This summer, I interned for the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Media (PCA&M) an organization dedicated to the promotion of the arts. This non-profit hosts an exhibition space that showcases anywhere from one to three exhibitions at a time, in addition to a school that offers a wide array of classes to both children and adults. The school offers a variety of classes, including ceramics, metalworking, screen printing, photography, and more.

While researching internship opportunities in Pittsburgh, I came upon a posting for an Exhibitions Intern. I was unaware that the posting was from 2016, however, I was able to get in contact with the Gallery Programs Manager who was enthusiastic about my interest. After some correspondence and a phone interview, I was offered a position as an Exhibitions Intern. I was supervised by the Creative Director.

The focus of my internship was on preparing and assisting with the upcoming exhibition, which featured seven solo shows from regional artists. My responsibilities were broad, as my work overlapped three departments: Exhibitions, Marketing, and Education. 

I visited each artist’s studio where I assisted the Marketing Manager in shooting promotional materials. We photographed and interviewed each artist, and I helped set up and take down of filming equipment. I coordinated with the artists to schedule an artists’ talk and a workshop. Leading up to the show's opening, I assisted in the de-install of the prior show. I then assisted the artists during the installation of their shows. The opening reception concluded my time at the PCA&M, and it was a fitting end to see the seven weeks of hard work come together into a full exhibition.

The greatest takeaway from this experience were the connections I made with the staff at the PCA&M as well as the exhibiting artists. Through conversations about their work, I was offered an overwhelming amount of advice and some realities about working in the arts.

The best piece of advice I was given from multiple sources was to simply be open to opportunities, even the ones that I never previously envisioned. For many of the people I met with worked a variety of jobs in different fields which proved to be extremely rewarding. In regards to technical and professional skills, I left with a strong foundation in exhibition prep from patching walls to hanging art to lighting. I was also able to experience working in a professional environment, learning how to carry myself not only around my coworkers but also the exhibiting artists.

Overall, this internship has been a rewarding experience that allowed me to explore the various roles that are necessary to organizing and promoting exhibitions. My time at the PCA&M clarified for me that I am more interested in gallery operations, like promotion and exhibition preparation, rather than in curation. I much prefer the hands on nature of this work as opposed to more administrative duties.