INTERNSHIP STORIES

Over the past few months I was keeping a personal log of all the available internship and job opportunities within my area of interest. However, none of the internships I found caught my eye. I took inspiration from my friends who were applying for more extravagant internships to finally start applying to places. Through my search my love for printmaking had resurfaced and I stumbled upon Flatbed's internship. I applied through their website and had a brief interview with the head of lithography printing/education supervisor. Flatbed Press is a community and professional print shop with a gallery component. The press was started and is currently run by an intaglio printmaker. The owner and my supervisor work as the shop's professional collaborative printers working in monotype, relief, intaglio, and lithography. Flatbed also hosts regular workshops and classes taught by local printmakers and artists I reported to both the owner and my supervisor although I believe I was technic...

The Washington Printmakers Gallery is an artist-run gallery founded in 1985 that houses contemporary fine art prints and photographs. It now has a membership of local and national printmakers, photographers, and book artists. They host juried shows, both group and solo exhibitions, workshops, classes, talks, and outreach programs. The gallery also houses bins and flat files with artist’s prints and photographs. When I first heard about the Washington Printmakers Gallery, it was through my dad who was interested in visiting the gallery with me over summer break. When researching on their website, I noticed that they offered internship opportunities for academic credit. I decided to reach out and after a few exchanges, we discovered that my advisor and a professor were members of the gallery for many years. With this connection, I managed to secure an interview as well as the request of my art in person. I arrived with my art and was accepted as an intern almost immediately. We decided t...

I was following shoestring press on social media, they specialized in social activism which really stuck out to me. I emailed them early in December to lock down a summer internship. Shoestring Press is a community print studio in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. They work as a shop for experienced and new artists, providing space for 40+ printmakers and creatives to engage with both each other and their own work. It creates a space to do the rather technical sides of printmaking that require specific equipment, all at a relatively low cost and with quite a bit included. The team handles a lot of the prep for printing for members, mostly in regards to screen printing, trying to make it as accessible as possible for members. The press also has a master printing and commercial printing side, doing official work for larger artists and taking spare print jobs on their large LaserJet printer for banners and posters. My direct supervisor while I was on the job was the master printer and owner at Sho...

During the spring semester, my illustration professor had our class attend an artist presentation of an artist who mentioned that she runs a small publishing press called Anchovy Press. I followed Anchovy Press’s page on Instagram that day and eventually when I was looking for internships, I reached out and luckily for me they were able to take me on. That artist (and my supervisor) is the founder of Anchovy Press and runs it with their co-founder. In their words, Anchovy Press is “ an independent publishing company based in Baltimore, Maryland, dedicated to storytelling that centers BIPOC experiences.” They publish children's books and family friendly zines.  One product they offer is the Zine Subscription Box for children. I was tasked with creating the activity for one of these boxes. I created a paper doll which was in some way related to food. Throughout the internship, this grew into two paper doll projects which specifically focus on wild harvestables from Maryland. Inside ...

I have been interested in Globe since coming to MICA and I found out about their internship through a letterpress class that I took. My interest in Globe/letterpress is what pushed me to apply for the internship, as I was looking for a way to continue this enjoyment outside of class. Globe started out as a local letterpress shop and poster company, its collection (both posters and type) was bought by MICA in 2011 and has since been used to teach. On top of the collection being used in classes Globe still functions in the poster making world creating posters for different clients and events.  My role at Globe was to help my supervisor with whatever projects needed to be done; whether it be designing/printing posters, packaging online orders, organizing the shop, or setting up for workshops. I have learned the steps for how Globe goes about creating posters, for any given poster we are working on I may help with the digital design work, setting the type, screen printing the backgroun...

This summer I was fortunate enough to attend an internship at IS Projects in Ft. Lauderdale FL. I discovered this internship opportunity  through a printmaking faculty member. Upon figuring out logistics and transportation, I applied with a resume, cover letter, and 5 samples of my print work. The application was followed up by a phone interview during which Ingrid Schindall, MICA alumna and founder of the press, notified me of my admittance. IS Projects is an ever-expanding printing press and shop that has much to o ff er for practicing artists and those who aspire to get involved with print media alike. Currently employed by IS Projects are Jess, Sammie and Melissa. Jess is the manager for Nocturnal Press, IS Projects’ in-house printing press. Nocturnal Press functions as a mainly commercial operation in which anyone can commission prints ranging from business cards, promotional material, to wedding invites and even commissioned pieces. Sammie is responsible for scouting an...

My name is Sophie Fisher, I am a Senior Illustration major with a Book Arts concentration. This summer I had the amazing opportunity to intern with the Newark Print Shop , a grass roots non-profit printmaking studio based in Newark, NJ, a vibrant urban city close to Manhattan. Its facilities are open to an entire community of artists, and according to their mission statement, has “the focus on supporting the fine art of printmaking by providing an affordable and accessible workspace for everyone, as well educational programming through classes and workshops.” As the summer approached and I was searching for internship opportunities, I recalled my connection to Lisa Conrad, the Executive Director and founder. She had previously worked as a teacher when I was a senior in high school. I attended Print Club back in 2015, a weekly Wednesday night gathering, where artists of all levels pay a small admission to access to the screen-printing facilities and equipment for...

In late February this year I started to look for internships. I was considering both printmaking internships and illustration internships. I searched for pattern design studios. I found several places that have similar styles of my drawings. I sent cold emails to around five places, and Nikki Martinkovic Design Studio was the one that replied and scheduled an interview. After interview they offered me an assignment as a test, and accepted my application one week later. Kyle Naughtrip is listed as my direct supervisor. There are six interns for the summer; I and another girl from RISD are creative interns. We draw small elements on paper, and other employees in the studio transform them into patterns. As interns we did not get chance to do patterns by ourselves, but they gave us several tutorials on how they do patterns. We have freedom on what we want to draw. Every several weeks the studio would come together and discuss what kind of images they need more in t...