INTERNSHIP STORIES

Women and Their Work is a nonprofit organization and arts space in Austin, TX. The space was founded in 1978 with the purpose of uplifting and supporting female artists in Texas. Women and Their Work provides education programming, has events, and helps women artists have solo shows. I was interested in Women and Their Work because it feels like such a unique gallery space and has a great legacy in Austin.  Women and Their Work had a summer internship program listed that seemed really interesting to me and I thought it would teach me skills I wanted to learn, such as gallery installation, day-to-day, and what it’s like to run a nonprofit. I applied, was interviewed and then accepted for the Gallery Assistant intern position. My consistent responsibility was being the first point of contact for people visiting the gallery. I would answer any questions about the gallery, talk to guests, and survey the demographics of visitors of the gallery. My other responsibilities would vary. I as...

I found this internship from researching different museums that have graphic design internship opportunities. I applied through the official website and got interviewed and then notified I was accepted. My direct supervisor was a graphic designer at the Met. In my department, I participated in the process and collaboration in between the graphics, exhibition, production and lighting designers. By working closely with my mentor, I observed the way he works from his technical skills and time management skills. I was also able to learn more about how to prioritize projects based on their importance. Having real deadlines and thinking about the next steps when the files were out of my hands made me work in a more organized manner.  Additionally, It was really valuable for me to experience creating works that will be installed and printed in real space instead of just existing in digital form. Thinking about how things would look in actual scale, under the lighting of a space, with a cr...

This summer, I was fortunate to serve as a brand and creative services intern at the Cleveland Metroparks. The parks system has received the National Gold Medal for “best in the nation.” It includes 18 reservations or parks, golf courses, and a zoo as well as several other properties. Their mission is to protect nature, connect communities and inspire conservation in our world. I became aware of the internship opportunity after spending a day with the Metropark's Marketing Team as part of a high school senior project. I applied for a creative services internship role later in the fall and after several interviews and sharing my portfolio, I landed the job. My supervisor was the Director of Brand and Advertising at the Cleveland Metroparks. As a brand and creative services intern, I was assigned a series of impactful projects. I leveraged my graphic design and illustration skills to develop actionable concepts for the Metropark’s 2024 Calendar, 2024 Eclipse merchandise, commemorativ...

The Valerie J. Maynard Foundation is dedicated to sustaining, expanding, and preserving the legacy of Valerie J. Maynard, her art, and her ideals. I got started with this internship through an initial connection with a photographer at a show opening in New York in February. We later connected in May through Instagram where I eventually interviewed for a position. At The Valerie J. Maynard Foundation I worked alongside board and foundation members as well as other legacy interns. Some of what my role and responsibilities included was cleaning, organizing, and archiving art materials, sculpture, tools, and photography within the home studio space. I also helped with creating an archival organization system to preserve archival artwork materials and worked on administration aspects like file naming and archiving. I attended group meetings to work with board and foundation members, and legacy specialists and interns to assist workflow and give updates. After a work session each day I would...

Last fall the founder of Saint Lucy Books was invited to MICA to talk about his recently published book. In the spring when I was trying to find an appropriate internship site, I was urged to reach out to the founder about possibly assisting him with some work. I was incredibly excited about the idea of working with a small Baltimore-based publishing company, especially as Saint Lucy’s focus is on female artists and the collaboration of text and images. The founder Saint Lucy was my supervisor and I joined him in May to help with current and future titles and the brand identity of Saint Lucy. We attended ICP’s photobook fest where we were one of over 50 independent photobook publishers. Once back from NYC, my supervisor and I started working with a past faculty member at MICA on her upcoming book. During this, I helped with image selection, essay editing, and even some of the early ideas pertaining to the physicality of the book. In early June I began working heavily with my superviso...

I found out about the opportunity to intern at Blue Light Junction through word of mouth and social media. I first learned about the organization through a couple of field trips during my freshman and sophomore year. I had followed them on social media, saw them posting about having interns, and decided to apply. I contacted the founder/director of Blue Light Junction to inquire about the opportunity and after a brief interview, we determined that it would be a good fit for me and the organization. She wound up being my supervisor throughout the internship. Blue Light Junction is a community arts organization with a studio space and an annex garden for growing natural dye plants. They grow, process, and sell natural dye materials and seeds, run workshops teaching about natural dyes and occasionally other gardening and craft skills, and are beginning to work with local businesses to create naturally dyed products for display and sale. They additionally collaborate with local farmers inv...

This past summer I interned at One House Design. I found this internship opportunity through a connection my father (who is also an architect) has and because it is local to my area. One House Design is an interior design company, with both an Interior Finish Department and Furnishing Department. I worked in the Interior Finish Department where they mostly worked on drawing floor plans, 3D modeling, rendering, using Photoshop, and creating construction drawings. My supervisor was the supervisor of the entire department and would mostly check the drawings others and myself made. For my own responsibilities and projects, I mostly worked on floor plans and rendering models which I felt really helped hone my architectural skills. I also attended other parts of projects including material board, counting area, and going to construction sites.  The project I am most proud of was also the biggest project I worked on. I made some designs for a house with a garden that is owned by a really ...