The Getty currently hosted an Arts Summit for the Multicultural Interns from 80+ organizations this past Monday. …as explained by Jasmine in her entry “The…Getty!”. One of the most exciting and memorable experiences I had that day was the tour of the Design Studios. The tour was limited to about 9 or 10 interns. Now imagine, there are about 15 sessions that interns can pick from, each session allows only 9 spots. There had to be intense coordination between the 100+ interns. While I picked the top five sessions I was interested in, there was no guarantee that I could attend each one.
Considering that I am the Visual Resources Intern at the Williamson Gallery, I was pleased with the number of digital related sessions available. I have been debating on what to do after graduation so I was excited to meet professionals in different digital-related fields. While I know that I want to be a part of the professional digital world…where in the digital world am I going to find my niche? There are many options to explore…graphic design…post-production…but finding the right one for me might take a while. I have spoken to John, the curator of Visual Resources, who has taught me a few things about different career possibilities. So now I had the chance of learning about designing exhibitions as a career possibility.
I was not aware of this position before...so when I read the description in one of the many papers that the Getty gave the interns…I wanted to learn more. Yet, many, many, many interns were eager to go behind-the-scenes. Throughout the first three sessions, I kept my eye on the line for the tour of the design studio…but everyone seemed to rush over there. I was not so sure that I would get a chance to see the design studio since the sessions I expressed interest in were on the opposite side of the cafeteria. To my luck, my fourth sessions was close to the meeting place for the tour! But then, Jasmine, who coincidentally also chose the same session as I did…told me that she had been ‘rejected’ once before…
Was I going to get a chance to go behind-the-scenes and miss out on a great opportunity? I debated whether I should go ahead and just try or give up. Waiting for the fourth session to begin, I remembered the different individuals I have met at the Williamson Gallery. A consistent word of advice was to just go for it. If you want to try it, just try it. Don’t think about what you want to do. Take the opportunity. The same words that I hear over and over again from Mel at fin aid.
The fourth session ended, and I was ready to be one of the few to go on tour for the last session. This was my last chance to go. Luckily, the tour was extended to 20 spots.
Overall, the tour was amazing. The studio is simply wonderful. I encourage anyone who has the chance to explore a space to go for it…because it makes a difference on how you view institutions. Looking at how different organizations make of a space is great…small or large. It makes you appreciate what you do have.
The tour guide spoke of the different processes they have to undergo for one exhibit. From making a scale model…choosing appropriate colors…meeting with curators…designing the furniture for objects…(look at the walls of exhibits and notice how they are sometimes made to look smaller…or at the furniture that holds a piece…secured for preventing damage from a disaster such as from an earthquake), choosing fonts, etc. So much detail goes into planning and designing an exhibit.
After taking this session, I just had to take a closer look at the exhibitions at the Fowler Museum at UCLA on Wednesday. Fortunately, Mary, the director of the Williamson Gallery, helped us think critically of the different choices made for the installations at the Fowler. While I agreed on some decisions, I did not on others. Yet, that goes into personal taste as well.
This past week has certainly been one of the best, despite not having as much time to finish working on digitizing and optimizing Barnett Newman’s work which is taking me longer than usual because of certain difficulties…but that’s a topic for another entry!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The.. Getty!
Dang, that sounds fancy.
It was basically a career day / meet-all-the-other-100+-Getty-interns-day.
Janet Mota who works at the botannical garden was kind enough to drive.
I'm so glad I had the chance to meet her. She's gonna have the best time in Spain!!
I wish I had applied for a study abroad program... =(
But back to our trip:
The welcome speech was quite informative...
It really helped me realize that I was very lucky to be a part of this internship.
I didn't realize just how expansive this program was until I saw the map on the powerpoint presentation showing all the different organizations/galleries/museums that employed Getty interns. It was funny to see our learning community so isolated from the rest of the organizations, being so inland.
We then took a group photo, which was amusing. It reminded me of our photoshoot with John the first day of work =)
I wish that the tables hadn't been so long for our lunch group. The people around us were really loud, so I basically tried to read people's lips as they spoke and nodded along. I wish that I had gotten to talk to the rest of the interns in our learning community. I remember meeting a couple of them at our first hub meeting a couple weeks ago. Oh! It was nice to see Ghada from First St. Gallery again.
After lunch began the career sessions. There were around 20 (maybe a little less) sessions, and sadly we could only pick 5. They varied from topics such as "curating exhibitions," "museum education," "advocating for the arts," "designing exhibitions," "being a professional artist," "conservation," "historical preservation," and etc. The "designing exhibitions" session was VERY popular. I was rejected twice =(. For the last session, they increased the size of people allowed to 20, but knowing my luck, I probably would have been number 21 =/. So I just decided to sit in on the "advocating for the arts."
My favorite session was "museum education" with Asaka Hisa of the Santa Monica Museum of Art. I am amazed with the amount of creativity that goes into creating programs for museum education. I don't know if I, myself, could ever come up with such brilliant ideas, but I would LOVE to be a part of organizing and carrying out such programs. The one example that I enjoyed the most was Ms. Hisa's bike ride. [link below]
(http://www.smmoa.org/index.php/programs/group/1/3)
After noticing the popularity of cycling in LA, she planned a bike ride that began and ended at the SMMoA, while stopping at various art-related organizations along the way.
I wonder if such an event could be planned around the 5-C's... hm..
Using people's interests and relating them to the museum!! Genius!! =)
SMMoA also has a book club (http://www.smmoa.org/index.php/programs/group/0) that features novels recommended by artists. I would definitely read a book that Allison Torneros (my favorite artist currently) recommends.
The conservation session was equally interesting. Ellen Pearlstein and Allison Lewis (who graduated from the Getty-UCLA conservation program) spoke to us about the field of conservation. They also shared with us some of their favorite projects in the past. I had some more questions to ask about their work, so they were kind enough to give me their cards and offered to answer them through email. I should get on that... maybe after I finish this entry (which is taking me a surprising long time to write).
[One thing that I am realizing throughout this summer and meeting with various members in the art community: people are so nice!]
Although it was a bummer that I didn't get to go behind the scenes and get one of those cool-looking security passes for the "designing exhibitions" session, I really enjoyed the entire day.
I wish had been able to roam around the Getty more, but sadly there was only enough time for a tour of the garden. [Did you know that the artist has the workers pick every-other-leaf off the trees at the beginning of the winding road? I believe it was for the shadow that they cast on the lawn.. but still.. that's pretty intense.] Apparently, the best view of the garden is the second floor of the East Pavillion.
I, of course, fell asleep on the way back home. I think I can fall asleep in any moving vehicle.
I didn't take any pictures, because I didn't want to look like a newbie tourist. But I was itching to whip out my camera...
I can't say that all the career sessions have helped me make up my mind about my future (it's such a daunting topic/decision that needs many more hours of deliberation), but at least I got to brag to my friends that I was one of the special 150-ish students who got to roam the Getty on a day it was closed for "normal visitors." haha. just kidding........ kinda.
Wow this was a long entry.. I'm sure it's teeming with grammatical errors and I see a lot of red underlining. It's like Blogspot is yelling at me to fix them, but.. too bad Blogspot. I'm tired.
Today: I finished my 10th kimono today! Yeahhh! Thank you Patricia for helping me take pictures and teaching me how to distinguish a plum blossom from a cherry blossom. I learn new things everyday =).
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