As Aleedra mentioned, today is officially the last day of the RCWG summer internships. However, I'll be here for another week, because last week I had the amazing opportunity to travel to London.
The purpose of my 9-day trip was a summer course at the Courtauld Institute of Art entitled "Artists' Materials: Invention and Innovation." The class had 9 students and was taught by paintings conservator Clare Richardson. We took a quick tour of European artists' materials, beginning in 13th century Italy, all the way up to the 1920s and the Russian Avant-Garde. We learned about egg tempera's quick-drying character, the problematic nature of poplar panels, the necessity of seams in large works on canvas, the discoloration of certain colors in oil, the difficulty of obtaining and preserving blue pigments, the relationship of the Impressionists with colormen, and the use of asphalt and sugar in Malevich's paintings.
And that's only the half of it. The most rewarding parts of the course were the practical sessions and the field trips. Clare taught us how to water gild in the old-fashioned way, which is one of the hardest things I have ever tried to do! We also made red lake pigment from Brazilwood, and combined that and other pigments with egg yolk to make egg tempera like the masters. Additionally, we went to the National Gallery and the Tate Modern to see in person the subjects we had studied. Imagine a group of 10 people, staring in awe at the San Pier Maggiore Altarpiece, not solely at the beauty of it, but also because we recognized the sheer mastery of the gilding compared to our own shoddy attempts. Imagine that same group of people then craning to look at Rubens' paintings at odd angles, identifying canvas seams and faded pigments in the raking light. Being able to see an identify those little details added such a richness to the art.
And of course, all of the time I was not in class, I spent in museums. At my second visit to the National Gallery, I saw "Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes, and Discoveries," an exhibition about the conservation of their collection. It was interesting to see what goes on in their conservation department, although looking at the painting they had originally attributed to Botticelli, I decided you didn't need scientific instruments to see that the attribution was false! Overall, the show was an excellent introduction to the field of conservation and the different methods used to analyze and preserve paintings. Among my favorite pieces in the permanent collection were Rubens' "Samson and Delilah," Daumier's "Don Quixote and Sanche Panza," and of course a couple early Italian paintings of St. Michael.
The Tate Modern's current exhibition, "Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera," features some fantastic photographs donated by Jane and Michael Wilson, the benefactors of my and Kathryn's internships. The show traces the camera's gaze all the way from late 19th century secret lenses hidden in pocket watches to surveillance photos in the 21st century. For me, the gems of the Tate's collection were a reconstruction of Duchamp's "The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass)" and Rodin's incredibly sensual marble sculpture of "The Kiss."
The Victoria & Albert museum had two rooms full of adorable Beatrix Potter sketches and prints, as well as the most beautiful collection of jewelry I have ever seen - bling from the 4th century BC, the Victorian period, Art Deco, modern designers, and everything in between.
Finally, I could not miss the Elgin Marbles at the British Museum, the locus of so much artworld controversy these days.
So that's a brief summary of my amazing trip! Now I'm back in Claremont with a deeper understanding of the nature of paint - which helps me with my work on St. Michael. I'm currently attempting to identify a red pigment that we believe may be the original color of his clothing. I think it's vermilion, based on the color and its characteristic purplish degradation where it has been exposed to the air; I found a great article on this exact subject in an issue of the National Gallery Technical Bulletin. I've taken some pictures of samples on the light microscope, and I hope to use EDS sometime next week to find mercury in the chemical makeup of the pigment. Had it not been for my travels to England, I may never have known how to identify the paint!
Friday, August 13, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
This Is Not Goodbye
Tomorrow is the last day of my internship. Putting that down in writing doesn't make it seem any less surreal. It doesn't help that today has been particularly unusual for me. I share an office with Kathryn and Mckenzie, both of whom are in LA today, along with Tiffany. (Mckenzie and Tiffany work with conservator Donna Williams in her studio every Thursday and Kathryn got permission to go meet some important Art World people through a personal connection.) Milan pops in occasionally to grab some coffee, but for the most part, I've spent the day alone. It's been quiet. Sometimes the quiet is fantastic. I've been incredibly focused today. Other times, I wonder why I never noticed how loudly the clock in this office ticks! Haha!
I suppose I needed this day to go into my own headspace and be über-productive. I have a lot of work to complete. I'm racing to the finish line with my final project—an exhibit in the Clark Humanities Museum called Rendering the Female Subject. Simply put, this show is my baby. I've had a lot of help with organizing it from Kathryn and Tiffany and of course Mary, Colleen, Kirk, Patricia and John. Also, the original concept for the show wasn't mine. Last semester's gallery interns proposed the idea. Having said all that, I've put a lot of work into this exhibit, and I feel a personal commitment to making it a success. Rendering the Female Subject is all about diversity and how women are depicted in art. The show consists of about 30 works on paper, as well as several ceramic pieces and wood sculptures. Everything is from the Scripps Permanent Collection. Keep an eye out for further information about it on the Gallery's website. I'm biased, but I think it's worth taking a look at. There's a lot of variety—something to interest everyone and something new for everyone to learn about.
I guess that's my pitch, haha. One thing I will definitely take away from my experience here: the importance of putting yourself out there, of making your ideas, projects, goals, and accomplishments known to other people. As interns, we've spent a lot of time this summer networking. I'm told this is just the beginning. Apparently, I will spend the rest of my career networking. And I'm actually okay with that because I'm learning that it really does get easier with practice.
Anyway, I'm titling my post "This Is Not Goodbye" for a reason. Looks like I'm staying here, or in LA, rather. I have an internship lined up in Development at LACMA. I don't know how it could possibly compare to the past ten weeks, but I have high hopes.
I suppose I needed this day to go into my own headspace and be über-productive. I have a lot of work to complete. I'm racing to the finish line with my final project—an exhibit in the Clark Humanities Museum called Rendering the Female Subject. Simply put, this show is my baby. I've had a lot of help with organizing it from Kathryn and Tiffany and of course Mary, Colleen, Kirk, Patricia and John. Also, the original concept for the show wasn't mine. Last semester's gallery interns proposed the idea. Having said all that, I've put a lot of work into this exhibit, and I feel a personal commitment to making it a success. Rendering the Female Subject is all about diversity and how women are depicted in art. The show consists of about 30 works on paper, as well as several ceramic pieces and wood sculptures. Everything is from the Scripps Permanent Collection. Keep an eye out for further information about it on the Gallery's website. I'm biased, but I think it's worth taking a look at. There's a lot of variety—something to interest everyone and something new for everyone to learn about.
I guess that's my pitch, haha. One thing I will definitely take away from my experience here: the importance of putting yourself out there, of making your ideas, projects, goals, and accomplishments known to other people. As interns, we've spent a lot of time this summer networking. I'm told this is just the beginning. Apparently, I will spend the rest of my career networking. And I'm actually okay with that because I'm learning that it really does get easier with practice.
Anyway, I'm titling my post "This Is Not Goodbye" for a reason. Looks like I'm staying here, or in LA, rather. I have an internship lined up in Development at LACMA. I don't know how it could possibly compare to the past ten weeks, but I have high hopes.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Tiles and Smiles
Yesterday all of the interns, along with Curator of Visual Resources John Trendler, went to the First Street Gallery Art Center in Claremont for a tile-making workshop.
First Street Gallery Art Center is a non-profit program of the Tierra del Sol Foundation, which serves adults with developmental disabilities in the San Fernando and San Gabriel/Pomona Valleys. As part of this foundation, the gallery provides art training and exhibition space for more than 50 people who otherwise would not be as able to express themselves creatively, much less be recognized professionally for their work. The artists receive %60 of all profits from their sales; the other %40 goes to operating costs at First Street Gallery.
We arrived at First Street around 9:30. We were given a tour of the place by the director, Rebecca Hamm, and then we were guided to tables outfitted with all sorts of clay-working instruments. First Street Gallery's Getty Intern, Leah, gave each of us a tile, and we set to work on them. The tile workshop was open to anyone in the community, and there were people of all ages drawing and painting on the clay slabs. Each of us made two tiles, at least one of which will be donated to the gallery. All of the donated tiles will be shown this coming fall, and all sales will benefit First Street Gallery Art Center's programs.
By the time I had finished both of my tiles, the regular artists had arrived and were working on their art in the studio space of the gallery. I walked through the room, meeting the artists and enjoying their work. I met Danny, who had drawn a car, over which he had applied a beautiful, thick layer of dark blue paint. LeRoy was cutting out pictures of tropical fish, creating a collage out of the luminous undersea images. Later on, when the other interns had finished their own pieces of clay artwork, we went through the studio again. This time, we met a man constructing a hay bale out of cardboard and strips of yellow paper, and another woman who was drawing an image of parrots from a book. She told us that she chose her images "because of the colors."
Throughout the morning, I was struck by how wonderful this program is. The artists at First Street Gallery Art Center have faced huge challenges, both physical and social, their entire lives. Here they are given the chance to express their unique experiences and to show that, as the First Street brochure states, "human potential for creativity is not limited by physical or intellectual disabilities." And the artwork they make is incredible.
I was sad to realize that I had never heard about First Street Gallery Art Center before yesterday. Such an amazing place should be common knowledge, especially in a place like Claremont where there are so many students looking toward the future, trying to make a difference. I hope that in the future, awareness of the gallery will be raised among the 5C community, beginning a rapport between students and the artists there.
First Street Gallery Art Center is a non-profit program of the Tierra del Sol Foundation, which serves adults with developmental disabilities in the San Fernando and San Gabriel/Pomona Valleys. As part of this foundation, the gallery provides art training and exhibition space for more than 50 people who otherwise would not be as able to express themselves creatively, much less be recognized professionally for their work. The artists receive %60 of all profits from their sales; the other %40 goes to operating costs at First Street Gallery.
We arrived at First Street around 9:30. We were given a tour of the place by the director, Rebecca Hamm, and then we were guided to tables outfitted with all sorts of clay-working instruments. First Street Gallery's Getty Intern, Leah, gave each of us a tile, and we set to work on them. The tile workshop was open to anyone in the community, and there were people of all ages drawing and painting on the clay slabs. Each of us made two tiles, at least one of which will be donated to the gallery. All of the donated tiles will be shown this coming fall, and all sales will benefit First Street Gallery Art Center's programs.
By the time I had finished both of my tiles, the regular artists had arrived and were working on their art in the studio space of the gallery. I walked through the room, meeting the artists and enjoying their work. I met Danny, who had drawn a car, over which he had applied a beautiful, thick layer of dark blue paint. LeRoy was cutting out pictures of tropical fish, creating a collage out of the luminous undersea images. Later on, when the other interns had finished their own pieces of clay artwork, we went through the studio again. This time, we met a man constructing a hay bale out of cardboard and strips of yellow paper, and another woman who was drawing an image of parrots from a book. She told us that she chose her images "because of the colors."
Throughout the morning, I was struck by how wonderful this program is. The artists at First Street Gallery Art Center have faced huge challenges, both physical and social, their entire lives. Here they are given the chance to express their unique experiences and to show that, as the First Street brochure states, "human potential for creativity is not limited by physical or intellectual disabilities." And the artwork they make is incredible.
I was sad to realize that I had never heard about First Street Gallery Art Center before yesterday. Such an amazing place should be common knowledge, especially in a place like Claremont where there are so many students looking toward the future, trying to make a difference. I hope that in the future, awareness of the gallery will be raised among the 5C community, beginning a rapport between students and the artists there.
First Street Gallery Tile Workshop from Milan Reed on Vimeo.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Halfway Point
I can't believe I'm writing this—our Getty internship is more than halfway complete. We were warned during the first week that we would feel this way by Week 5, but I think we're all still shocked at how quickly the time has passed.
And it's no wonder! We've had very busy schedules for the past few weeks. In addition to the trip to Culver City and the Getty Arts Summit I blogged about, we also went to a Surrealism lecture at the Getty Research Institute and a Genji Symposium here at Scripps. We met conservators Aneta Zebala and Hisaji Sekichi. And a couple weeks ago, we spent a day in LA with Samella Lewis and Alison Saar. One of my projects this summer has been to reasearch pieces in the Scripps College Samella Lewis Collection and write about them, so meeting Samella and Alison was especially exciting for me. Alison told us about the projects she's been working on lately and her experiences with public art projects. She was wonderfully down-to-earth and kind.
And talking to Samella Lewis was kind of surreal. Have you ever read so much about someone's life and work that you started to feel like you knew them? That's how I was beginning to feel about Samella Lewis. But it turns out there was a lot of information about her that I simply couldn't have learned from my research. There are so many intimate details that get left out of academic articles and museum catalogues and even transcribed interviews. It's really impossible to know someone without actually looking them in the face and hearing what they have to say come straight from their own mouth. Samella had lots of personal anecdotes about her life to share with us. She regaled us with stories from her time spent in Bayou Tesch, Louisiana, which is a place that has inspired several of her pieces. (A few of which are in our Permanent Collection.) It was really a treat to here her talk about her work.
And today we painted tiles at First Street Gallery. I think McKenzie is going to post about that soon, so I'll let her tell you about it. When we aren't busy traveling around and meeting exciting, new people, I've been working on planning the fall exhibit for the Clark Humanities Museum at Scripps. It's going to be a show that features several pieces from our Permanent Collection. I just finished my preliminary checklist and proposal today, but I'll post more information about the exhibit soon!
St. Michael Update!
In my last post, I mentioned that St. Michael's gilding would be finished in the next several days. And indeed it was; after nine long months of careful work, all of the remaining gold has been secured. And how it shimmers!
The next step is structural conservation. Tiffany, Donna, and I have already removed about a dozen metal handmade and machine-made nails from different areas of the sculpture. This step is incredibly important because St. Michael is carved from wood. Wood has a life of its own, breathing and moving with changes in climate. If anything is embedded in the wood that does not move in sync, cracks will result - and that is precisely what has happened to St. Michael. In the centuries since his creation, nails have been inserted to stabilize him, and in fact they have done just the opposite. Once most of the metal inserts are removed, we'll start in on consolidating fragments and breakage points. After that, the fragments can be reattached and St. Mike will be whole!
On Tuesday morning, we began the process of deciding what colors we'll need for the planned infills for areas of gilding and paint loss. Donna showed Tiffany and me how to add different pigments to a small amount of vinyl spackling to demonstrate each particular hue. Once the samples dry, we'll decide the different combinations necessary for matching the infill as closely as possible to the surrounding material. With the infills, from a distance the piece will appear as a complete and finished sculpture; as you get closer, it will be clear what has been conserved. This approach stays true to the original intent of the artist and takes into consideration the long, rich life of the piece.
On a last note, the sculpture's owner, Duffy Hecht, visited Scripps to see St. Michael on Tuesday. He has not seen the piece since it was in very bad shape, and this was a chance to show him how much work has been done. Furthermore, Duffy and Donna engaged everyone in a conversation about the future of the piece, i.e., where it will be located and how it will be displayed. It's so exciting to think that St. Michael will once again be (almost) whole and as impressive as ever!
The next step is structural conservation. Tiffany, Donna, and I have already removed about a dozen metal handmade and machine-made nails from different areas of the sculpture. This step is incredibly important because St. Michael is carved from wood. Wood has a life of its own, breathing and moving with changes in climate. If anything is embedded in the wood that does not move in sync, cracks will result - and that is precisely what has happened to St. Michael. In the centuries since his creation, nails have been inserted to stabilize him, and in fact they have done just the opposite. Once most of the metal inserts are removed, we'll start in on consolidating fragments and breakage points. After that, the fragments can be reattached and St. Mike will be whole!
On Tuesday morning, we began the process of deciding what colors we'll need for the planned infills for areas of gilding and paint loss. Donna showed Tiffany and me how to add different pigments to a small amount of vinyl spackling to demonstrate each particular hue. Once the samples dry, we'll decide the different combinations necessary for matching the infill as closely as possible to the surrounding material. With the infills, from a distance the piece will appear as a complete and finished sculpture; as you get closer, it will be clear what has been conserved. This approach stays true to the original intent of the artist and takes into consideration the long, rich life of the piece.
On a last note, the sculpture's owner, Duffy Hecht, visited Scripps to see St. Michael on Tuesday. He has not seen the piece since it was in very bad shape, and this was a chance to show him how much work has been done. Furthermore, Duffy and Donna engaged everyone in a conversation about the future of the piece, i.e., where it will be located and how it will be displayed. It's so exciting to think that St. Michael will once again be (almost) whole and as impressive as ever!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Getty Arts Summit
Yesterday Tiffany, Milan and I went to the Arts Summit. The Arts Summit is a professional development event at the Getty. All of the multicultural undergraduate interns came together to mingle with each other and meet industry professionals. It was an all day event, and it was jam-packed with activities and interesting people.
We got private tours of some of the Getty's exhibits. Our group got a tour of the new . One of the highlights of the exhibit is a 17th century German cabinet. There's a virtual tour of the cabinet that you can view online or at the museum as you look at the cabinet in person. Maybe I'm just being a nerd, but I was pretty excited about the virtual tour! Tiffany thought it was cool, too. You should check it out.
The programming involved a long lunch break, so we got to hang out with some of the other interns. I talked to some other recent graduates. We exchanged job-finding tips, which made me feel strangely grown-up. Haha!
The main events at the Arts Summit were the career sessions. We each chose five sessions from a list of sixteen. Each session had its own theme and one or two presenters to talk with the interns in groups of nine. The presenters were all people who have carved out a special niche for themselves in the art world. Some work at museums, others run their own nonprofits or galleries. All of them are super-successful. I went to a lot of the career sessions regarding educational programming, and it gave me some food for thought. I've started researching careers in that area.
All in all it was a really fun day! Milan, Tiffany and I bonded. (As all the other interns can tell you by now, I'm always up for some quality bonding!) We also took some fun pictures. The one below is the three of us posing in front of Elisabeth Frink's Running Man. The pose was Milan's idea. It's cute, yea?
We got private tours of some of the Getty's exhibits. Our group got a tour of the new . One of the highlights of the exhibit is a 17th century German cabinet. There's a virtual tour of the cabinet that you can view online or at the museum as you look at the cabinet in person. Maybe I'm just being a nerd, but I was pretty excited about the virtual tour! Tiffany thought it was cool, too. You should check it out.
The programming involved a long lunch break, so we got to hang out with some of the other interns. I talked to some other recent graduates. We exchanged job-finding tips, which made me feel strangely grown-up. Haha!
The main events at the Arts Summit were the career sessions. We each chose five sessions from a list of sixteen. Each session had its own theme and one or two presenters to talk with the interns in groups of nine. The presenters were all people who have carved out a special niche for themselves in the art world. Some work at museums, others run their own nonprofits or galleries. All of them are super-successful. I went to a lot of the career sessions regarding educational programming, and it gave me some food for thought. I've started researching careers in that area.
All in all it was a really fun day! Milan, Tiffany and I bonded. (As all the other interns can tell you by now, I'm always up for some quality bonding!) We also took some fun pictures. The one below is the three of us posing in front of Elisabeth Frink's Running Man. The pose was Milan's idea. It's cute, yea?
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Progress on the Conservation of St. Mike
For those of you who are not familiar with Scripps' St. Michael, he is a painted and gilded wooden sculpture. He was carved c. 145o, and was part of the façade decoration for an Italian church. Under the guidance of L.A. conservator Donna Williams, I have been conserving our 560-year-old friend for the past nine months.
My work on St. Michael has mostly consisted of gilding consolidation, a process by which I flatten and adhere flaking, cracked gilding back onto the wooden base of the sculpture. The gilding on the body has been entirely consolidated, and thanks to a couple of productive weeks and the helping hands of my fellow intern Tiffany Yau, the wing gilding should be finished within the next several days!
Another integral part of the conservation process is testing. Many people, when picturing an art conservator in action, see them standing before an artwork in a studio, utensil in hand, working diligently away on the piece. Most do not see a scientist sitting before computer screens in the basement of a physics building. But while the hands-on work (called “bench work” among professionals) is inarguably the main part of the conservation process, scientific testing forms the backbone of the field. It provides the conservator with important knowledge about the piece, without which sound bench work would be impossible.
The testing on St. Michael has been exciting and diverse. In April, the RCWG staff, Donna, JSD Prof. Anna Wenzel, and myself took him to Pomona Valley Medical Center for a CAT scan! You will be able to read about the scan and its results in the Fall 2010 Scripps Magazine. In May, I was trained on the scanning electron microscope (SEM) at the Pomona Department of Physics. The SEM examines the topography of a sample with a high-powered electron beam. I took micrographs of fiber samples, and by comparing them to images from the MFA Boston’s Conservation & Art Material Encyclopedia Online (CAMEO), I identified two different fibers present on the piece: linen and hemp. Fifteenth-century painters commonly used these materials to prepare painted surfaces. In the case of St. Michael, the fabric was wrapped around joints and other areas. The wrapping was then covered with gesso, a primer much like plaster.
I have also begun using Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS), a technique that is used in tandem with the SEM. This allows me to detect which elements are on the surface of a paint sample. Since different elements make up different pigments, and those pigments were discovered and used at different points in history, I will hopefully be able to approximate the date of any repaints of the blue garments on St. Michael. Although I have already begun testing with EDS, there are no certain conclusions to be drawn at this time. Updates will follow soon!
My work on St. Michael has mostly consisted of gilding consolidation, a process by which I flatten and adhere flaking, cracked gilding back onto the wooden base of the sculpture. The gilding on the body has been entirely consolidated, and thanks to a couple of productive weeks and the helping hands of my fellow intern Tiffany Yau, the wing gilding should be finished within the next several days!
Another integral part of the conservation process is testing. Many people, when picturing an art conservator in action, see them standing before an artwork in a studio, utensil in hand, working diligently away on the piece. Most do not see a scientist sitting before computer screens in the basement of a physics building. But while the hands-on work (called “bench work” among professionals) is inarguably the main part of the conservation process, scientific testing forms the backbone of the field. It provides the conservator with important knowledge about the piece, without which sound bench work would be impossible.
The testing on St. Michael has been exciting and diverse. In April, the RCWG staff, Donna, JSD Prof. Anna Wenzel, and myself took him to Pomona Valley Medical Center for a CAT scan! You will be able to read about the scan and its results in the Fall 2010 Scripps Magazine. In May, I was trained on the scanning electron microscope (SEM) at the Pomona Department of Physics. The SEM examines the topography of a sample with a high-powered electron beam. I took micrographs of fiber samples, and by comparing them to images from the MFA Boston’s Conservation & Art Material Encyclopedia Online (CAMEO), I identified two different fibers present on the piece: linen and hemp. Fifteenth-century painters commonly used these materials to prepare painted surfaces. In the case of St. Michael, the fabric was wrapped around joints and other areas. The wrapping was then covered with gesso, a primer much like plaster.
I have also begun using Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS), a technique that is used in tandem with the SEM. This allows me to detect which elements are on the surface of a paint sample. Since different elements make up different pigments, and those pigments were discovered and used at different points in history, I will hopefully be able to approximate the date of any repaints of the blue garments on St. Michael. Although I have already begun testing with EDS, there are no certain conclusions to be drawn at this time. Updates will follow soon!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Culver City
This is our second week interning here at the gallery, and I thought today would be the perfect time for my very first blog entry. One of the perks of this internship is that we all get the opportunity to talk to people who have made careers for themselves in the Art World. Today we went to Culver City to meet with several successful entrepreneurs.
First we met Cliff Benjamin and Erin Kermanikian. They own a gallery called Western Project. It's on La Cienega, and they are showcasing an exhibit by Arne Stevenson at the moment. Here's a link to the website in case you're interested. Cliff and Erin talked to us about feeling out the social climate in the Art World. They also told us how important it can be to have a greater vision motivating you when you come up against hard times. They were really cool people.
Next we met Patricia Hamilton. On Mondays Mary, the Director of the Williamson Gallery, discusses art articles with all of us interns. Sometimes we pick the articles, and sometimes she does. This week we actually discussed an article about Patricia Hamilton. She's had a remarkable career. She worked at the Whitney Museum right after college, and then decided to open up her own gallery in New York. She was only twenty-five years old at the time! Patricia is definitely one of the most entertaining and successful people I've ever met. I was too shy to ask her all of the questions I wanted to, but it was great just hearing her talk about her life. Seriously! She's fascinating.
Mary and Patricia took us to see some galleries. One of them was Taylor De Cordoba. Heather Taylor, a Scripps alumna who graduated in '02, co-owns the gallery. She talked to us about the importance of internships. They're great opportunities to learn and network and get valuable work experience. Talking to Heather was great because she's a recent graduate, but she's also had a lot of success. So many of the job options I have been considering require more education and/or experience than I have right now. I've been stressing out about the fact that I may have to end up at a dead end job after I finish my Getty internship this summer just so that I can earn enough money to live on. Seeing Heather manage her own gallery was proof that it is possible to make a living doing something that I will actually enjoy at a young age. It's just a matter of networking and being motivated.
We also went to lunch with Mary's son and daughter Matt and Amanda MacNaughton. They've started their own public relations business. You can check it out here. They're yet another example of young entrepreneurs who have found success doing something they really enjoy. And they were fun to talk to as well. They had great energy. You could tell just by listening to them talk that they really loved their work.
That was true of everyone we met today. Even though all of these people have found success doing different things, they all seemed to have a common trait: Patricia calls it chutzpa. That's a Yiddish word that basically means having the guts to do something when others might see it as too bold or unnecessarily daring. I'm working on finding my own chutzpa. It's tough, though. I clam up around new people pretty easily, and I've never been much of a risk taker.
Okay, time to sign out. This has been fun! It's therapeutic to write without worrying too much about structure or grammatical errors. I'll write again soon.
First we met Cliff Benjamin and Erin Kermanikian. They own a gallery called Western Project. It's on La Cienega, and they are showcasing an exhibit by Arne Stevenson at the moment. Here's a link to the website in case you're interested. Cliff and Erin talked to us about feeling out the social climate in the Art World. They also told us how important it can be to have a greater vision motivating you when you come up against hard times. They were really cool people.
Next we met Patricia Hamilton. On Mondays Mary, the Director of the Williamson Gallery, discusses art articles with all of us interns. Sometimes we pick the articles, and sometimes she does. This week we actually discussed an article about Patricia Hamilton. She's had a remarkable career. She worked at the Whitney Museum right after college, and then decided to open up her own gallery in New York. She was only twenty-five years old at the time! Patricia is definitely one of the most entertaining and successful people I've ever met. I was too shy to ask her all of the questions I wanted to, but it was great just hearing her talk about her life. Seriously! She's fascinating.
Mary and Patricia took us to see some galleries. One of them was Taylor De Cordoba. Heather Taylor, a Scripps alumna who graduated in '02, co-owns the gallery. She talked to us about the importance of internships. They're great opportunities to learn and network and get valuable work experience. Talking to Heather was great because she's a recent graduate, but she's also had a lot of success. So many of the job options I have been considering require more education and/or experience than I have right now. I've been stressing out about the fact that I may have to end up at a dead end job after I finish my Getty internship this summer just so that I can earn enough money to live on. Seeing Heather manage her own gallery was proof that it is possible to make a living doing something that I will actually enjoy at a young age. It's just a matter of networking and being motivated.
We also went to lunch with Mary's son and daughter Matt and Amanda MacNaughton. They've started their own public relations business. You can check it out here. They're yet another example of young entrepreneurs who have found success doing something they really enjoy. And they were fun to talk to as well. They had great energy. You could tell just by listening to them talk that they really loved their work.
That was true of everyone we met today. Even though all of these people have found success doing different things, they all seemed to have a common trait: Patricia calls it chutzpa. That's a Yiddish word that basically means having the guts to do something when others might see it as too bold or unnecessarily daring. I'm working on finding my own chutzpa. It's tough, though. I clam up around new people pretty easily, and I've never been much of a risk taker.
Okay, time to sign out. This has been fun! It's therapeutic to write without worrying too much about structure or grammatical errors. I'll write again soon.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
2010 Summer Internships
Do YOU want to contribute to this blog? Now's your chance! 2010 summer internships are available at the gallery and one of your many perks will be blogging rights to Art Rambles!
We are offering FIVE internship positions: 2 Wilson internships and 3 Getty Multicultural Summer Undergraduate Internships. All interns will participate in field trips with Mary, our director, to cool L.A. art institutions and get to meet with curators, conservators, and other awesome people in the arts. In previous years, field trips have included the Getty Villa, LACMA, the Museum of Latin American Art, MOCA, UCLA's Fowler Museum, and the Broad Foundation.
If you're interested, please visit the gallery's internship page. Applications are due by 5pm, April 20, so get moving!
The Getty Foundation offers internships at institutions all across LA County, so check out the Getty's website for more internship opportunities. The Williamson is the hub leader for the Claremont/Pomona region, so if you want to hang with us, there are positions available at Pomona College, Pitzer College, First Street Gallery, Claremont Museum of Art, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (RSABG), American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA), Millard Sheets Center for the Arts at Fairplex (MSCAF).
If you're not a Scripps student, nor of a multicultural background, fear not! The LA County Arts Commission is also offering summer internships in the performing and visual arts. Check it out here.
Participating institutions each have their own application requirements and deadlines, so if you miss out on the Williamson's deadline, please see the above websites for additional opportunities.
We are offering FIVE internship positions: 2 Wilson internships and 3 Getty Multicultural Summer Undergraduate Internships. All interns will participate in field trips with Mary, our director, to cool L.A. art institutions and get to meet with curators, conservators, and other awesome people in the arts. In previous years, field trips have included the Getty Villa, LACMA, the Museum of Latin American Art, MOCA, UCLA's Fowler Museum, and the Broad Foundation.
If you're interested, please visit the gallery's internship page. Applications are due by 5pm, April 20, so get moving!
The Getty Foundation offers internships at institutions all across LA County, so check out the Getty's website for more internship opportunities. The Williamson is the hub leader for the Claremont/Pomona region, so if you want to hang with us, there are positions available at Pomona College, Pitzer College, First Street Gallery, Claremont Museum of Art, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (RSABG), American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA), Millard Sheets Center for the Arts at Fairplex (MSCAF).
If you're not a Scripps student, nor of a multicultural background, fear not! The LA County Arts Commission is also offering summer internships in the performing and visual arts. Check it out here.
Participating institutions each have their own application requirements and deadlines, so if you miss out on the Williamson's deadline, please see the above websites for additional opportunities.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Muybridge on NPR
Hey look! NPR has a piece on photographer Eadweard Muybridge- Muybridge: The Man Who Made Pictures Move
Apparently, a retrospective of his works will be on exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and will then tour around the country.
Check out the Williamson's collection of Muybridge prints at the Claremont Colleges Digital Library:
Patricia
Apparently, a retrospective of his works will be on exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and will then tour around the country.
Check out the Williamson's collection of Muybridge prints at the Claremont Colleges Digital Library:
Patricia
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