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Patricia

Lessons Learned in London

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!

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.

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 Tile Workshop from Milan Reed on Vimeo.

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!

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 gallery of Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture and Decorative Arts. 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?

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!

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.

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.

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:

• Motion Study: Woman and Jug
• Motion Study: Woman Carrying Bucket and Broom
• Motion Study: Woman Walking Dog
• Motion Study: Woman Carrying Baby

Patricia

in defense of art...

Lately I have been really wondering about how to balance indulging a love for beauty and the interesting with a need to meet the average person where they are and change them for the better. How is art connecting with the average person? I was in a conversation with a friend this week who, on hearing my plan to become more involved with the arts, informed me that art seemed so indulgent and that music truly touched and changed people in a more effective and meaningful manner. He went on to say that the average person is touched every single day by music and that art is for the rich who get to sip wine in a hoity toity museum or gallery. He said art makes the rich feel good and happy for like ten minuets and music makes the masses happy for... ever. I love art and I can literally look at piece for hours and feel like my soul is duking out a war inside my chest but how does it really in everyday life touch the masses and does it do it half as effectively as music? When people off the street look at Monogram (above) do they really get anything from it without previous knowledge of the theories and history behind it? Are the musicians winning the war for the public's hearts? How do we change the minds of people who think like this and get more involved with the masses? How does art change peoples' everyday life? IDK quite yet how to most effectively answer these questions, but I'd love to hear some of your responses! So give me your answer: what would you say to my friend?

August

It's already August. 

Mood: excited, yet also hesitant.

One more week left until... the end! Eek!

One more week until I will have to say goodbye to my kimonos, to Kristin's handy-dandy laptop, and the numerous books on the meanings behind the motifs on the textiles. 

Oh, I took that picture while at the Santa Monica Museum of Art. Pretty huh? =)

The begining of the end?

I was recently standing in Wendy's office (like an hour ago) wondering how in the world our time in this amazing internship has flown by so fast. It seems like yesterday i was buying my first dress pants, seeing the permanent collection for the first time, and filling out my first w-9. This experience has been so new to me that time has really been escaping me. I have been settling into the rhythm of the office life and enjoying the amazing amount of field trips and new experiences I have been blessed to participate in. When trying to mentally amass the totality of important events from this internship, my head throbs with the sheer number of amazing people we have met. I think it will be difficult to convey the totality of the experience to anyone who doesn't have a few hours to talk with me. It has had its difficult moments, but I feel so blessed to have had this amazing opportunity.
I can honestly say that it has changed me life: I no longer wonder if I should stop "fooling around with frivolous and indulgent artsy things", and instead wonder how i can enrich my life and the lives of others through creative means. Life, at least for me, is filled with situations that demand the ability to truly listen, understand and critically and creatively think of responses and solution. By realizing that art can be used as a means of furthering understanding, communication, and learning, I have realized that the arts are very applicable to the type of person that I am and the goals that I have. What that means in relation to my future and my career plans is quite fluid presently. However, this internship has allowed me to not only see that the arts industry has a ridiculous number of niches and opportunities, but that I might be able to fit into one of those niches. Again, the application of this knowledge is still evanescent, but a greater knowledge and appreciation of a field can only be a good thing.

The Piccirilli Bros

Who are they?

Why, they are the 6 Italian-American sculptor-carvers (Getulio, Furio, Attilio, Ferrucio, Masaniello, and Orazio!) who were responsible for some of America's greatest monuments! 

The one that EVERYONE and their mothers know about? The marble giant that is Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C..

The same one that comes to life in "Night at the Museum II: The Smithsonian"!! =)

They hand-carved that masterpiece! 

Man.. to have 6 brothers who are all talented in the skill of sculpture/marble-carving!

My sister and I share the same genes, yet I can't say we share any skills... 

[I guess we both played golf in high school.. but I barely managed to stay in the junior varsity team, while my sister played varsity... I promise I'm not bitter or anything..]

Being the carvers, and not the artists/one who designed the pieces, they did not put their names on the works. Thus they weren't as recognized.

I'm trying to do some additional research on the Piccirilli brothers and artist John Gregory, and decided to post on the blog with the interesting things that I was finding. 

I like Furio the best.

And maybe Orazio next.

Sorry, Getulio, Attilio, Ferrucio, and Masaniello. You guys are still really cool too.

Head of a camel+body of a snake=?

DRAGON!

Today, textile conservator Yadin Larochette visited us at the Scripps Gallery. =)

She examined a couple pieces of our textile collection, many which had DRAGONS on them. 

Don't we all love dragons!

Patricia taught us that the dragon is a mixture of different animals, and so I decided to check just how many different animals there were. And what better place than...

WIKIPEDIA!

So apparently, the Chinese long dragon has nine anatomical resemblances:

1. Horns of a stag/deer.

2. Head of a camel. (Yeah, we were pretty surprised with that one too. But I can kinda see it.)

3. Eyes of a demon/rabbit. haha.

4. Neck of a snake.

5. Belly of a clam/frog.

6. Scales of a carp.

7. Claws of an eagle/hawk.

8. Soles of a tiger/palms of a tiger.

9. Ears of a cow.

[Also mentioned: a tortoise's viscera??]

[Also, in Singaporean folktales, the dragon has attributes of the other 11 creatures in the zodiac. I thought that was pretty cool..]

The needlework on the textiles were amazing. I can't imagine the amount of labor that went into these textiles. No wonder only the wealthy could afford these. 

It's so perfect that it's crazy!

Mary mentioned the possibility of a couple museums getting together to exhibit the best of their Asian textile collections. 

That would be an awesome exhibition!!

I really hope that can happen.

But getting textiles in a good enough condition to be exhibited is probably ridiculously expensive.

I took a peak at some of the estimated costs for conservation work of the textiles and ... DANG! 

But hopefully it will happen one day =)

Designing exhibitions…designing our future…

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!

The.. Getty!

This Monday (July 13th), we Getty interns made a trip out to the LA Getty Center for the Getty Foundation's M(ulticultural)U(ndergraduate)I(nternship) Arts Summit. 

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 =).

When New Beginnings Come to the End

Not everyone gets to say that they had the perfect last day at a job, but I think that Rody and I have the privilege of being able to truly say that today was perfect.

One of the reasons that this internship was such an incredible experience is that Mary takes us out on field trips and has us go and meet many important people who work in the visual arts and arts administration. In fact, I'd say that the highlight of this internship was going on these field trips. So it was only fitting, I think, for us to go on a field trip on our last day. And Mary took us to MoLAA (the Museum of Latin American Art) today, which was perfect because both Rody and I really, really wanted to go there.

I loved the work that I saw there, and honestly, I loved the museum. I can see that the museum has some issues (their storage space is TINY), but I really liked the art that I saw there, and I think that the art itself was so different from a lot of the contemporary art that we've seen this summer. I think it's safe to say that Rody and I both loved it a lot.

When we came back to the gallery, both Kirk and Mary came to the Print and Study room to give us some goodbye presents, and honestly, I think that the presents were amazing. Kirk gave us some knee bowls (which I love the concept of), and made me earrings from some slides that I worked with and gave us each a book with a hole in the middle (it will remind me of drill presses, earthquakes, ash and really lame jokes about interns and drilling). Mary gave me a beautiful bracelet made of coconut shell and a notebook (which, again, is really handy).

I've always had a problem with saying goodbye, and having homes in two different parts of the world has not made saying goodbye seem easier or more routine. It's going to be weird to wake up to RA training tomorrow; to not come in to say hi to Rody or Kristin or Kirk or Zoe or John early in the morning; to not take ridiculously long tea breaks routinely; and to not work with slides and really expensive art everyday. I'm still going to have to wake up before 8 this next semester (8 o'clock class is the bane of my existence), but I know that I probably won't look forward to it the way that I did these past 10 weeks. I know the gallery is next door, because it's on campus, but I'm still really going to miss this place.

So before I officially sign out as the Visual Resources Intern at the Williamson Gallery for Summer 2008, I'd really like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who works here. Rody, Patricia and Zoe- I've found a friend in each one of you and I hope that we frequently meet this next year. Mary, Kirk, Kristin and John- thank you so much for everything. This summer was so much fun, and a tremendous learning experience. You guys are incredible bosses, and I can only hope that I will have bosses as fun and nice as all of you when I graduate and go into the really world.

Fare thee well ogre(s)...

It's never easy to say good-bye...So I won't.

I just want to let you guys know that I'll miss you. It has been a real pleasure working with all of you this summer and I hope to see you again during the year. Thank you guys for being so wacky, sweet, and honest for the past ten weeks; I really appreciate it. 

If it had not been for the crazy conversations we had over tea breaks, or on our way to lunch, or on trips with Mary, I probably would not have enjoyed myself as much as I did. Thank you for that. I know this is somewhat corny, but I think I'll let Mr. Rogers take it from here...

It's such a good feeling to know you're alive. 

It's such a happy feeling: You're growing inside.

And when you wake up ready to say, 

'I think I'll make a snappy new day.'

It's such a good feeling, a very good feeling, 

the feeling you know that we're friends.

Sorry, I just had to. Good luck with everything, enjoy what's left of summer, and I'll definitely see you guys again.