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So far, my time as an exhibitions intern alongside Grace Devine, Julia Oliver, and Laura Littlefield has been incredibly fruitful. Although I had previous experience in art education when I entered this internship, I never learned about projects that are associated with museum exhibitions and acquired collections. My internship at the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College Museum of Art has provided me with an opportunity to do exactly that.

During my first day on the job, I quickly became immersed in the day-to-day activities of exhibitions staff at the museum. Working with the other interns and Education Curator Anthony Shostak, I gained an understanding of how to handle artworks in the museum’s collection. This was a practice I had never engaged in before, but was one that I immediately recognized the utility of, as I delicately separated works on paper and inspected them carefully. In the following meetings, my fellow interns and I participated in workshops on how to conduct research about artists, and learned about critical interpretation skills by touring the museum’s current exhibition, Wilderness: Light Sizzles Around Me, by globally recognized artist Lesley Dill.

All of this was in preparation for our main task throughout the semester: to craft catalog entries about artists in the Barbara Morris Goodbody Collection. The collection is a body of photographic pieces recently donated to the Museum by Barabara Morris Goodbody, a longtime Maine resident and avid art collector. For the past month, I have been independently researching and writing statements about nine photographers within the Goodbody collection. The artist that I am perhaps most interested in is Lucien Clergue, a French-born photographer who is famous for his images that capture expressive lines of light striking the nude body.

In the remainder of my internship at the museum, I hope to continue refining my research and writing skills, working with amazing pieces of art, and soaking up the priceless knowledge that the museum staff offers me.