- What did you learn from your first week at your internship? Did anything surprise you? Who did you meet and what do they do? Did you engage in any code switching?
The first week I spent at the Museum of Contemporary Art was amazing! I was given a tour of the facilities used by staff which I am happy to say seems to be a lively and up beat atmosphere. I was then shown to my work space which i will share with my other interns, followed by the materials room and finally kitchen, all of which branch off the main office which is always active. i was also introduce too multiple members of the staff, although i regret to say that after meeting them for such brief periods i am not 100% familiar with all of their names, and each of them seem to have their own areas of expertise each working on their own tasks. Although i wasn’t surprised by the cafe on the roof of the building it to this day still fascinates me and i can see myself spending more and more time there as the days go on. In regards to code switching how ever i did find my self having to do so more and more to maintain a respectful attitude towards my elders and peers. all in all i would say this week was a great success!
2)
else makes you excited about your internship?
(this iteration covers the last two weeks due to me only having done one day each)
In the last two weeks I had a great time working with Alex. I was asked to help out with both setting up and disassembling an event that took place over the weekend. I had a great time doing this as it is something that is a great importance in working as an art museum, and I got to work in my own area in my own way. I was very free to work my way and that is something I appreciate and enjoy more than anything else. One thing I enjoyed more than anything else was not being cooped up in a back room where I’m away from people, I was given the space behind “the garden of thoughts” as I call it because there is always people coming to and fro, taking only a moment to stop and ponder in the garden, and most all of these people just treat me like anyone else but having them around makes me happy. I really enjoy seeing all the people’s faces imagining their stories while I work, something my internship grants me the ability to do a lot. I also got to see some of the behind the scenes of the museum, all the people take pieces down and repainting, this was one of the coolest things to see for me as going into the internship I was most excited to see this process, people at work, might you say. Going forward I am happy to be working around such a lively environment, people with their minds in whole different worlds, and people just trying to take everything in, people with their minds set and focused on a task, or people who are trying to avoid thoughts from their own mind, all of these people are the people I live for as they are the ones that give me reason to go every day.
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Week three
how do your actions affect your work place? Do your contribute possitivly?how do your coworkers actions affect your internship? Which coworkers are your connecting with?
This week at my internship I was only able to go to only able to go one day although I did spend a much larger portion of time there. It was really cool to be around while the whole museum was being put back together, it is an entirely different environment, there are people in every direction making creations of their own or catering the environment to the work of the artist’s creation. The attention to detail is beautiful just watching and reminds me of a clockwork creation. Even the people in the office are working hard trying to make sure every detail is correct for the final reveal. I spent m0st of my time working in the office on paper work, but I felt like it was just as lively as everywhere else in the museum. My work helped out in lightening the load in their hardest time of the year. Although I can say I have not spent as much time with my coworkers and creating bonds or bridges but I have learned a great deal from just observing and I am sure there is a plethora more knowledge that I could gain.
week 4?
Is the place you are interning right for you? If so why? If not why not? If given to opportunity to intern again, would you do it?
The museum of contemporary art is a good fit for me as a growing artist, the best thing I could do is to surround myself with some of the best art in the world right now, experience all of the dimensions of art in one way or another, the only way I could think that I could find a better fit for me is if my internship focused more of music then it does because I have spent a very large portion of my life devoted to music and that is something that has grown to be a huge part of me and something not addressed at the museum of contemporary art. If I was given the opportunity to intern again I would take it without a second though because I already know where I would go and I know it would be the perfect fit for me. Being an artist with so much influence and time spent in the music I would without a doubt do something of that regard to fuel my musical side, but personally I would choose the seventh circle music collective as it adheres to my personal preference on music, as well as it would give me more experience in the areas of music that I have some experience in (mainly sound board skills) but would like to improve upon my knowledge.
blog week 5
How do you feel like your internship is going so far? What are the highlights and the “low-lights”? Do you feel like you are making connections with your co-workers? What can you do to improve your experience?
I have been having a fantastic time at my internship, just being able to walk around and look at the art is amazing. Over the last week and a half, I have been analyzing the art and just over all experiencing the exhibitions. All in all, I feel my internship is going just swimmingly from helping out with little tasks here and there to my personal highlight enjoying the diverse world around me in which I have been having a wonderful time day after day. I feel that I am also starting to make connections to my coworkers as the rough patch is finally coming to an end and things are starting to slow down a bit around museum. The only way I could think to make my time there better is if it were easier to find time to go there, with my schedule all packed up the way it is I have very little free time meaning little to no extra time that I can spend at my internship.
(this is a little extra for you Nate, first of you might like the Basquiat exhibitions it’s a little different then what you would normally see from him. Also I am going to include the short summaries of the three exhibitions that my sponsor ((Alex Jimenez)) had me do below, they don’t tell much but they give a little hint as to what you would see I hope you enjoy)
- Wall Writers: Graffiti in its Innocence
The art work on display is street artwork of New York and Pennsylvania during the late 60’s and early 70’s, showing works from Taki 183 to Snake 1 and many more. Many of these artist spread their name either to mark territory or as a sense of desire to be heard. To these men putting their names up on walls and getting their name out there is their way of screaming “I’m here world, just look at me!” this was the freedom of the artists at full display for all to see, in a way it’s like opening themselves to the work and claiming it as their own.
- Basquiat before Basquiat
The pieces on display are of the artist Basquiat before he went on to become the famous artist he did. All of these pieces show a great sense of self identity. Basquiat was 100% himself always, he was a man that walked his own path, the path of an eccentric artist. Art was what he lived for, anything and everything he did, he did in his own way.
- The Kids Were Alright
This series of photographs taken by Ryan McGinley is outstanding. Every image in this series is taken just in his everyday life, it’s almost as if you have a looking glass into someone else’s life. But its more than that the series as a whole just shows youthfulness and a bunch of kids just trying to have fun and get by in their day to day lives. It’s almost as if it tells a story of how the artist and his friends lived and breathed.
Blog #6
How do people at work treat you? How does it make you feel? If you have an intern one day will you treat them the same way? What have you learned so far from your coworkers and sponsor?
This week I had a great time although I only was able to go for one day. At one point after finishing my first task of shredding papers I found myself alone in the office for a while at which point I began to work of my project. It was at this point that a coworker came and we were joking about the silence of the offices, that’s when it occurred to me that this was the first real conversation I had had with anyone other than my sponsor, in not as if they treated me like a pest or someone they didn’t want around they just always seem so busy, and I understand that having a conversation with me is something that time doesn’t afford them often. As I learned this week however is that the people in the office are actually quite social able when they get started and that made me feel great to final get over that barrier at least once. The most difficult part for a person in their position is adjusting to a constant new flow of interns that is ever changing, and being able to get to know each and every one as well as getting acquainted with them is something that is difficult, if I were put in the same position as them I would do the exact same. I would try to be kind and hospitable but continue with my work as if nothing had changed.
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Blog #7
What’s the difference between working on personal art projects and working in a creative business? What have you learned about working in a creative business?
My focus this week at my internship has been on my inspired project both on making the plan better and improving upon what I have already set into stone. I am very fortunate to have a sponsor who is taking my project as seriously as I am, if not more seriously, to use her own words this project is going to be “as bad ass as possible”. Over the weeks Alex and I have had numerous conversations surrounding my project but as of Friday we have only met once. I have been hearing about how to improve my project through presentation but I never truly understood what that meant to my art work until after out meaning, there is a fine line between personal artwork and professional artwork in a business environment. One very important variable in this system is presentation, or how you take the art that you have made and give it more meaning through simply changing how it is displayed to the viewer. This variable can be the difference between an amateur artist and a successful one as well as a successful creative business and one that won’t last long in the field, this is a detail that alone can make or break the professionalism of an artist.
Weekly Blog Question #8:
How is your internship project going? Describe the progress of your project. How did the conversation about your project go with your sponsor? (If you haven’t discussed the project with your sponsor yet, how do you plan to do so?) Did they have good insights into how to improve or expand the project? How does your project bridge what you do at your internship and what you like to create for yourself? Has your relationship with your sponsor evolved as you have engaged in a creative dialogue about your project? Are there any challenges you are experiencing planning or doing your project?
My project has been going fantastic, I am having a fun time playing around with design ideas for shoes in new and innovative ways; plus, it is great to be able to get my mind off the world for a while. When I met with my sponsor about my shoes it was great to hear about how she thought my project could be improved, I also learned that I was forgetting an important detail in the art process, one you can’t learn going to any simple art high school. You must remember the presentation, or how you present your art, because you should think about how the viewer will see the work and how it works with the environment and the fixture around it. The connection between my project and my internship was that these shoes were just something I did originally on my way to and from my internship. Although I can’t say that the meeting with my sponsor built upon our relationship I can say that it did feel as though the more time she spent with me the more she opened and acted more as herself which to me is the most important thing a person could do. Lastly I can’t truly say that in the time I have spent at my internship I never truly was challenged; however, I do feel as if they were constantly trying to challenge me in any way they thought possible.
Weekly Blog Question #9
What have you seen or experienced in your internship that has inspired you the most on your own artistic journey? Has this experience changed your artistic ambitions? How?
In the time, I spent at my internship I truly got to see much more then I initially thought I would going in. The art in the museum alone was enough for a lifetime of inspiration, but seeing the way the staff at the museum of contemporary art Denver live their life’s and how they truly are free down to their very core, I truly can’t think of anywhere else where I have meet so many truly free people all in one place and that is one of the most inspiring things in the world to see. After having seen the ways of these amazing people I can truly say that my art has become much less influence by outside sources and more on my own life and experiences meaning my art is beginning to be unique and much less like a rip off of other artist styles.
Weekly Blog Question #10:
Has this experience been a rewarding one for you? Why or Why not? How has the reality of your internship matched or contrasted with your expectations? What is the most important learning you did during your internship?
I learned so much from the time I spent at the MCA Denver like how art can be more then what’s just on the canvas. Going into this experience I wasn’t expecting much, I only thought I would be a lackey and basically a slave to the staff however that was not how I was treated. I was treated like one of their own however I do feel as if they may have gone easy on me in the full spectrum of things, and that’s one thing I wish were different although I completely understand why they made the chooses they made and gave me the tasks that they gave me. All in all I feel as though this experience has been one of my most memorable, I will never forget the time I spent at the MCA and the lessons I learned in my time there.