Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach CA

My first week working at MOLAA proved to be both difficult and refreshing. When I walked in on the first day, nervous of course, I was given a quick tour of the museum and immediately put right to work. My first day also marked the first day of Summer Art Camp at MOLAA and the art studio was running low on cardboard so I was put to cut up old delivery boxes. I sat there, admittedly confused as to why I was cutting pieces up of cardboard when I quickly realized that this would not be a normal internship. The rest of the week would be spent working on projects for future exhibitions, learning how to exist in an office space, and running around making sure the art camp was going as planned. 

The first project I received (which didn't include running around for the art camp) was researching various artists the museum was interested in for an exhibition and creating a short biography for each. The task seemed easy enough at first but the nerves of working in a professional setting for the first time quickly took hold and I began to second-guess myself. I then thought back to all the countless research projects I had done in high school, reflecting on all the late nights spent working and I felt a little bit better. My next project went, or rather is, going a lot more smoothly. For this project, I'm supposed to create a list of five activities which could potentially go along with one of our future exhibitions. I was given no initial guidance other than a couple of source readings and the list of artworks which were going to be in the exhibit. While initially daunting I came to find this project much more rewarding than the last and quickly found myself consumed. I felt like I was able to ask questions about the art and then begin to formulate a loose answer through an activity idea. 

The most eye-opening thing I figured out this week is that a museum never stops. My first two projects were constantly interrupted with miscellaneous errands for the Summer Art Camp and there was never any knowing when or what the next situation was going to be. No matter what happened there was always something to do, always a deadline to meet, and always an unexpected complication. I look forward to week two of my internship at MOLAA and although I'm sure the craziness won't let up, I'll at least know to expect the unexpected. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 4: History Colorado Center

The last week of my internship was also one of the bests (and I apologize for the lack of pictures again, I'm honestly really bad at remembering to take them). As the last four weeks came to a close, I spent my time putting the finishing touches to any work I was doing. Whether that was meeting about the after school program or getting a few more sketch ideas in for the illustration book, I didn't want to leave anything undone or untouched by the time I was finished.  But, I didn't just work. That isn't to say that I sat around and didn't do anything, either. The last four week, however, was spent hanging out with my supervisor and a few others. On Wednesday, they took me out to lunch at an amazing phở spot on Capitol Hill. The lunch was spent having great conversations and some realizations too. Although I learned a lot  about people in Colorado and the roads that they mapped out, I also learned how it felt to be valued and appreciated for my ideas and c...
Read more

SAMA - the last week

July 29 - August 5th On Tuesday, I was also able to take a mental break from computers and art and had a refreshing storytime at the San Antonio Public Library - Las Palmas branch. Even though our participation level was low (two kids and a grandmother), I still had an incredibly fun time with them. After Criztian and I read the story and did the drumming activity, the kids wanted to show us the songs and dances they learned from the librarian, including If you’re happy and you know it, Frogs on a Log, and Shake the Sillies Out. Seeing how well the children interacted with music and dancing was such a great experience, which fit perfectly with the theme of Tito Puente and his music during storytime. Seeing how well they interacted with the music and the stimulation to their young brains was so inspiring.  On Monday the 5th, the other intern and I paired up for the gardens presentation. In case you aren’t up to date here’s a recap of last week: I had an idea to expand the...
Read more

Giovanna Ferreira - WEEK 3 at S.C.C.

Image
Third week of interning at Smithsonian Institution Building has been an adventure. Since we had meetings every single day at every single hour plus doing translations and working on the website for about two weeks, my supervisor decided to give me a little break and sent me to different Smithsonian museums (and the zoo). National Museum of African American History and Culture Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Smithsonian National Museum of American History One of my favorites was the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, which is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s annex at Washington Dulles International Airport, VA. The location is, in my opinion, the coolest, because while you are going around exhibitions you can also observe real planes flying over the museum.  Lockheed SR-71A “Blackbird” was by far my favorite of the whole center. It was a spy plane operated by the United States Air Force and it set a speed record by flying from L...
Read more