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 Bates 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.