DMA Insightful Internship - What I Learned

Hello again everyone,

I had a fantastic time at the DMA this summer and I learned so much! I learned that I love to work in a museum setting, first of all. It was great fun working with a variety of people on a variety of projects. I loved being able to research an object one minute, design educational material the next, run to meetings, discuss 'big picture' ideas, and see how the public utilized the material we created. It was great to work with the people who have the jobs that I aspire to; to get advice and feedback from them on my work and see how they get things done. It was especially valuable for me to get some hands-on experience in the museum world because most of my limited experience has been in academic settings - seeing real-world problems and solutions really helps me understand why I'm working and what I'm working toward. 

As far as what I wish I would have known before the start of my internship... I honestly can't think of anything I wish I had known before simply because I feel that all I have learned is something that I could only have learned through this process! Perhaps it is because of the welcoming environment of the DMA, but I never felt like I was at a particular loss for not knowing what I didn't know when I began. As questions or issues arose, I was always answered with a smile and eagerness from everyone I worked with. If I had advice for anyone looking to start the same internship, I would tell them to be flexible, be outgoing, be willing to ask the stupid questions, and always work to submit better work than they ask for!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful end to their summer and I look forward to seeing many of you in class this semester!

Megan 

Goodbye DMA

What I have learned at the DMA:

Specifically I learned how to use different programs such as Evernote, how the DMA organizes itself (meaning its staff and all the material it generates), and a lot about copyright! I learned what the Interpretation Department is and it’s function. As I have explained in a post earlier, I learned that I like jobs that keep me going and always guessing. There is no way I could do the same thing every day. The DMA is perfect for that since it is an institution that is encyclopedic and allows its staff to work on all sorts of art, or at least the education staff. I had never had an internship at a museum before this one, so my entire experience was a learning curve.

However, there are two short-comings that the DMA is working towards. The trickle down of information and leadership is short-sighted. The people in the offices do not communicate well enough with the gallery attendants and etc.., which they were all surprised to learn, actually get asked a lot of questions about the art. This topic was discussed in a meeting I attended and I was just as shocked that no one realized people ask them questions about the art as they were that people did that? There needs to be some sort of system that allows more fluidity of information passed from the curators and educators to the guards. I mean really, when you think about it, the gallery guards are who visitors come into contact with not the people in offices, more money and resources needs to be given to hire and find and educate those people. They can and do directly affect if a visitor comes back or not, not necessarily how high a painting was hung or if a wall text was too short. Secondly, too much emphasis is put upon comprehending and understand a piece of art versus a patron just looking and seeing! I understand why the DMA does this, that’s all the interpretation department does is help people interpret art that they may have no way of understanding, but why does someone have to understand it as it was intended. A person can place new meanings upon art, I think that can be lost in such a huge institution at times.

What I wished I had known before I started, augh I am having trouble with this one. I had such a positive experience at the DMA it is hard to find something negative, besides learning what the D3C’s do every day( which is the same thing ). It was honestly the nicest place I have ever worked at, everyone there was incredibly happy and sweet, I still had people saying hello to me my last few weeks that I didn’t even know. Maybe working in a museum requires and not so shy person, and a person who is willing to talk to anyone about anything at any time! You can be tucked away in your corner, but not for long! So shy people need not apply? I think you can of course be shy, but you have to be able to warm up or it may not be the career for you.

The advice I would give to interns after me is to be sure and tell your supervisor what you want to learn and get out of the internship. I was lucky enough to have Andrea ask me if there was anything else I wanted to do or learn, and there was, more about her! I had learned what people in the internship department are doing but I wanted to see more of a day to day schedule for her, because that is where I would see myself best fitting in. A leadership position. I would also caution fellow interns to not take it too seriously, have fun! They do not care if you are perfect at the tasks at hand only that you try and ask questions and pitch in! After all, you are only an intern not an employee so take advantage of that!

Overall, I have learned that a museum may be the place for me, but I do want to try out different departments to really see where I could fit in. I like the brainstorming that goes on in a museum and the constant push and pull on what a visitor may actually grab onto. At first, as I explained in an earlier post, I was terrified to start by myself in such a huge place! But I am happy with the people and connections that I made while I was there! At least if they do not remember my name, maybe they will remember my face! I am proud that I got to work with such a great team and on a project that is considered to be the first of its kind that is the Digital Project. My work will be published online, at some point, and the team is using some materials I put together for them. It felt good to actually go out and do something applicable rather than in theory land, which is where I live most of the time! I am proud that I got through all this pregnant! I would totally accept and go back to the DMA if they ever needed me!

See you all soon,

Jessica Pirkle  

What I Learned This Summer

This summer was a great experience. I learned so many new things about museum education, many of them unexpected, which made it fun and exciting as well. I was able to gain new skills in the use of technology for educational purposes, including basic website design, the development and implementation of educational activities for use online, and how to navigate PastPerfect software. I was also able to have the opportunity to work on some of the summer family programming for the El Paso Museum of History. I realized how important it is to strike a balance between activities that are fun and activities that are educational; both are important factors and neither can be left out. At the El Paso Historical Society I had another interesting opportunity to learn about archive management, which included how to care for, store, and categorize archival material, but more importantly taught me lessons about how to discover the stories different materials can tell and the significance of including many points of view. Both institutions provided me with rewarding, enriching experiences that I know I will carry into the future, and I feel very fortunate that I was able to experience them in El Paso, Texas.

What did I learn while doing my internship at the Kimbell Art Museum.

Well, I found that I didn't really enjoy meetings that much, kinda time wasters mostly, but maybe that's why people like them, you can sit around, drink coffee and BS.  Kinda cool, I guess, beats paving a road in the Texas heat, that's for sure.  I know sometimes they are definitely necessary to get feedback and to discuss certain things, but if it's just an informational situation, I think an email would really work better, just tell me what you want and let me do it, simple.  Working with children was definitely fun, I don't have any (that I know of), but they were really fun to be around and I enjoyed watching them make art and have fun with their parents and brothers and sisters.  I wrote a really great lesson plan that everyone enjoyed and I think got really great results.  We read a children book called The Iridescence of Birds about Henri Matisse.  I had the story read in front of L' Asie, painted by Matisse in 1946, then we went to the studio to do an activity that was written with children 4-6 in mind.  At the end of Matisse's career he invented "drawing with scissors", cutting out painted paper, arranging it on a background then adhering it onto the surface to create beautiful and colorful collage pieces.  I had 4 colors of colored paper, as well as black, glue sticks and scissors, then rolled out a 3' x 10' piece of white butcher paper onto the table.  The children and their parents used scissors and their fingers to cut and tear the colored paper into all kinds of fun shapes, then we glued them onto the white paper and created 2 really colorful and fun murals.  After we finished each mural, the children named them and they were quite hilarious and poignant, very clever little creatures those children.  Everyone very much enjoyed the activity, viewing the painting and the story, definitely something I had never done before, but I found it very fulfilling and successful and enjoyed creating the program very much.  It was great to be able to walk around the museum, looking at the art and being able to get a little closer than the normal patron can get, it really helps to have a badge and a clipboard like you are on OFFICIAL business!  I enjoyed helping with research and doing background information gathering on upcoming activities and trying to make the best out of the different materials that we have and how to repurpose materials from past activities to make new ones.  I was involved in KimbellFEST, Kimbell Teen Night, and multiple Saturday drop in studios for children and their families, all very interesting and fun.  It's a bit different for me, being that I'm so far the only male that they have had in the education department as well as the only studio major, everyone else has been either art ed. or art history.  They did find me very useful at building examples and prototypes and I can lift things heavier than 50 pounds and reach the top shelf, so I'm definitely useful in my own way!  I had a truly wonderful experience here over the summer, met some really great people, saw some AMAZING art every day and aside from the heat and traffic riding back and forth, it was a really fantastic summer.  I'm looking forward to being back in my studio again, working on projects and once more being creative, I find that it's what I'm best at and I need to try and contribute to giving the art ed. and art history majors something to study!  I hope everyone had a great experience like I did and I will definitely remember it for years to come and hope that it helps me out in my career and beyond.

Good morning, everyone, I hope this finds you all doing well and rested after our much cooler and a little wet weekend.  This is my last few days of my internship, I'll be finishing up and Wednesday then straight back to class on Monday, back to the studio and teaching!  I've been busy these last few days working on the list that Alli left for me before she left for vacation and I'm pretty much to the end of everything.  I cut out a LOT of felt pieces for an upcoming gallery exercise based on the Fish & Snail children book by Deborah Freedman.  The activity will involve getting the participants to work together to create/alter the narratives that they see in the paintings by manipulating felt/fabric shapes on the floor of the gallery, it should be very interesting and fun!  I also helped to troubleshoot new theme options for the upcoming Viewpoints programming called Weaving Together.  I created 15 wood weaving looms to be used by the participants and was working on the possible best uses of materials and such to keep the activity interesting and exciting for everyone.  I have tried to find something fairly quick and simple, being that there is a limited time to complete the activity and the skill levels vary from person to person.  I researched different techniques, materials and processes and I hope that some of that information will be useful.  The last project I have been working on is a "zine" that will be part of the Money:  The Early Years exhibition.  Classes will collaborate to create a zine (handmade magazine) in which students reflect on their relationships to the works in the exhibition.  There are many ways to create these zines and the students would be limited only by their imagination.  I have never done this before, so it has been very interesting to scan images and text and research various Monet related materials and get creative with the results, I think the outcome will be very interesting.  I've been able to help Marilyn a bit in the Kahn workroom, repurposing some of the foam core materials used in various displays and cutting the pieces down to a more workable size for future projects and such, making room and getting rid of stuff that is no longer useful, I think the workroom will be in great shape very soon!  I also was able to help with the Painting with Picasso children activity this last Saturday and it was great fun, the kids and the parents really enjoyed it and we had some wonderful pieces created. I really enjoyed my internship and it's been a great summer!  I'm looking forward to our next class together and getting my certification finished up after the Fall 2016 semester.  Not much longer now until I'm finished with school then off to begin a new career and life, continue my studio practice and maybe become a small farmer of sorts!  I'll look forward to seeing you all very soon and I hope everyone is well!

Official last day at the Museum of Biblical Arts, well not really....

Today is my “Official” last day at the Museum of Biblical Arts – Dallas MBA). I placed the official in quotes because I still have a registrar project that I have not completed (but very close.)  To say the time has flown by seems cliche’ but it really has.  The whole summer has gone by so fast and my son is starting 3^rd grade tomorrow (and turning 8 as well.) What I realized it that most museum-personnel, including arts educators, wear multiple hats.  You can see that by the various projects that everyone has worked on at their different internships.  Mine was no exception.  I mentioned in an earlier blog that I was doing some registrar work where I documented the incoming artworks for any damages, photographed them and am still entering them into the database.  I have a new found respect for this occupation, and realize that it is not for me.  I still have 9 more pieces that came back from on loan, there are 50 pieces in this collection.  I’ve learned that all the MBA staff wear multiple hats, perhaps it is because of the staff size.  They, like myself, have a very small staff and everyone needs to pitch in to get certain tasks completed.  Last week I assisted in the lock-down of the museum, where one locks up and another comes behind to double-check.  As most of you know, I love talking about art so conducting tours or just walking around and visiting with the visitor’s is my favorite part.  I will be volunteering at The Nasher Sculpture Center at least one more time for their Target First Saturday.  I look forward to talking to the younger kids about art, it’s my favorite part of my job at Dallas Love Field as well.  I hope everyone enjoyed their summer internship and look forward to seeing you all for our presentations.

Peace and love,

Guy Bruggeman

Yay data entry!!!!

Technology and Education

While working at the El Paso Museum of History this summer, I have come to realize how important the role of technology can be in education today. There are so many great tools available to educators that can have a major impact on a visitor's experience. For example, just last year the EPMH opened DIGIE, or a Digital Information Gateway in El Paso. It is the first of its kind in the U.S., modeled after the original at the Museum of Copenhagen in Denmark. The basic idea behind DIGIE is that it is a digital wall, where thousands of photographs and videos have been uploaded, and continue to be uploaded daily. The wall is open to the public, so any one can submit something they feel would be of value to the project (though images are screened first to ensure they are appropriate). Visitors can touch the screen to engage with an interactive timeline that allows them to explore the city at different points in history, as well as photographs and videos. They can also leave comments and video messages, or send digital postcards anywhere in the world. It has been so much fun to see visitors interact with the wall. They love learning more about their city and have really taken DIGIE on as a community project. Children especially love it. Another example is the project I have been working on for most of the summer - a Moodle website for the museum. Moodle is a platform from which you can build an educational website, with games and activities that can be completed online, at home, or in the classroom. If students complete a certain number of the "assignments" they can earn badges. Tools like DIGIE or Moodle can really help visitors engage with the museum and with the larger picture of the city's history. It has been so much fun learning about these programs, I'm really enjoying it!

Sincerely, 

Samantha Evans

Learning during the internship experience

 What I learned? It is a difficult question to answer; I am not sure if I can recall everything I learned, but I will try. First of all, I have to mention again that the GDAC where I did the internship is not a museum so that the experience might be different a little bit from the rest of my colleagues . The first thing I learned was how to follow the role of answering the phone. I sometimes forgot that I am working on a public place, so I answer the GDAC's phone as answering my cell phone, which made me feel embarrassed. However, after time it became an easy task to do.
I learned to manage my time to arrive at work early and plan ahead when I could not come. I learned to work with the group and be flexible when taking the lunch break to assist the visitors better. I learned more about GDAC events and contribution to Denton community. I got to know that they have to lease the facility to pay some of their expenses. I got to know that the art center is essential to any healthy community, and I hope I can see a similar center in my hometown.
I learned to work on excel files more than what I expect, especially when I worked on the survey project. From the survey, I found out that people are varied in almost everything, so it takes an effort to know how to deal with them correctly, and how to get them to know your place and activities.
Finally, I learned that people are not coming to the exhibition, for example, to study about it or get the facts, most of them are coming to feel connected with the community. So, I must have a smiley face to welcome anyone and communicate nicely with them to hook them up with the center atmosphere.  

A project of surveys

I got a project of analyzing to do during my internship. The project included about twelve surveys from the past years until this year. It was on an excel file with raw data of the questions and answers mixed. My job was to try to reorganize all similar answers for each question and divide them by age and genders. The job seems easy when I heard of it, so I told my supervisor that I could make them on charts too. However, when I started working, it became confusing, and I had to put them on different sheets to make it easy. I spent a good two hours with only one survey, and I could not even finish it.
I started thinking how these surveys were done, and if they were made online, there must be a way to get all answers, questions, and genders divided and organized correctly. I went to my supervisor asking her, and she said yes that they have their account on one of the online survey services. I asked if that website could have all functions and charts to organize what we want. Her answer was: I have no idea! I could get the date as you see. She then gave me the username and password of the account if I wish to check it out myself.
It took me a little bit time to figure it out, but I found all functions to create many things such as charts and words map. So, it was worth checking out, and it was so easy from the actual survey website to reorganize whatever you like and make some sense out of that raw data. I finished all surveys at the next day, and I put every survey on a separate PDF file with charts and words map.
What I learned from that is not to underestimate any job, and not to keep doing things by the old ways while technology provides me with quick, easy, and better options.

Neighbors at the Greater Denton Arts Council

I nice old lady entered the Greater Denton Arts Council (GDAC) where I was at the reception greeting people who are coming to see the Denton Quilt Guild exhibition. The lady seems familiar to me, but I could not recall where or when I saw her. I also felt that she paused at the first
moment when she saw me. We have the same feeling that we knew each
other, but none of us made sure.

I welcomed her and guided her to the exhibition where she wanted. I started telling her some general information about the exhibit and some sparse information about the Art of Quilt. I returned to my desk while my memory was still trying to recall that sense of familiarity, but it failed. After a while, the lady came toward me looking carefully and asked Are not you living at Stratford? I said yes I do, you must be a neighbor? She answered yes. I said I am sorry my memory could not help me recall where I have seen you. She said no worry; I could not remember it at first too. We laughed, and then she said let me show you something at the exhibition. I went with her toward a beautiful piece of art where she mentioned that piece is her work of quilt. Then, she started explaining more about the art of quilts. It was awkward, irony, and funny how I turned quickly to be the one who needed to learn more about the exhibition instead of telling visitors about it. Anyhow, I have been living there for three years, and at my internship at GDAC, it was the first time to know she is an artist. After that meeting, we used to see each other more often in the neighborhood and chat about arts.

Another neighbor came at the next day; we knew each other since she is the neighbor across the street. We greeted each other as usually. I got to know that she is a committee member at GDAC, and she was coming for the GDAC meeting. We got to speak about arts and the possibility of artists exchanges between different cultures.
It was delightful to know your neighbors more through art center. I got to know that the Museum is not only an educational place but also a place to know people much better. I am glad that I have done this internship at GDAC, it provided me with excellent opportunities to know my neighbors better, which I could not do while living beside them.

The Story of El Paso

El Paso is a very special city. After having spent some time here, I can truly say that there is no other city like it. It lies at the intersection between Texas, New Mexico, and the Mexican state of Chihuahua. While the influences of these regions are visible everywhere, El Paso's history has nonetheless tended to be different. 

Perhaps this has something to do with its location. Founded in 1581 as El Paso del Norte (the Pass of the North), the small Spanish town originally served those passing through the mountains on their journey west. After the Pueblo Indian Revolt of 1680, Spanish colonists and members of the Tigua tribe took refuge in the region. Several hundred years later, beginning with the advent of the railroad, El Paso, now a part of the United States, saw the arrival of people from all over the world. The addition of nearby Fort Bliss continues to bring in many people from different places.

From my short visits, I sensed that there was something different about this city, and that it had great history, but I never had the opportunity to better understand its character until I began to spend some time examining the documents and photographs at the El Paso County Historical Society. Each photograph and document held an important piece to the city's story. It never struck me until then how each piece in a collection, whether held in a historical society, museum, or other institution, can work with the others to form one narrative. The individual stories each piece tells, which are  fascinating in their own right, can be viewed together to give someone a fuller impression of what bigger story the collection has to tell; in this case, the story of El Paso. There are not many better ways to gain an understanding of a place, I think, than to have the opportunity to see the photographs of the people who have shaped it, next to the remaining artifacts and artwork they have left behind.

Looking Back

Hi everyone!

This is Samantha Evans, writing from El Paso, Texas. 

I began this summer looking forward to spending time at the El Paso Museum of History in their education department, but a second opportunity was offered to me to help out at the El Paso County Historical Society in their Archives department. It was very lucky, and I am very excited to be able to spend time at two fantastic institutions!

Before I began, I wondered about what these two opportunities would be like. They were different, yet they both combined my love for history and education. It quickly became apparent that both of my jobs would involve a great deal of programming and website design, which is something I felt I could learn more about, so I hoped I would be able to quickly gather the basic tools I needed to get started on my projects. I was also mostly unfamiliar with the history of El Paso; though my parents are from here and my grandfather still lives here, I have never been able to visit for more than a week at a time. I wondered what its story was, and how each institution's collection would contribute pieces to it. 

Everything seemed very promising, and I was excited to get started!

 

Meetings, Meetings, and more Meetings

Hello Everyone!

Hope your summer is going well! I cannot believe it is already August. Anyways, my supervisor’s name is Andrea Severin, she is the head of the interpretation department at the DMA and she attends A LOT of meetings. She has 6 employees, 5 of them are on the DC3 Team, which is the online project, and one was just hired before I started my internship to work on the teaching ideas section for the online project. It is obvious that this is an area that the museum is putting money into. Not just the interpretation department, but the entire museum educational division has had two new positions added this summer. The only employees she has are for the online project, so I assume that leaves her for all of the interpretation items for the actual exhibitions in the museum. That is a lot of work! I am not sure when she gets it all done because she spends almost all of her days in meetings!

The meetings are something that has been surprising to me. She has meeting after meeting after meeting. When does she get anything actually worked out and done? I have been to a few with her and everyone talks about what they want to get done, but when does it actually get done? This leads me to wonder if she has to do work at home. All of the “one offs” I have been doing are to help her with what she needs to do for every permanent exhibition in the museum. I assume this why work for these exhibitions start a year before they are actually installed and ready.