Museum artist collaboration at the DMA

For this internship, I am collaborating with the Dallas Museum of Art to create an interactive installation that will engage self-guided visitors. I will also develop a series of workshops centered on my art practice, a proposed theme, and hopefully also the museum collection.

The internship began actually early last fall, with the application process, as it involved conceiving the collaboration in itself. In other words, I had to think from the point of view of a museum professional, a visitor and, of course, an artist, to propose  a project and a theme that will engage visitors. I proposed the theme of home, a very relevant topic for the Dallas area right now, as many people who live here have been displaced by a natural disaster, immigration or gentrification.  This is particularly true about Oak Cliff, the closest neighborhood to the Art District where the DMA is located. My proposal is a combination of drawing and photography, in which visitors contribute drawings of homes which I will then compose in a single cyanotype print. This way, the homes that normally live in different cities and even realities (with dream homes included) will form one neighborhood. McMansions and humble abodes will be next to each other. My expectations were lofty and thinking mode was idealistic! I couldn't wait for the summer, when the project was scheduled to run, to put those lofty ideas into practice.

IN the months running up to it, there were numerous meetings with the education team, the curatorial, installation and conservation department that checked on how the project will fit into the whole and also help me with ideas of how to make it happen. As living within my artist identity, it felt weird that so many people were working to help me with the many technical - if not difficulties, then challenges - that surrounded the project. I felt both humbled and appreciative of the work of so many professionals who put their expertise at the service of my idea.

But there were many challenges that only I could solve - in the artistic process itself - and was it a very hectic, busy and excruciating last month and a half of the semester! Sunset Art Studios in Oak Cliff awarded me an artist residency where I could use the studio space and hold public events. Most importantly, I was able to solve the issues, adjust my expectations and practice flexibility. Enter the start of the actual project!

TO be continued.  Expect plot twists, severe weather events and close encounters with some amazing people.