The excitement of the first day as an Intern

Hello from the studio at UNT!

My name is Karla Garcia and I am an MFA graduate student in Studio Art focusing on Ceramics. I began the Museum Education Certification Program two years ago after giving birth to a beautiful girl named Frances. With one year left of graduate school, I am finally finishing up the Museum Education Certification program with an amazing internship at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. I feel incredibly fortunate to learn from the amazing team of educators and witness how much work goes into museum programming. Insert all the exclamation marks here!

The story of my first day begins with my Frances running around the house as she is fully embracing the "Terrible Two's" of Toddlerhood. The fear of running late, especially on the first day as Asami pointed out in her introduction, was nerve wracking. I drank half a cup of coffee and ran out the door. I got there with just a couple of minutes to spare, and the day began at full speed ahead with my new supervisors Emily Sullivan in Public Programs and Peggie Speirs in Interpretation.

Danielle Davis reads Little Elliot Big Family to families with young children at the entrance gallery.

A green Staff T-Shirt and a blue apron later, my first job as an intern quickly began with Emily's Story Time. I helped set up, and  then observed the front desk welcoming procedures, providing information and expectations of the Story Time program to families with young children. There were a total of four stories with the same theme of big and small. I got to observe Danielle for about two hours as she told the story of Little Elliot Big Family to different groups every 20 minutes. Danielle was magical! From toddlers to about 6 or 7 year old kids listened and participated in the story time. After coming home, I tried out one of the techniques during bed time story for my own toddler to get her to focus her energy on the visuals and story. She quickly calmed down and went to bed without a fuss.

Source: Amon Carter Museum

I'd like to add that besides continuing to learn about the museum education programs, it is a wonderful experience to be able to spend a day in a place where the high ceilings and light source of the atrium that displays Gabriel Daw's Plexus #34 site specific installation is just amazing and inspiring.

In addition to walking through a beautiful space, the painting that is featured in my post is titled Swing Landscape by Stuart Davis (1892-1964). He was an American artist born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The artwork explores the integration of technology, architecture, and jazz music of mid-century America.¹ Davis' use of bold colors, shapes, and space, depicts the Gloucester, Massachusetts, waterfront. It was amazing to see the kids learn about this masterpiece at such young age. Some of them related to the artwork through their interest in color and shapes, while older kids were able to see how the artwork interpreted a a cityscape.

For the rest of the day, I did the HR thing, got my badge. Then I learned that the architecture of the museum allows you to walk and not realize that you might be a couple of stories underground! I got settled in my shared office and started to document some of the projects that Emily organizes for kids. I can't believe that was just one day! I am ready to go back on Friday to learn about Interpretation, learn about the collections, and be able to help out in any way.

Until then!!

Karla Garcia
Public Programs and Interpretation Intern
Amon Carter Museum // University of North Texas MFA expected 2019