2022 Getty Marrow Undergraduate Intern Sophia Li

It is already 7 weeks into my internship at Craft in America, time sure goes by fast. Although my internship is mostly remote and consists of digital projects, I am really glad to have experienced in-person tasks as well. 

My work includes some on-going projects like captioning our artist talks, which if you haven’t checked them out yet, you definitely should. My favorite video so far is Arline Fisch’s artist talk. Although I’ve watched the videos 10 times or even more, it’s still fascinating and her explanation of her work is so engaging. Arline Fisch works in metal but uses fiber techniques not traditional to metal. You really have to see the video for yourself. Other than working on the videos, I have also been assigned many graphic design projects like creating flyers for our current Craft in America Center exhibitions, Tibbie Dunbar: Assemble and Location Services: Jewelry Perspectives On Time & Place, and also formatting advertisements for our new upcoming PBS episodes. 

During the installation of Ferne Jacob’s show and installation of Tibbie Dunbar’s show, I was able to assist in-person at the Center. I learned about packing art pieces to help protect the artwork during transportation, wrapping the artwork multiple times, double boxing, and making sure every inch of the artwork is covered and secure. This is a skill not taught in art school to artists, although it really should be, because artists need to know how to protect and ship their work to ensure the longevity of the artworks. To install the show, we had to prepare the gallery which involved painting and cleaning the walls and all the pedestals. I helped Tibbie set up her show and got to see the exhibition assembled, and come to life which is something I’ve never experienced. I have to say it feels really good to be part of completing a show, helping out behind the scenes and knowing that I painted all the pedestals used in the show. 

Overall it has been great getting to work on and dabble in all the projects at Craft in America. We have a lot of projects going on so please continue to follow along!