Student Employee and Intern Appreciation: Highlighting Our 2023 - 24 Students

The Georgia Museum of Art’s success as a source of free inspiration for more than 75 years would not be possible without the diligent work of student employees and interns. Through internship and work-study positions, more than 50 students worked with us over the course of the 2023 - 24 academic year.

The opportunity for students to learn through hands-on work is a point of pride, but the relationship is reciprocal. Our staff enjoy mentoring and getting to know student interns and employees each semester. Each year, we showcase student employees and interns on our blog and show our appreciation for their work by highlighting their contributions and accomplishments.

Liz Adams (Registration, Fall 2023)

Liz interned in the registration department in the fall of 2023. She took a slew of photographs of works by Arthur Tress. She organized and numbered hundreds of photographs. She also helped process several folk-art works. Measuring, recording inscriptions, condition reporting and taking images. Liz’s fun and sweet personality combined with her dependability. She was a great intern for our department. – Amber Barnhardt, senior registrar

Pierce Alston (PR, Summer 2023)

Pierce volunteered with us during the summer of 2023, just after she graduated from high school and before she headed to school at New York University. A lifelong Athenian, she’d grown up with the museum, and we were delighted to give her an early professional experience in the arts. She kept our external calendars up to date, wrangled food donations and wrote a press release for Museum Mix (and even worked the event with a big smile!). She was cheerful, reliable and professional. – Hillary Brown, director of communications

Allie Ashley (PR, Spring 2024)

Allie approached everything she did here with genuine curiosity and openness, which makes sense for a psychology major. We truly appreciated how quickly she learned and adapted to feedback, and her enthusiasm for digging into the stories of lesser-known artists was a delight. She’s a wonderful writer and was also willing to get out in the community. Together with fellow intern Alex King, she delivered Family Day bookmarks to every Clarke County School District elementary school, as well as many other local private schools and daycares. She also helped update our Pinterest account with Art at Home projects and wrote concise descriptions of projects that have already resulted in an increase in clickthrough to our website. – Hillary Brown, director of communications

Esha Sridhar Bhat (IT, Spring 2024)

Esha did a great job interning during the spring 2024 semester. She focused on researching and analyzing emerging technology in the museum field. Overall, she was an excellent addition to the team. – Joshua Walker, IT systems support professional

Minnie Black (Registration, Fall 2023, Spring 2024)

A seasoned intern that the registration department was grateful to have intern during the fall 2023 and spring 2024 semesters, Minnie Black came to us from the preparators’ department. Already skilled in art handling, Minnie was able to go straight to work on processing a large folk-art collection. She later worked on a large-scale photography project of works by Pierre Daura. Her delightful personality combines with great attention to detail. She was able to take on tasks independently and complete them efficiently. We are sad to see this intern go but wish her all the success in her future. – Amber Barnhardt, senior registrar

Adeline Bryant (Publications, Fall 2023)

Adeline was a real joy to work with, including our regular discussions about horror movies. She combined her two majors (comparative literature and art history) into an omnivorous appetite when it came to art and wrote a lot of very engaging Instagram posts about works in our collection. For example, she did research about the artist Leticia Tarrago, but she also suggested that we write about the fact that our museum is a Pokestop and generated images of adorable Pokemon alongside images from the collection. Finally, she gets kudos for working the 75th anniversary celebration with enthusiasm and even bringing her parents along. – Hillary Brown, director of communications

Morgan Elizabeth Bryant (Education, Summer 2023)

Morgan Bryant was an outstanding education intern during the summer of 2023. As part of our Art Adventures summer program, Morgan led tours of the permanent collection and organized art activities for children of all ages. She has an innate ability to connect with children, and her engaging demeanor and organized approach ensured each experience was both enriching and enjoyable. In December 2023, Morgan graduated with a bachelor of fine arts degree in art education, with plans to teach art at the K - 12 level. It was a privilege to have Morgan as part of our education team, and we have no doubt that she will continue to excel in her endeavors and leave a lasting impact wherever her passion for art education takes her. – Mallory Lind, associate curator of education

Katie Doss (Registration, Spring 2024)

Katie Doss began interning for the registration department during the spring 2024 semester. She diligently worked on updating our TMS database with information from our hard files. She caught on quickly with little training and has always asked questions when needed. Katie has updated hundreds of files thus far and we are delighted she will be continuing her work with us this coming semester! – Amber Barnhardt, senior registrar

Campbell Anne Durbin (Development, Fall 2023, Spring 2024)

For the second year in a row, Campbell has been an absolute ROCKSTAR for the development and annual giving office. She has coordinated materials for board meetings, helped maintain donor records, assisted with various planning and implementation aspects of events and, all the while, has done so with patience and poise. She has been invaluable to our office and tasks this year. – Michele Turner, director of donor relations

Kristina Durkin (Publications, Fall 2023)

Kristina Durkin came to us from the English department, and she’ll graduate with her bachelor’s degree this semester. Her previous experience in retail gave her some impressive skills when it came to balancing a number of tasks. One highlight of her time here was an article she wrote about how an exhibition comes together, from start to finish. The piece ended up being the cover story of the winter 2024 issue of Facet, the museum’s newsletter. To write the piece, she interviewed a number of staff members and did an impressive job of streamlining what she had learned and explaining all the parts of putting together an exhibition in a way that any of our visitors could understand. – Hillary Brown, director of communications

Nicole Ganelin (Publications, Summer 2023)

Nicole Ganelin worked in publications in the summer of 2023. She will complete her double major in English and studio art (drawing and painting) with a certificate in museum studies this semester. Calm and focused, she wanted to focus on editing as much as possible, and her previous experience working at Kennesaw State University’s writing center gave her some skills in that arena. She proofread Facet (our newsletter), wrote a great blog post interviewing new Board of Advisors chair Chris Peterson (which also ran in the newsletter) and helped organize a lot of things behind the scenes. – Hillary Brown, director of communications

Selia Hope Hooten (PR, Summer 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024)

Selia is graduating this semester with a bachelor’s degree in entertainment and media studies via the Grady College of Mass Communication and Journalism. Although public relations wasn't part of her studies, we tried to give her some grounding in PR and help her cultivate new skills through tasks such as learning to pitch directly to reporters. We also appreciated her filmmaking and photographic ability! She worked numerous Family Day events manning the photo booth and created some adorable and sharp Instagram Reels promoting the museum as a study location and a great date night that got a lot of attention and social media love by bigger accounts at UGA. – Hillary Brown, director of communications

Ella Marie Hopkins (Education, Summer 2023)

Ella Hopkins brought her vibrant creativity to our team as an intern during the summer of 2023. She graduated from the Lamar Dodd School of Art in May 2023, with a major in studio art and concentrations in painting and fabric design. Her down-to-earth personality and infectious sense of humor made collaborating with her an absolute joy. Whether brainstorming new art activities or experimenting with different mediums, Ella's vast artistic abilities and adaptability made her an indispensable asset to our team. It was a pleasure to work alongside her, and we have no doubt that she will continue to make waves in the art world with her talent and enthusiasm. – Mallory Lind, Associate curator of education

Alexandra King (PR, Spring 2024)

Alex isn’t graduating yet. She still has a year to go to complete her double major in public relations and public health, and we hope she's able to come back and intern with us again next year. She was always reliable, and her experience writing press releases really showed. She also wrote some lovely Instagram posts about works in the collection, pitched the Kei Ito exhibition to journalists across the country, delivered Family Day cards all over Clarke County and showed up with a big smile on her face no matter what she was doing. She’s going to intern with Full Tilt Consulting this summer, and we know they’ll appreciate her as much as we do. – Hillary Brown, director of communications

Kristen Locke (Publications, Fall 2023)

If I had to pick one word to characterize Kristen’s contributions here during her fall semester internship, it would be “precision.” As an English major, she thought through both her writing for us (lovely Instagram posts, some excellent blog posts that highlighted a museum alum who's moved on to a new career in Yellowstone and the educational work UGA faculty are pursuing in our galleries) and her proofreading. She was on top of things and productive, accomplishing more within a few short months than some students manage in a year. She is graduating this year, and we know that wherever she goes her skills will be so welcome! – Hillary Brown, director of communications

Avery Lowhorn (Registration, Spring 2024)

Avery interned with the registrars’ department during the spring semester. In that time, she helped massively in cataloging the large collection of Lamar Dodd works that were recently acquired by the museum. At the beginning of her time here, she assisted me in condition reporting and applying numbers, but by the end she was able to perform these tasks with minimal supervision. Her hard work and diligence paid off. On her final day at the museum, we finished the last of the physical cataloging of the Dodd works, a major accomplishment that has helped me tremendously. I can't thank her enough for her hard work. Over the summer, Avery will be studying abroad in Cortona, Italy, where she will continue her education in art history. We wish her all the luck in her Italian adventure. – Kevin Roldan, assistant registrar

Bonnie Moore (Education, Fall 2023, Spring 2024)

Bonnie Moore was an intern in the education department in both the fall 2023 and spring 2024 semesters. Her creativity, background in art history and knowledge of the museum field made her an incredible asset to our team! She always had a positive attitude and approached each new project and challenge with enthusiasm. Bonnie assisted with programs for visitors of all ages. She helped with many, many (!) 5th-grade tours in the fall, facilitating hands-on art projects and moving kids through the museum for each step of the tour program. She provided support for Student Nights, Family Days, Toddler Tuesdays, artist talks, lectures and more, developing project ideas, researching works of art and writing interpretive content to help make art accessible to all. She also co-curated a special pop-up exhibition this spring with fellow intern Ashton Wilson titled “Celebrating Women Artists and Their Perspectives.” For this project, Bonnie and Ashton co-wrote interpretive labels for works of art from the museum’s collection and hosted visitors in the Shannon and Peter Candler Collection Study Room. Bonnie is graduating this summer with a degree in art history and a certificate in museum studies. We can’t wait to see what she does next! Congratulations, Bonnie! – Callan Steinmann, head of education and curator of academic and public programs

Nishat Nayla (PR, Fall 2023)

This was the second year Nishat interned at the museum, but we only had her for the fall semester, unfortunately. She had bigger and better things to do! Wise and assured beyond her years, she more than capably handled everything we threw at her, despite being an economics, international business and international affairs major (i.e., not studying public relations). She made an amazing video testimonial that featured her own perspective about how valuable her experience as an intern has been at the museum; she trained students who came after her; she handled Museum Mix event duties; she researched and wrote about artists; and she even traversed campus to put up posters for our events. Above all, she was quick to adapt when she had to react on the fly to an unexpected challenge. It feels like she’s going to go out and change the world when she graduates in 2025, and we’re proud to have been part of her journey. – Hillary Brown, director of communications

Rachel Palmer (PR, Fall 2023, Spring 2024)

It’s been wonderful to watch Rachel’s skillset grow this year, as she’s entered major-level coursework in advertising and public relations and learned more about what we do behind the scenes. She asks great questions, and she is never discouraged in the face of challenges or snags in task. She’s full of real curiosity about the world. She’s happily done many different tasks in her year here – from event work to grunt work to sustained, thoughtful research – and she is a good writer with her own point of view. She’s got grit and a great sense of responsibility; she loves art, even though she’s not studying it; and she’s just a really well-rounded person. We hope she comes back for her senior year! – Hillary Brown, director of communications

Sadie Pijanowski (Education, Fall 2023)

Sadie worked with the education department in the fall of 2023. Her innate creativity and background in art education quickly made her an asset. Sadie helped develop and facilitate art projects for Toddler Tuesdays, one of her favorite programs. She also managed gallery Art Cart stations for Family Days with patience and expertise, adapting activities for different ages and flexing her classroom management muscles. In addition to her internship, Sadie was an outreach instructor for the 5th-Grade Tour Program. She co-developed and implemented post-visit lessons to Clarke County elementary schools to strengthen curriculum connections and expand the impact of field trips beyond the museum’s walls. After student-teaching this spring, she is now graduating with a bachelor of fine arts degree in art education, and she plans to teach in the fall. Congrats Sadie! – Kaitlyn Loyd, assistant curator of education

Sophie Prescott (Registration, Fall 2023, Spring 2024)

The registration department was very lucky to have Sophie as an intern from fall 2023 through spring 2024. She began in 2023 aiding in a large inventory project. She helped us take images for our database and check off locations throughout our main vault. Afterwards, she spent many many an hour working away at our database transcribing hard file information. She was able to update thousands of files over the two semesters. She will certainly be missed. We wish her all the luck in her future endeavors! – Amber Barnhardt, senior registrar

Cassie Reynolds (Registration, Spring 2024)

Cassie Reynolds completed a class-credit internship with the registrars’ department this spring. From her very first day, we were impressed with her interest in learning and her ability to quickly soak up knowledge! Building on skills from her previous work with the collections at UGA’s Archaeology Laboratory, she capably trained as a cataloger of the museum’s works on paper, which include prints, drawings, watercolors and photographs. She adeptly navigated TMS, the museum’s collections database, to input object data that she attentively gathered, which also involved taking careful measurements and photographs, learning terms and identifying condition issues in order to create detailed condition reports. She also meticulously transcribed signatures and inscriptions (including a little bit of French translation!) to help further detail condition reports. Thanks to Cassie’s energy and diligence, she completed the cataloging of 127 works of art during her weekly sessions this semester, which is a meaningful achievement. I treasure the good questions that Cassie asked as we worked together, her kind and pleasantly calm nature and our shared curiosity and enjoyment in sleuthing the answer to a mystery whenever one arose. We wish her warm congratulations on her graduation and are so grateful to her for sharing her considerable talents with us! – Christy Sinksen, associate registrar

Regan Mallory Saunders (Publications, Summer 2023)

Regan graduated from UGA in December 2023 with a degree in English, a minor in communications and an interdisciplinary writing certificate. She was a wonderful storyteller, and her skills were valuable in the work she did in both publications and public relations. She wrote a press release on the “In Dialogue” exhibition that featured work by Pierre and Louise Blair Daura; she wrote blog posts and proofread essays for the proceedings of the 11th Henry D. Green Symposium of the Decorative Arts; and she was always reliable and cheerful. – Hillary Brown, director of communications

Phoebe Seitz (Shop, Fall 2023, Spring 2024)

Phoebe always has a positive attitude and is excellent at serving the shop customers. – Adam Clark, Museum Shop manager

Mary Alice Smith (Curatorial, Fall 2023, Spring 2024)

Always quick to add a humorous quip or thoughtful reflection, Mary Alice was an invaluable addition to the modern and contemporary art department over the past year. She successfully navigated and juggled multiple projects while maintaining a high level of professionalism, flexibility and consideration, all while keeping me and others in the office in a perpetual state of laughter. I am most proud of her efforts to take on and steward new initiatives in our folk and self-taught art collections. She has also assisted significantly in the development of many of our fall 2024 projects, including but not limited to the “Artist as Witness” and “Joel Sternfeld: When It Changed” exhibitions. I will greatly miss Mary Alice’s enthusiasm and stellar shades in the office and wish her congratulations on graduation and best of luck on her next steps pursuing a graduate degree. – Kathryn Hill, associate curator of modern and contemporary art

Charlsie Wemple (Registration, Fall 2023)

Charlsie interned in the registration department in the fall of 2023. She learned our TMS system by entering inscriptions and condition reports, attaching images and updating entry data for several objects. She helped with taking photographs of works by Arthur Tress and various folk-art artists. Her kind demeanor combined with her ability to understand new tasks quickly. She was a delight to have in our department and we wish her all the luck in her future endeavors. – Amber Barnhardt, senior registrar

Ashton Wilson (Education, Spring 2024)

Ashton interned with the education department during the spring 2024 semester. She was a cheerful addition to our team who was always willing to take on a new project with resolve and creativity. She assisted with many programs, including every Toddler Tuesday and Family Day event this semester. She also co-curated the pop-up exhibition “Celebrating Women Artists and Their Perspectives” with fellow education intern Bonnie Moore. For the show, Ashton co-wrote interpretive labels for works of art from the museum's collection that highlighted 20th-century women artists. As we began planning for Art Adventures this summer, Ashton researched and developed a tour stop, complete with interpretive questions and activities, that will be implemented in this summer’s program. Next year, she will finish her bachelor of arts degree in history, and we’re excited to see where it takes her!  – Kaitlyn Loyd, assistant curator of education

Emily Morgan Yoo (Education, Fall 2023, Spring 2024)

Emily Yoo was a student worker in the education department for the full 2023 - 24 academic year. She was an enormous help to us in providing support for a range of education programs, such as Family Days, K - 12 tours, Student Nights, lectures, artist talks and more. Emily prepped lots of supplies, helped keep the classroom and art materials organized, shepherded school groups through the galleries and much much more. We’re thankful to Emily for all her help and we will miss her next year! – Callan Steinmann, head of education and curator of academic and public programs

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