One of the unique facets of the Georgia Museum of Art is its location on the University of Georgia campus. When museum founder Alfred Heber Holbrook sought out to start a museum with his own art collection, he wanted a museum location that would foster art appreciation and education. Upon moving to Athens, his own appreciation for the university learning environment and art were apparent. He enrolled in art classes at UGA, donned a pink smock and a pipe in class and became a beloved member of the campus community, despite being much older than most of his classmates in art classes. One student body class even dedicated the Pandora yearbook to him, according to Red and Black newspaper archives.
Thus, as we celebrate our 75th anniversary as a museum and source for free inspiration, it seems fitting that we highlight the continuation of this relationship – between young and old, students and faculty and staff, all in the parallel interest of art and education — that persists today in such vibrancy by highlighting our student interns. Through work-study and internship positions, the museum has a wealth of students who contribute to the day-to-day operations at the museum and are invaluable. While the opportunity for students to learn hands-on is a point of pride, the relationship is reciprocal.
Our staff enjoy mentoring and getting to know student interns each semester and today we’d like to acknowledge how appreciative we are of the work that our 2022 – 2023 interns have done at the museum. To that end, in a show of appreciation, our staff have written about each intern and how their work has contributed to the museum this year. If you’re curious about the behind-the-scenes aspect of the museum, a read through our staff’s praise of our interns will give you an idea of just how much work goes into the successful operation of a museum.
Curatorial
Andrew East: During the spring 2023 semester, Andrew worked with the museum’s collection of Russian art. They worked alongside our Parker Research Assistant, Chelsey Spencer, in the registrar’s department. Throughout the semester they had various tasks, but the most instrumental was getting through the inventory of the new addition of Russian art to the museum’s permanent collection.. Their attention to detail and wonderful personality made them a delight to have in our department. – Amber Barnhardt, associate registrar
Rachel Gooch and Sophie Mason Johnson: Rachel and Sophie, both art history majors, were originally students in my course on Black representation that I taught at the Lamar Dodd School of Art (LDSOA) during the fall 2022 semester. Both had taken courses in art history and museum studies, but they wanted to have an experiential learning opportunity at the museum and were excited about working here this spring. Rachel began her experience compiling a working chronology on artist Harold Rittenberry while Sophie researched the career of former LDSOA professor Stefanie Jackson in preparation for our annual Black Art and Culture Awards celebration held at the museum last month. Sophie assembled images and wrote and narrated a script that formed the basis of an introductory video about the artist, who was honored with this year’s Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Award. Sophie and Rachel also collaboratively compiled research materials and bibliographies for an upcoming exhibition for sculptor Edmonia Lewis. They organized a successful pop-up exhibition on April 26 entitled “Homage/Hijack” that was on view in the Shannon and Peter Candler Collection Study Room and featured selected works from the collection to “encourage conversations about appropriation and appreciation in art.” I’d like to give special thanks to Rachel and Sophie for their solo endeavors and acting as a curatorial team during their internship. Their work was valuable to me, and by extension, the museum. I’d like to congratulate Sophie on graduating with a bachelor’s degree in art history this semester, and I wish Rachel the best on her summer plans and activities. – Shawnya L. Harris, Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Curator of African American and African Diasporic Art
Frances Redwine: Diligent, thoughtful and prodigious, Frances was curatorial intern in American art during the summer of 2022. She assisted in substantive and impressive ways on three projects: wide-ranging research on artists and artworks featured in the 2022 exhibition “Reckonings and Reconstructions: Southern Photography from the Do Good Fund”; secondary research in preparation for “Henry Ossawa Tanner, Mentor and Muse”; and works on paper from the WPA-era in the museum’s collection. I had only planned to assign her one or two of these projects, but her industry, efficiency and rigorous productivity allowed her to pursue an even broader range of research, writing and administrative projects. Her work on the WPA works on paper rotation in the museum’s permanent galleries was indispensable for our American art department. She sifted through, culled and then organized works on paper into thematic groupings such as wartime experience, [im]migration, religion, folklore, surrealism and more. Frances then researched and wrote an impressively concise, well-synthesized and eloquent set of labels which, to my surprise and delight, required very little editing. Frances’ research and writing will lead to four years worth of works on paper rotations which immensely benefits the exhibition activities of the museum. Her impressive work ethic will have a lasting impact on the curatorial program. In recognition of her efforts, she was awarded the Linda B. Chesnut Award for excellence in an undergraduate museum internship. – Jeffrey Richmond-Moll, curator of American art
Morgan Ross: Highly organized and always dependable, Morgan was curatorial intern in American art during the fall 2022 semester. She was a highly capable researcher and showed great maturity and work ethic. Morgan spent most of her time producing comprehensive and distilled dossiers on 39 global contemporary artists in the museum’s Shlesinger Collection of Contemporary Art. These files covered 65 individual objects and will be instrumental to our continued exhibition and interpretation of the collection. In addition, she engaged with 20th-century photography through her administrative support for “Reckonings and Reconstructions: Southern Photography from the Do Good Fund,” an experience that also exposed her to the intricacies of exhibition installation, publications and events and programs. Although she is primarily interested in 19th- and early-20th-century American art, she demonstrated an eagerness to broaden her art historical knowledge beyond the “historical” while also showing her enthusiasm for growing in various areas of museum practice and collections care. It was a pleasure to work with her this year. – Jeffrey Richmond-Moll, curator of American art
Communications
Elizabeth Benavides: Elizabeth has been on our PR team for the entire academic year and she’ll graduate in the fall with a degree in psychology and a certificate in new media, a great combination. She is supremely reliable, whether she’s checking and redoing our media list, generating event emails, packing up a ton of books, writing press releases and blog posts, running down food donations for Museum Mix and more. No one was more productive in their hours here than Elizabeth and we will miss her a TON. – Hillary Brown, director of communications
Maggie Dukes: Maggie interned at the museum in the fall of 2022 before graduating at the end of that semester with a double major in advertising and English. She’s currently enrolled in the Disney College Program, an excellent fit for her cheerful, helpful spirit. She mostly focused on publications, but we also used her advertising copywriting skills to great effect. She wrote press releases and a whole bunch of blog posts on topics including the artist Allison Janae Hamilton, new staff member profiles and our student photography contest for local high schoolers and middle schoolers inspired by the exhibition “Reckonings and Reconstructions.” She also worked on a list of Harold Rittenberry’s work, smiled her way through museum events and scanned a ton of old photos. – Hillary Brown, director of communications
Reif (Gale) Evans: Reif interned in publications in the summer of 2022 and graduates this spring with a bachelor’s degree in English and comparative literature, with a certificate in medieval studies. They spent a lot of time reading the exhibition catalogue for “Reckonings and Reconstructions,” but also managed to write a great article about the loans from the Terra Foundation that ran in Facet as well as on our blog. They had a sharp eye that caught several errors and they hope to work in scholarly publishing. – Hillary Brown, director of communications
Trinity Gates: Trinity interned in PR during the spring semester of this year and will graduate this week with a bachelor’s degree in international affairs and a minor in fashion merchandising. She’s also been a big part of several fashion magazines on campus, where she’s written and served as content director. Here, she’s worked on press releases and blog posts and, of course, helped with our Family Day photo booth. – Hillary Brown, director of communications
Lauren Greenblatt: Lauren spent the fall semester of 2022 with us as the graphic design intern and was an incredible help. Her questions were always thoughtful and her work ethic was top-tier. She helped us with many projects, including an update of our yearly Impact Report, a Board of Advisors Directory revamp and a studio crawl map, to name just a few. She delivered her capstone graphic design project this spring at the Lamar Dodd School of Art and will graduate with her bachelor of fine arts. She was accepted to SEVEN graduate programs including Suffolk, SVA, Tufts SMFA, MICA, Pratt and a program in Cambridge, England, but she has ultimately chosen to attend Boston University’s BFA program for graphic design. We wish her the best and can’t wait to see what she does next! – Noelle Shuck, graphic designer
Heather Han: Heather was our summer 2022 intern, worked fully remotely and did a great job of it. Her work was concise and well-executed, and she showed a great mind for strategic thinking in design, all things we love to see! Heather had the chance to design a few Serenity Room cards for St. Mary’s Hospital so longer term patients could interact with art from the museum; she helped us with the Art at Home section of our website; and she designed promotional fliers for the museum’s programming. She is currently working toward her bachelor of fine arts degree in art at Lamar Dodd School of Art, with a concentration in graphic design, and we’re excited to see where it takes her! – Noelle Shuck, graphic designer
Josie Lipton: Josie has been with us for a year and a half in publications and we are really sad to lose her, but we are delighted that she’s graduating (with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and art history) and proud to help send her out into the world. She plans to take a year off before attending law school, where we’re sure she’ll be able to use her clear writing skills to make a case for anything. She’s done so much for us that it’s hard to sum it all up in a few sentences, but her organizational skills and conscientiousness are particular standouts. She’s written blog posts, researched museum history, obtained SO MANY images from artists (which often required detective work) and proofread several books numerous times. She also received the Linda B. Chesnut Award from the museum, given to outstanding students who show a strong commitment to the study of and in service to the visual arts. – Hillary Brown, director of communications
Nishat Nayla: Nishat has interned in PR for both the fall and spring semesters this year and although her majors are economics and international affairs, she’s demonstrated a real love for the arts and a gift for writing about them. She most recently attended the Georgia Museum of Art Student Association pop-up artists’ market and both took photos and reported on it for a blog post, but she’s done a lot over the course of this year including some stellar event work, lots of digging into Mailchimp, press clipping compilation and some high-profile press releases. She says she’s coming back next year, after a break for the summer, and our fingers are crossed. – Hillary Brown, director of communications
Taylor Nettis: Taylor was so wonderful as a PR intern that the museum hired him as soon as he graduated. We kid, a little, but he was a great example of why we take students from institutions and schools other than UGA. An Athens native, he was on summer break from Berry College and he demonstrated a passion for museums, excellent writing skills, a grasp of how to pitch a story and more. He’s back as one of our full-time gallery guides these days, putting those PR skills to work as he deals with the public in the museum and we have no doubt he’s going places. – Hillary Brown, director of communications
Lily Stewart: Lily was the graphic design intern at the museum during the spring 2023 semester. Her positive attitude, impressive communication skills and willingness to learn made her a major asset to the communications department during her time here. She developed and executed our March Museum Madness social media campaign, made sure our Art at Home, Family Day and Toddler Tuesday materials were always ready to go and even dabbled in catalogue design. She is working towards her bachelor of fine arts degree, with a concentration in graphic design, and she is incredibly involved in extracurriculars and the arts culture on campus and at the Lamar Dodd School of Art. – Noelle Shuck, graphic designer
Mikayla Tribble: Mikayla interned in publications in the summer of 2022, right after she graduated from UGA with a bachelor’s degree in English (with an emphasis in creative writing) and a minor in African American studies. She was super thoughtful and thorough as she read the exhibition catalogue for “Reckonings and Reconstructions,” wrote some wonderful Instagram and blog posts and perhaps, best of all, transcribed several interviews with local artist Harold Rittenberry that we hope to use in a forthcoming publication. She hopes to pursue a career in publishing. -Hillary Brown, director of communications
Education
Emma Callicutt: It’s been such a pleasure working with Emma over the past semester! Creative, thoughtful and kind, she approaches her work with intention and an eye for detail. She and co-curator Angelica Millen did a phenomenal job organizing the “Wonder Women” pop-up exhibition this spring. Emma chose some wonderful works from our collection, wrote interpretive labels for them for the pop-up event and crafted social media posts to promote it. Her skills and background as an art education major have been a real asset to us this semester, as she’s researched and developed content for programs like Toddler Tuesday and Family Days. We’re so glad she will be continuing to help us out over the summer! – Callan Steinmann, curator of education
Catie Cook: I was delighted to have Catie as an intern last fall, having gotten to know her the previous year as a student in my Intro to Museum Studies course. She is a real team player and a joy to work with! She and co-curator Andrew East did a fantastic job organizing the “Trick or Treat” print pop-up exhibition last fall and wrote great extended labels for each work of art they chose. She is an incredibly talented artist and her artistic skills were an asset to our team. She was a great help at Family Days, Student Nights and other public programs. Her helpful attitude and friendly face helped make so many visitors feel comfortable in the museum. Catie will be graduating this spring with a bachelor of fine arts degree in studio art, a minor in art history and a certificate in museum studies. Congratulations, Catie! – Callan Steinmann, curator of education
Andrew East: Andrew interned with the education department in the fall 2022 semester, but I already knew them from the previous year when they were a student in my Intro to Museum Studies class. As both a student and an intern, Andrew brings a spirit of enthusiasm, collaboration and curiosity to their work. They are an exceptional researcher and writer and did a wonderful job organizing a “Trick or Treat” pop-up exhibition and writing interpretive labels for the objects they and their co-curator Catie Cook selected. Andrew is graduating this semester with a bachelor’s degree in art history, a minor in English and a certificate in museum studies. Congrats Andrew! – Callan Steinmann, curator of education
Kennedy Fulton: Kennedy worked with the education department during fall 2022 and spring 2023 semesters. Right away she was a valued member of the team! Kennedy approached her responsibilities and whatever else came up along the way with an even stride and great sense of humor. Some of the many things she helped with during her tenure included organizing and prepping art materials, assisting with Family Day, helping manage other programs including yoga, films and student nights and keeping department records up to date. Congratulations to Kennedy on finishing her first year at UGA! We’ll miss her very much next year. – Sage Kincaid, associate curator of education
Sabrina Marcone: Sabrina traveled from San Francisco to Athens to complete an internship with the education department summer 2022. We were impressed with her ability to organize the logistics of living here from afar, but after meeting her it did not surprise us. Sabrina is an amazing problem solver and has a down-to-earth quality that made working with her a pleasure Some highlights from her time here include setting up and managing a booth at a local festival on a very hot summer day, leading groups through the galleries and facilitating artmaking in the studio classroom. Her work (and delicious baked treats) were truly appreciated during a very busy summer! – Sage Kincaid, associate curator of education
Angelica Millen: Everyone who meets Angelica agrees that she is a gem! She has a natural ease with everyone she meets and whether she was welcoming families to Family Day or facilitating gallery or studio activities, her kindness and warmth came through. In addition to interacting with museum visitors, Angelica also researched various topics and developed interpretive content. She and co-curator Emma Callicut did a phenomenal job organizing the “Wonder Women” pop-up exhibition this spring. Angelica chose some wonderful works from our collection and wrote interpretive labels about them for the pop-up and she also crafted social media posts to go along with them. She is graduating this spring with a bachelor of fine arts degree in photography and a certificate in museum studies and she already has a job lined up with the Foundation for Hospital Art as their volunteer coordinator. Congrats Angelica! – Sage Kincaid, associate curator of education
Registrars
Melissa DePierro: Melissa interned with the registrar’s department for three semesters. In that time, she spearheaded the cataloging of the enormous acquisition of photographs by Arthur Tress into our database – diligently numbering and rehousing the works, digitizing and editing photos in Photoshop and then adding them to our database. She was able to focus and knock out everything at an impressive rate. She is graduating this spring and heading off to pursue her doctorate. Any program would be lucky to have her! – Amber Barnhardt, associate registrar
Lacy Hamilton: Lacy first interned for the registrar’s department in the fall 2018 semester. We were happy to have her return and help us process an enormous acquisition of photographs by Arthur Tress. She helped digitize images, edit them via Photoshop and add them to our museum’s [online] database. She also helped condition report over 120 photographs in the exhibition “Reckonings and Reconstructions: Southern Photography from The Do Good Fund.” She graduated with a master’s degree in art history this past fall! – Amber Barnhardt, associate registrar
Kevin Roldan: Kevin began as an intern in the registrar’s department, working on a large unframing project. He did a wonderful job staying on top of organizing all of the files, labeling and changing locations, not to mention the laborious process of unframing over 180 works. When we acquired a large collection of framed prints that came with some funding for processing the works, Kevin was an easy choice. He is now a part-time employee of the registrar’s department! – Amber Barnhardt, associate registrar
Renata Tompson: Renata has been working with the registrar’s department for the past year. and she is an overall delight to have in our department. She began her time with us by working on a large unframing project, researching artists and fixing files in our database, but most recently, she has been diligently working on processing our enormous acquisition of photographs by Arthur Tress. She is dependable and makes no complaints with what is sometimes quite tedious work. We are so lucky to have her with us! – Amber Barnhardt, associate registrar
Bay Twilla: Bay interned with the registrar’s department for two semesters this past year. In that time, she helped with both a large unframing project, as well as the large acquisition of photographs by Arthur Tress. She was a joy to work with and always made the time pass quickly. She also helped condition report over 120 photographs in the exhibition “Reckonings and Reconstructions: Southern Photography from The Do Good Fund.” She was accepted into graduate programs at universities in the US and the UK and we wish her the best of luck in all her future endeavors! – Amber Barnhardt, associate registrar
Design/Prep
Minnie Black: Minnie is a painting major and she is not graduating this semester, so she will return to intern with the registrar’s department in the fall. She’s the best, better than all the rest. She’s what’s up, she’s always got a coffee cup! – Todd Rivers, head of exhibition design and chief preparator
Membership
Isabela Doulatshahi: Isabela interned in the development office for spring 2023 semester, her final semester at UGA. Upon arrival in January, she was thrown into the last 4 weeks of planning for Elegant Salute, the museum’s biennial fundraiser (and its largest.) It was certainly a trial by fire, but she was patient, graceful and accommodating with all of her assistance in the eleventh hour. She even came into work the following Monday! She also assisted with a host of development initiatives this semester, including finalizing plans for the museum’s 75th Anniversary Campaign, preparation for Friends of the Museum board meetings and with the annual Black Art and Culture Awards, as well as our seasonal 90 Carlton reception. We were busy – and so was Isabela – but she was always upbeat, helpful and willing to do whatever was needed to prepare for upcoming events. We are so appreciative for her work this semester and wish her the best of luck with her future endeavors. We know she will make the university proud! – Michele Turner, director of donor relations
Authored by:
Museum Staff
