The Intern as Curator

Student Helps Curate Exhibition Response

For Mary Alice Smith, working as a student curatorial intern this past year at the Georgia Museum of Art has been an enviable opportunity. The internship provided her with numerous opportunities to contribute to modern and contemporary curatorial projects at the museum, including a unique collaborative experience to create “The Artist as Witness,” a companion exhibition and response to Joel Sternfeld’s photography exhibition “When It Changed.” On view through December 1, the exhibition offers a compelling response to Sternfeld’s photographic examination of the human’s impact on nature.

Alongside Kathryn Hill, associate curator of contemporary art at the museum, Smith helped put together an exhibition of photographs from the museum’s permanent collection to consider the very same question. The exhibition response includes works by artists Robert von Sternberg, Arthur Tress, Arturo Soto, David Sherry, Matthew Brandt, Rosie Brock and Athens’ own Jason Thrasher.

While Sternfeld’s photographs focus on the people and diplomatic powers that have shaped global response to climate change, the artists and works in “The Artist as Witness” focus on impacted landscapes and surreal scenes of changing environments. Together, the exhibitions present an opportunity to reflect on how the planet has changed over the last 20-plus years.

Planning and curating the exhibition was nearly seamless, thanks to a shared vision for the project, noted Smith. The overall experience was illuminating.

“We began first with identifying recurring themes within Sternfeld’s photo series and then looked for ways photography from the permanent collection coincided with what we interpreted from Sternfeld’s exhibition,” she explained. “As curators, we were looking to see what kind of conversation we could create between the two exhibitions.”

The project gave Smith a new and valuable understanding of what it takes to successfully organize an exhibition as part of a team. Although she was an intern in curation, the project also required her to work with other departmental staff to see the project through to the end. “[…] I learned a lot about the level of collaboration required to finish an exhibition,” she said.

While the project had many similarities with other past exhibition projects she had worked on, it also gave her a chance to experience a more detailed understanding of the curatorial process. “One thing that made this project particularly unique was that I got to participate in an acquisition proposal,” she said. “It was really cool to learn about how that process works.”

Smith is no stranger to the museum and art field. She graduated UGA in May with a bachelor’s degree in art history and also served as the museum’s first Siegel Folk Art intern last Spring. Her time as a curatorial intern with the museum stands out as a valuable, albeit intensive, learning experience that will help her as she continues her career path in the art world. She has now moved on to the University of Texas at Austin to pursue a master’s degree in art history.

“I really enjoyed my time at the Georgia Museum of Art,” she said. “All of the staff are very encouraging and I really learned a lot about what it is like working in the museum field. I gained hands-on experience that will benefit me in the future. I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to work here.”