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Art History

Visual Arts Center Directory

Student Opportunities

The Department of Art History welcomes students to get involved in the department as learning assistants and to participate in the life of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art as interns.

Learning Assistants

Each year, the Art History department hires students as Learning Assistants for introductory courses.  Through these experiences, students have the opportunity to work with a professor on facilitating a course, engaging in pedagogical initiatives, and offering peer-to-peer learning in Art History.   

Student Internships

Many Art History majors and minors have the opportunity to intern at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art.  Through both academic year and summer internships, students apply the skills and understandings learned in Art History to a professional environment.  Through their internships, students work on exhibitions, educational programming, outreach, and more.  Below, majors share how their Art History coursework and internship experiences have strengthened each other. 

Photo of Jane Wang smiling at the camera, in a black dress

Jane Wang

Class of: 2023

Major(s): Art History, Economics

Minor(s): Asian Studies

“My BCMA internship served as a vantage point for me to understand the multifaceted responsibilities of art and museums in a community.” 

BCMA Internship Term

Academic Year 2021–2022 BCMA Education Assistant

What key projects did you work on during your internship?

During my internship as an education assistant, I was mainly responsible for assisting with the museum’s Student Ambassadors program. The program started from the idea that the BCMA should be better integrated into the campus as a welcoming communal space. Along with other interns and the museum staff, we decided to hire a small cohort of student ambassadors who advance our goal through events, social media, and collaborations with different student groups. I was responsible for preparation work such as hosting info sessions and reviewing submitted applications. In the following semester, we welcomed the cohort and I served as the leader of one ambassador group. At our weekly meetings, we brainstormed event ideas and divided roles based on the students’ interests. Together, we successfully launched the program and I’m super excited to see it grow over the coming years.

How did your Art History courses help to prepare you for your internship?  

The idea to create an ambassador program really came from my Art History classes. I remember discussions in class where we talked about the role of institutions in the art world. That was where students often expressed opinions about the BCMA that it might be intimidating and not as engaging as they would like. As an art history student, these discussions motivated me to become an education assistant. My internship also provided an invaluable hands-on experience that showed how museum initiatives could further engage the audience and deliver certain messages. 

Also, as an education assistant, I was responsible to film videos for virtual family Saturdays. It would usually be me talking about one exhibition that is currently on view. The visual analysis skills and creativity I developed in my art history classes greatly helped me write the script. I remember writing the script for Jona Frank: Model Home and debating how to best deliver the unique immersive experience through words. I was particularly mindful of the experiential nature of the installation and picked specific works to highlight accordingly. I was also responsible for creating a small craft activity related to the theme for people to follow.

After the completion of your internship, how did your BCMA internship inform your Art History studies?   

My BCMA internship served as a vantage point for me to understand the multifaceted responsibilities of art and museums in a community. My work as an education assistant also bridged my academic learning and the real world. It allowed me to understand the challenges faced by the museum as well as the means it has to advocate for art. Also, as we sought to engage the student audience at the BCMA, I became increasingly aware of the role of the audience in interpreting art. A lot of times, the discussions of art pieces in class revolve around the creation process and the art world’s reception. My internship showed me what happens after a piece is displayed at a museum and prompted me to think about the role of art in the broader society.

Photo of Ramiro Storni, smiling, wearing a gray t-shirt and brown jacket, with a blue sky and grassy hills in the background

Ramiro Storni

Class of: 2023

Major(s): Art History, Computer Science

“Ideas typically discussed in art history courses surrounding multiple art historical narratives and their implications made me aware of the impact and importance of how we tell stories in museums and cultural institutions.” 

BCMA Internship Term

Academic Year 2021–2022 BCMA Education Assistant

What key projects did you work on during your internship?  

During my time at the BCMA I worked on a wide variety of projects that included organizing and leading museum tours, writing wall labels for works in faculty offices, and helping to develop the Student Ambassadors program. I think it’s not an oversimplification to say that the responsibilities in these projects could be categorized into two groups. One focusing on research and another on organization. Developing tours and writing wall labels were more centered on research and allowed me to learn more about the museum's collection while also helping me understand and contextualize works of art that I typically would not have been drawn to.  For example, I was tasked with writing a wall label for a work by Lois Dodd titled Path thru the Field.  While originally I was overwhelmed and unsure as to how to approach the painting, through research and discussions with staff at the BCMA I developed an appreciation for Dodd’s work that stays with me to this day. On the other hand, projects like organizing interest meetings for the student ambassadors' program fall under can be seen as organizational responsibilities that have given me experience in managing people and setting up events. 

How did your Art History courses prepare you for your internship?  

The art history department and the courses they offer provide an excellent tool set for working at the BCMA. At a fundamental level the skill of leveraging both historical context and visual analysis to develop an argument based in a work of art made it easier to approach and begin researching works of art that I had not seen before. This was helpful in all aspects of the internship. Additionally, ideas typically discussed in art history courses surrounding multiple art historical narratives and their implications made me aware of the impact and importance of how we tell stories in museums and cultural institutions.  

After the completion of your internship, how did your BCMA internship inform your Art History studies?  

After completing my internship at the BCMA I became much better at approaching works of art that I had never seen before and using skills like visual analysis and historical context to then place them within an art historical narrative. Interning at the BCMA also reinforced skills in art historical research that are crucial in all art history courses. 

However, as an education intern at the BCMA part of my goal was to make art historical content accessible for people with varying ranges of art historical backgrounds.  To do this I often had to break down complex topics into easier and more digestible chunks. This became useful in Art history courses and beyond as it allowed me to be clear in my communication of ideas. 

photo of Brandon Shuster smiling, wearing a light blue button down shirt, with a green forested hillside in the background

Brandon Schuster

Class of: 2023

Major(s): Art History, Government and Legal Studies

Minor(s): Economics

“Weaving artist statements and interviews, criticism, and scholarly work into distinct themes or narratives is a skill that Art History courses equipped me with.” 

BCMA Internship Term

Summer 2022 Student Curatorial Assistant 

What key projects did you work on during your internship? 

As a Student Curatorial Assistant my primary focus was on an upcoming exhibition focused on William T. Williams. I worked closely with Anne Goodyear to conduct research into the artist’s practices, unearth contemporary responses to his work, and dig deeper into themes that emerged over the course of the summer. This work required navigating the archives, looking closely at his work, and interviewing the artist. Outside of that project, another highlight was acting as docent for the museum. In this role, I created my own tour of the summer exhibition, choosing pieces that were both exciting and thematically unified. In this role, I was also able to introduce our visiting artists and lecturers to the museum by giving a brief walkthrough the galleries; this was an exciting opportunity to meet one-on-one with exhibited artists or visiting art historians. 

How did your Art History courses help prepare you for your internship?  

The Art History courses that I had taken provided me with knowledge and skills that proved vital. Both projects mentioned above required me to drawn upon what I had learned in class. For the WTW exhibition, I brought an understanding of how to conduct art historical research that I gained from courses like Professor Gerry’s seminar in medieval art. Weaving artist statements and interviews, criticism, and scholarly work into distinct themes or narratives is a skill that Art History courses equipped me with. As a docent, my Art History background gave me the knowledge and – more importantly – the confidence to share my opinions about the works in our collection while also being able to talk with visitors and answer questions.  

Answering visitor questions requires the ability to visually analyze a work that you may be unfamiliar with, beyond the basic tombstone information provided. You practice this skill repeatedly in Art History classes, where you often offer your thoughts and opinions on works in smaller discussion-based or seminar-style classes.  

After the completion of your internship, how did your BCMA internship inform your Art History studies?  

When I was interning at the BCMA, the summer show was At First Light which dealt with artmaking in Maine. Getting to know this exhibition furthered my interest in American art and inspired me to take Professor Byrd’s seminar on Winslow Homer, which we tailored to spend time talking about historical and contemporary exhibition of his art. We also worked with the museum in this course to examine the Homer family papers in the museum’s collection, culminating with an exhibition proposal for a set of Henrietta Homer watercolors and sketches. This intersection of BCMA and Art History studies made both the internship and the course more rewarding! 

Photo of Brooke Wrubel, a closeup, smiling, with dark blue t-shirt and gray background

Brooke Wrubel

Class of: 2021

Major(s): Art History, Italian Studies

Minor(s): Dance

“This skill of transposing the visual into the verbal, of translating images into words, is as fundamental to every art history paper as it is to every wall label.” 

BCMA Internship Terms

Academic Year 2019–2020 Student Curatorial Assistant; Spring 2021 Student Curatorial Assistant; Summer 2021 Exhibition Assistant and Research Associate

What key projects did you work on during your internship?  

In my first several months as a Student Curatorial Assistant, I contributed to the final stages of Assyria to America. One of my responsibilities was to develop digital didactics that were displayed in the galleries. In collaboration with Academic Technology, I designed an International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) kiosk that guided viewers in close looking at the Assyrian reliefs. Additionally, I produced the content for an interactive timeline that wove together the three time periods represented in the exhibition. 

The majority of my work centered on Antiquity & America which was early on in the curatorial process. This gave me the opportunity to gain a holistic understanding of how exhibitions are crafted. Curator Sean Burrus generously allowed me to take the lead on all curatorial decisions for the Rotunda Gallery where we displayed select donations from Edward Perry Warren. This work included evaluating and proposing objects for inclusion in the exhibition and writing a biographical essay on Warren for the online publication. In the summer following my graduation, I served as Exhibition Assistant and Research Associate. During this time, I finalized the object lists, designed case layouts, and wrote both wall labels and catalogue entries for 27 objects.

How did your Art History courses help prepare you for your internship?  

One of the first assignments in Introduction to Art History is to draw a painting on display at the BCMA and then write a visual analysis. This skill of transposing the visual into the verbal, of translating images into words, is as fundamental to every art history paper as it is to every wall label. The introductory course also included a weekly visit to the BCMA where we were taught how to look closely at works. We were encouraged to ask questions about materials, scale, function, and reception, ways of thinking that inform such a wide range of museum work.  

The BCMA continued to intersect with my Art History studies. As an example, I took a seminar on curating medieval art, taught by Dr. Kathryn Gerry. Readings and discussions interrogated major trends and challenges when engaging with objects from this period. We applied our understanding of the curatorial landscape as we researched and wrote wall labels and catalogue entries for objects from the Wyvern Collection, on loan to the BCMA. These entries were published in the exhibition catalogue, New Views of the Middle Ages, enabling me to gain firsthand experience with the publication process. Undergoing several rounds of edits from the BCMA staff helped me understand the style, audience, and appropriate vocabulary for public-facing, museum writing.

After the completion of your internship, how did your BCMA internship inform your Art History studies? 

I discovered my fascination with medieval art in my coursework at Bowdoin, a passion I’m now pursuing at the graduate level. I have been delighted at how my museum work continues to support my studies, which is rather surprising given that my internship was grounded in much earlier time periods. Beyond providing me with critical art historical knowledge that I continue to draw on, I discovered many points of curiosity that have found their way into my current research interests. 

For example, I encountered Roman glass for the first time in the BCMA collection as I researched objects donated by Edward Perry Warren for potential inclusion in Antiquity & America. After graduating from Bowdoin in 2021, I continued with my studies at the University of Pennsylvania, earning my MA in the History of Art in 2023. The third chapter of my thesis focused on basse-taille, a low-relief, translucent enamel technique developed by Sienese goldsmiths in the late fourteenth century. In researching medieval glass production, I returned to Roman glass as I considered continuity and change in technique over time. I look forward to investigating enamel and glass techniques in medieval Venice as I begin my doctoral studies at Columbia University, carrying forth an interest that was sparked at the BCMA.

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