The Museum is appreciative of the five dedicated and talented Bowdoin student interns who worked with the staff throughout the academic year. All five interns will graduate this May, and we would like to congratulate them on their accomplishments and highlight their contributions to the Museum.
Abigail Mahoney and Frannie Gurzenda were essential to the success of this year’s community education programming, developing resources, leading tours, and planning Family Saturday events as Education Assistants. Their outreach resulted in a significant increase in the attendance of Family Saturday programs throughout the year. In addition, Abigail was a vital contributor to the new exhibition, Barbara Cooney: Drawing Biography, for which she took a lead role in researching and writing labels for the Miss Rumphius illustrations. Frannie also worked directly with co-director Frank Goodyear to curate Dissent in 1960s America: The Photography of Ken Thompson this fall. Frannie conducted extensive research to write many of the labels and helped to organize the exhibition’s layout. Next year Abigail will work as a high school biology teacher in Miami through the competitive Teach for America program, while Frannie will serve this summer as an intern in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Jamie Denton, a Student Curatorial Assistant, worked with Joachim Homann on a number of different curatorial projects this year. Jamie was essential in providing research support for an upcoming exhibition about artistic representations of St. Anthony’s temptations. In addition, Jamie assisted Joachim in his survey of the Museum’s drawing collection and produced new research on a number of works in preparation for a major drawings exhibition in 2017. Next year, Jamie will be working in the fashion world as a Buying Coordinator at Bloomingdales in New York City.
Julián Huertas spent his spring assisting with preparations for This Is a Portrait If I Say So: Identity in American Art, 1912 to the Present as the Student Curatorial Assistant to co-director Anne Collins Goodyear. He composed artist biographies for each artist represented in the exhibition, drafted labels, contributed to the planning of the exhibition layout, and is in the process of designing an online component of the exhibition. Active at the Museum for the entirety of his Bowdoin career, Julián’s commitment has been invaluable. With an interest in pursuing design, Julián will move back to Boston this summer to work at The Olmstead Center for Landscape Preservation, which is part of the National Park Service.
As the Communications Assistant, Sophia Namara completed critical behind-the-scenes work to publicize Museum exhibitions and programming on campus and beyond. In addition, Sophia was instrumental in strengthening the Museum’s social media presence this semester. When asked what she enjoyed most about working at the Museum, Sophia responded, “being part of a collaborative and open-minded group of people. There is a sense that everyone (including the interns) is a necessary part of helping the museum thrive and I feel that, even in my small role as communications assistant, I’m making a positive difference.” Sophia accepted the position of Operations Associate at Beepi in San Francisco, a start-up that streamlines and improves the process of buying and selling cars online.
These five interns strengthened the Museum’s connection with its surrounding community in numerous ways, from designing posters to developing exhibition content. They will be missed next year. We thank them for all of their work, and we wish them great success in their future endeavors.
