Nina Mayers ('28), a History of Art major, was an intern for the Penn Art Collection. The University of Pennsylvania Art Collection contains more than 8,000 art objects, which have significant aesthetic, historical, and market value. This internship was supported by the Summer Humanities Internship Program.
My ten-week internship with the Penn Art Collection this summer was the most interesting and educational experience I have had in the art world thus far. Initially, when I was approaching the application process for the Summer Humanities Internship Program (SHIP), the Art Collection stood out to me because of the broad range of media, artists, time periods, and projects the organization oversees on campus. Thus far in my art history degree, I have only taken broad survey courses, so I was interested in getting direct exposure to different aspects of art history and art careers. In my role as intern, I was able to work on everything from condition reporting and inventory work to historical research and art installation. My supervisors included me in meetings and project planning, and truly made me feel like an integral part of the daily operations of the Art Collection. The experience I gained through SHIP has given me a crucial advantage in my future career in art conservation. I can now say that I have experience in collections management and handling works of art, as well as a number of contacts in the conservation world through my supervisors, which would have been difficult to establish without their support.
Rather than inspire a new interest, my experience greatly solidified my goals of working in art conservation and in the world of fine arts as a whole. From my first day of work, when I was tasked with condition reporting for the highly valuable works gifted to Thomas Evans by European royalty in the 19th century, it confirmed that having the opportunity to handle precious works of art was my dream for the future. Throughout the summer, I had the opportunity to see how different art professionals operate and work with art, all of which were new, interesting perspectives. Seeing the care put into art handling or the thought it takes to put together an exhibit was exciting and gave me a look into what my life would be like as a future art professional.
One crucial skill I learned as an intern was how to operate a collections management system and the work it takes to maintain a collection as large as Penn’s. With that, I learned skills like effective email communication with the building managers across campus, how to coordinate meetings, and different data entry skills. As I continue my work with the Art Collection and beyond, I know that my ability to effectively conduct an inventory will help with many other projects in the future. Additionally, I believe being around such a high volume of art piqued my interest in lots of different eras and movements in art history, which will help guide me in my exploration of art history for the next three years of undergrad and beyond.
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