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Efroymson Arts Internship

The Efroymson Arts Internship, established in 2011, are one-year paid internships awarded to promising DePauw students who have graduated in the previous year, in either Studio Art or Art History planning to seek advanced degrees in the arts (MFA or MA). Both minors and majors are eligible.

Efroymson Arts Internship recipients are selected by the faculty of the Department of Art and Art History based on the overall quality of their work as undergraduates and their professional promise. Interns will meet several goals agreed upon with faculty in advance. They will work independently on their own researches under the guidance of a specific faculty member, and on a variety of tasks in and around the Peeler Art Center with several staff and faculty members. Interns will complete a set of experiences designed to provide as much practical professional expertise as possible to prepare them for graduate school and professional programs, and careers in the arts. Participants will gain valuable experience through work in the Peeler Galleries and exhibitions program, assistance in the Visual Resources Center, interaction with visiting artists and speakers, with the possibility of gaining teaching experience in the classroom.  This carefully planned and supervised set of experiences will guarantee participants a range of professional skills and experiences on a par with students coming out of more intensive studio art and professional programs. Interns will also develop a program with their area supervisor at the start of the internship year following the guidelines below, with a commitment of forty hours per week. Not all areas of activity will be pertinent to all interns. Interns will be evaluated at the end of the first semester for approval to continue in the internship for the entire year.

Studio Art Interns:

Artistic Research: Each studio art intern will focus a great deal of time on his or her own independent artistic research in private studios provided by the department. Interns will develop content, form and craft.  Focused intellectual investigation will develop content. Exploration of and extensive practice with materials and techniques will develop craft. Thoughtful and rigorous aesthetic discussion and critique will develop form. Studio art interns are expected to develop a comprehensive body of work each semester that exhibits their growth in each of these areas. They shall have weekly meetings with the intern’s supervisor, a faculty member from their primary medium. The experience is intended to be self-directed and to foster independence, and so interns should take the initiative in seeking out feedback on their work from additional faculty.

Interns will have access to equipment and facilities although many supplies and materials will have to be purchased by the intern. They will be required to exhibit their work at the end of each semester, including an on-campus exhibition at the end of fall semester and an off-campus exhibition (arranged and organized entirely by the intern) at the end of spring semester.  Interns will also give an artist lecture about their work at the end of fall semester.

Develop an Artist Packet:  For application to graduate programs, interns will prepare a professional artist packet.  This will include images of their own work and an image list, a fully edited Artist’s Statement, and a Resume. These are the elements of a standard professional self-presentation in the art world, and will be necessary for application to MFA programs. Successful preparation of this packet is both critical and difficult, requiring a substantial investment of time and energy on the part of the intern.  Since most graduate applications are due from December to March, this component must be completed by December 1st

Teaching Experience: Studio art interns will each serve as a Teaching Assistant for courses in their chosen medium, typically one introductory course each semester with the faculty member in their field of expertise (sculpture, ceramics, painting, photography, or new media).  This includes support in the classroom and the studio, and duties assigned by the professor, who will be responsible for outlining specific requirements and expectations for this portion of the internship.

Studio art interns may also organize and supervise Wednesday evening cost-free figure drawing studios, open to students taking courses in the art department (studio or art history). Interns will be responsible for set-up and take-down, as well as providing models.

Art History Interns:

Professional Museum Experience: All activities under this category to be overseen by Craig Hadley, Curator of Galleries. Art history interns will gain critical exposure to professional gallery experiences. Students may wish to engage in a significant reading project on a particular issue of museum studies such as the history of the museum, collecting, colonialism, problems of provenance, ethics of display, strategies of museum design and more.  Students should collaborate with Craig Hadley and a professor who has agreed to mentor them on a reading list, deadlines, and projected outcome, such as an annotated bibliography or a research paper, based on the readings.

Curatorial Assistant: Interns will assist with exhibitions and other programing for the gallery program. Tasks will include installing and de-installing exhibitions and preparing art works and materials. Due to the pressing time constraints of installing incoming exhibitions, these obligations will take priority over all others when exhibitions are being installed. Interns will also work directly with visiting artists, speakers, guest jurors, and others who come to DePauw as part of the gallery program. They will also supervise volunteers and student guards.

Collections Management: Opportunities exist for students to work directly with objects in the permanent collection.  In addition to research, students will learn registration methods, proper object care, object handling, and museum database software.  These are often prerequisite skills necessary for careers associated with museum collections.

Museum Programing: Interns will serve as a faculty liaison for exhibits/collections. They may also be responsible for the creation of  docent programing, for writing wall text and/or catalogue copy, and for writing interpretive guides. Interns may seek out partnerships with the Low Road Gallery and/or the Putnam County Museum. Such partnerships may include but are not limited to curating and mounting a small exhibition using either University Collections or generated works from an endeavor such as “Putnam County through the Lens” (the Caroline Murphy senior thesis project). Mounting an exhibition and the writing of supporting materials for outreach would be a terrific accomplishment to present to graduate programs.

 

All interns:

Gallery Apprenticeship:  Tasks will include installing and de-installing exhibitions and preparing art works and materials. Due to the pressing time constraints of installing incoming exhibitions, these obligations will take priority over all others, when exhibitions are being installed. Interns will also work directly with visiting artists, speakers, guest jurors, and others who come to DePauw as part of the gallery program. They will also supervise volunteers and student guards.

Winter Term Teaching: Each intern may apply to  design and teach an on-campus Winter Term course, for which they will be paid the standard compensation.  The Winter Term proposal must be submitted by May 1 of the year prior to the courses. Interns must approve their winter term course with their supervisor as well as work closely on the design and course planning before they submit their proposal to the winter term program director- Mandy Brookins-Blinn.

Interns will be required to undergo teaching training and attend all University teaching workshops. Special attention will be given to strategies for introducing students to difficult or challenging images and for helping students to feel empowered to respond to such images.

Visual Resources Center:  During the spring semester, interns will assist in the Visual Resource Center under the direction of Brooke Cox.  Interns will gain experience researching, locating, and scanning images as well as maintaining a comprehensive image library. In many institutions, this responsibility still falls on the faculty and this experience will be extremely valuable for their professional pursuits. It is also an excellent way to build one’s knowledge of a corpus of visual artworks.

Other contributions based on the interns expertise and professional goals could include but are not be limited to: a drawing session, film series, helping with the departmental field trips, making posters, running the student major minor mixer, giving building tours, meeting prospective students, assisting with the admitted student open house

 

Continuing Education/Intellectual Liveliness:

Interns are allowed to audit up to three courses over the year to continue their life-long investment in their own intellectual development. Art history interns are encouraged to audit art history courses but may also audit courses in the allied fields of history, literature, religious studies, philosophy, and history. They are also encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to improve or begin a foreign language that will be useful to them in graduate work and research. Studio art interns are encouraged to audit art history courses as well as courses in another studio art medium. All interns are welcome to take advantage of this opportunity to take creative writing courses to improve their writing skills, or to pursue other intellectual interests. In graduate school there will be considerably less opportunity for such exploration.

 

How to apply:

Submissions due May 4th

Send application to Michael Mackenzie, Chair, Department of Art and Art History, c/o Misti Scott, Departmental Secretary

Your application should include a statement of 500-750 words covering the following:

  1. Your goals for your internship
  2. What qualities you think you can bring to the program
  3. Your professional goals for the year after the internship (MFA program, museum studies program, gallery work, Ph.D. program, or other)
  4. Contributions you plan to make to the department in general
  5. The name and signature of the professor you intend to work with as your mentor

 

In addition, your application should include:

  1. A possible on-campus winter term course you would propose, including outline and title (successful candidates will need to submit their proposals for winter term courses to the administration for approval)
  2. A resume

 

Studio art students should submit the following additional items:

  1. An artist’s statement
  2. Portfolio of artwork


Artistic Research: Each intern will focus a great deal of time on their own independent artistic research in private studios provided by the department.  For studio artists, this includes focused intellectual investigation (content), extensive material exploration (craft), and thoughtful aesthetic development (form).  Interns are expected to develop a comprehensive body of work each semester that exhibits their sophistication in each of these areas.  Interns will be required to exhibit their work at the end of each semester, including an on-campus exhibition at the end of fall semester and an off-campus exhibition (arranged and organized entirely by the student) at the end of spring semester.  Interns will also give an artist lecture about their work at the end of fall semester.

Develop an Artist Packet:  For application to graduate programs, interns will prepare a professional artist packet.  This set of information; including images and image list of their own work, a fully edited Artist Statement, and an Artist Resume: is the industry standard for professional participation in the art world.  Successful preparation of this packet is critical and difficult, requiring an intense investment of time and energy on the part of the intern.  Since most graduate applications are due from December to March, this component must be completed by December 1st.

Teaching Experience:  Interns will each serve as a Teaching Assistant for one introductory course each semester with the faculty member in their field of expertise (sculpture, ceramics, painting, photography, or new media).  Their supervising faculty will be responsible for outlining specific requirements and expectations for this portion of the internship.  Additionally, each student will prepare and teach an on-campus Winter Term course, for which they will be paid the standard compensation.  The Winter Term proposal must be submitted by June 1 of the year prior to the course.

Gallery Apprenticeship:  The Curator of Galleries, will oversee each intern in this component of the internship.  Each intern will gain critical exposure to professional gallery experiences, including working directly with Visiting Artists, assisting in the installation and de-installation of exhibits in the Galleries at Peeler, and assisting in any other elements of art exhibition as determined by the supervisor.  Due to the pressing time constraints of installing incoming exhibitions, this obligation shall take priority over all others (particularly during exhibition installation).

Visual Resource Center:  During the spring semester, interns will assist in the Visual Resource Center under the direction of Brooke Cox.  Interns will gain experience researching, locating, and scanning images as well as maintaining a comprehensive slide library for visual artists.  In many institutions, this responsibility still falls on the faculty and this experience will be extremely valuable for their professional pursuits.

Continuing Education/Intellectual Liveliness:  Interns would be allowed to audit one course each semester to continue their life-long investment in their own intellectual liveliness.  As studio artists, this behavior of constantly learning and informing your work is critical to successful artistic development.

Application Process

Your application should include:
1.  An artist statement
2.  A 3-5 page reflective statement that describes the direction you anticipate your artwork taking during the internship, a title and summary for your winterterm course, and a description of your professional plans as an artist.
 
There are a limited number of funded spots, so the awards will be competitive.  Please make sure your application strongly represents you and your desire to participate in the program.  Application Deadline May 4 (DETAILS MAY CHANGE, CHECK BACK PERIODICALLY, LAST UPDATED 4/24/12)