Sunday, May 25 th My first week here at the museum has been a blur! Moving across the country is an entirely new experience for me, but I quickly got settled in my apartment and began to find my way around the city. Because I did not bring my car with me I am relying primarily on public transportation to get around, which means I have a chance to see so much more than I otherwise would! So far I have been exploring the local coffee shops, and everyone I have met has been really welcoming and kind. There is a much more eclectic scene here than I anticipated, and there are all sorts of people roaming the city at any time thanks in part to the huge tourist industry in Reno. My first week at the museum served primarily as an orientation week. I came into the office at 1:00pm every day and met with various staff members to become acquainted with different administrative departments with which I will be working during my time here. My primary supervisor is Joanne Northrup, who is the Director of Contemporary Art Initiatives within the curatorial department. She, along with the other members of the curatorial department (Ann Wolfe, Chris Martin, Brian Eyler, and Pam Paterson) has been acquainting me with the museum s collections, the processes of acquisition and de- accessioning, and one of my two primary projects. This project involves compiling a bibliography of Mexican and South American land artists that will be at the disposal of the curatorial department and the archivists. The museum has a popular collection of altered landscape photographs and is building its collection of contemporary land art works and related works. However, most of the artists in the collection and archives so far are of European/North American descent. As part of the museum s initiative to connect with and represent the growing Hispanic population of Reno and Nevada at large, I have been charged with the aforementioned task. The second of my two primary tasks involves a great deal of work with the staff of the Center for Arts and the Environment most explicitly the archivists. Bill Fox, the Director of the Center, and Ann Wolfe are both in the process of writing articles for a major publication on Lita Albuquerque, a well- known and prolific land and environmental artist who will be exhibiting at the museum in 2014. I have been charged with putting together a chronology of Albuquerque s life and work that will be included in the publication. This task involves becoming very intimate with Lita s life story, her work and exhibitions, and the archives that the museum has recently acquired from her. After I compile a master 2 chronology I will travel to Los Angeles to personally interview the artist and fill in any gaps in my chronology, and consult with her on exactly what she wishes to include in the chronology.
The staff has been so warm and welcoming to me this weekend, from the security staff all the way up through the director of the museum, David Walker. I was taken out to lunch and was invited to attend a going- away party for one of the staff members who is moving to another city. The staff has also been wonderful about making sure I have everything I need and suggesting fun things to do in the city in my off- time. I am really The Reno Sign! looking forward to the next seven weeks here! Monday, June 3 rd This week I launched into my two major projects headfirst. I have never written an artist chronology, nor have I compiled a curatorial bibliography before, but the only way to figure out the right way to do these things is to try having a large network of support doesn t hurt either. I spent a great deal more time in the Center for Arts and Environment library this week consulting their collection of books on land art and major artists in the field. I have also been pouring over a few chronologies of Lita s work that Ann acquired from past publications of her work. The work itself is not the most exciting, but it is rewarding to see these two projects taking shape and becoming more substantial. The Center for Arts & Environment also great motivation! knowledge that these two documents will be put to good use is Thankfully there is always a huge number of things going on at the museum at one time, and the open nature of the administrative offices means that I can eavesdrop on everyone s conversations and insinuate myself into any number of activities. On Tuesday I attended a decent meeting with Jacque Dawson, the School Services Manager and co- director of the Docent Program. I have always loved interacting with docents, they are always so entertaining and knowledgeable and have a lot of input on how the museum should be run. Once the meeting was over Jacque allowed me to sit in on the weekly Docent Training session. The museum invites Brett Van Hoesen, an assistant professor of art at the university, to come teach a two hour course on modern and contemporary art from Manet forward (artists and works that most closely coincide with the museum s collections). She is an excellent lecturer and I learned a lot in just two hours contemporary art is definitely not my strongest subject. On Thursday I was invited to sit in, and assist with, the quarterly curatorial submissions review meeting. I put the word quarterly in quotations because we were reviewing submissions from as far
back as 2011. The meeting consisted of Joanne, Ann, Pam, and I opening packets that artists had sent in containing their resumes, work samples, and various other things. It was interesting to experience their review process. Having worked at a couple other non- profit arts institutions I am familiar with the idea that museums like the function primarily off of establishing and maintaining relationships with wealthy donors and individuals who have a lot of influence in the art world. While they exist to promote fine art and supremely talented artists and to bring this art to the public, this goal cannot be accomplished without the backing of very generous and invested individuals. To that end, the only submission that was accepted out of the large pile that we sifted through during the hour- long meeting was accepted because the artist had connections to some important and influential people and because her art fit well with the museum s collection. Joanne is also currently curating a show with a young artist whose work deals with taxidermied animals, so it was humorous to see the number of envelopes addressed to Joanne from taxidermy artists! Friday I spent the morning assisting Tony the Hispanic Outreach Intern and a docent Ellen run workshops at a local elementary school, Mt. Rose. I had such a good time, the second and third graders were really well behaved and excited about the Papel Cortado workshop we planned for them, the banners they made were really spectacular. Tony also spoke to them only in Spanish, and it was amazing to see how much they understood. Mt. Rose is one of a few schools in Washoe County that has instituted a bilingual program, and the language skills of these kids were really amazing! Washoe County has also terminated all in- school arts education, so I felt really privileged to be there doing art with those kids, even if it was for only an hour. Arts education advocacy is something that I am really passionate about. This coming week, I m going to be spending three days in L.A. with Chris Martin, the museum s preparator, so I am really looking forward to that! Monday, June 10 th This week was incredibly busy! Tuesday was a normal day I spent the morning working on the chronology and the bibliography. Joanne has put me in touch with her former ArtTable intern, Alicia Guzman, who is now a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Rochester in visual and cultural studies and may have some information that can aid me in my bibliography research. I spent the afternoon at the docent training session and then went back to work on my projects. Chris Martin in the Moving Truck Wednesday morning I left for L.A. with Chris Martin. When I arrived at the museum the box truck was already packed up, Chris has already packaged up and strapped down a couple boxes and two big paintings by Linda Bessemer her exhibition at the museum had just ended. We threw our stuff in the back and hopped in the front. We drove to L.A. down Interstate 5 the drive was long but really cool! Once we got there, we checked into the hotel and Chris switched into tour guide mode. Since it was my first time in Los Angeles, we drove to
Santa Monica, walked down the pier and on the beach, and had dinner at an awesome restaurant. The next morning we drove out to Linda s studio in Echo Park, picked her up, and drove her to her storage unit at Occidental College where she teaches. It was wonderful getting to meet her and see where she works and teaches. We unloaded all the boxes and somehow managed to get a ten- foot- tall painting up a set of stairs and into Linda s office. After we had lunch with Linda and took her back to her house, we drove to a warehouse in downtown L.A. and picked up a model of LAX for the museum s upcoming William Pereira show. With our new load strapped in, we drove around L.A. taking in all the sights the Hollywood sign, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Blvd, the Disney Concert Hall, and we even stopped at the Getty Center for an hour! We were staying at a hotel in Culver City, so we decided to have dinner there and walk around a bit we walked all around the Sony movie lot and explored the Culver City Hotel where the cast of the Wizard of Oz stayed during filming. Friday morning we stopped by an architecture firm to pick up a second Pereira model (of the Transamerica Tower), which we had to Transamerica Model package up ourselves. It was cool seeing Chris in his element as a preparator. Finally, with everything loaded into the truck, we headed back to Reno on Interstate 395, through the mountains, it was such a beautiful drive! Saturday was a huge day for the museum, they held their Barrio Block Party that they ve been planning for months. Despite the 100 degree heat it was a wonderful success. Local artists and vendors from around Reno set up tents in the parking lot, food trucks parked around the perimeter, and there was face painting and crafts for the kids. The party was a part of the El Arte initiative launched by the museum, so they highlighted a piece from the Voces y Visiones exhibit Miguel Luciano s Pimp my Piragua, a bright orange snow cone making bicycle. Miguel set up in the parking lot for two hours and made snow cones for the guests while playing music, it was really neat. I was stationed inside all day, thankfully, at the paper flowers table helping families create wonderful paper flowers that they could wear around the event. Overall it was so much fun! Next week it is back to business as usual. I am officially flying back out to LA on the 19 th of June to work with Lita on the chronology, so I am going to be focusing on that a great deal in the coming week. Monday, June 17 th I spent most of my time this past week preparing for my visit to Los Angeles to work with Lita Albuquerque on the chronology I am writing of her work. I met with Bill Fox of the Center for Arts and Environment and curator Ann Wolfe once again to touch base on my progress and to make note of any specific topics I need to cover with Lita once I get to her studio. Primarily they suggested I collect more personal information and fill in any gaps I see in the information I ve already collected. I m very excited about getting to speak with her, from what I ve heard she s a wonderful woman, and from my research I know she is a phenomenal and dynamic artist!
I have also begun putting together a more formal presentation on my Hispanic land artist bibliography so far I have five names that I feel fit the criteria I have been given. I have been in touch with Joanne s previous ArtTable intern Alicia Guzman to seek her suggestions on the matter, and I am confident that her information will expand my report significantly. My research has not only given me a foundation of what exactly land art is, but I am now getting a sense of how the traditional definition is being expanded and re- written by contemporary artists particularly women. It s really exciting to see! On top of this the museum is transitioning between exhibitions. The Voces y Visiones collaboration with the Museo Del Barrio in New York is coming to a close, and pieces are slowly trickling in for both the William Pereira and the William Eggleston exhibitions that are coming up in the near future. The curatorial department is also preparing materials for two exhibitions one on the art of Lake Tahoe and an externally curated show on Toulouse- Lautrec that will take place a little farther in the future, so there is a lot activity in the department as a whole! Though I am focusing on my chronology and working as much as I can on my bibliography of land artists, I am trying to help everyone with their tasks as much as I can. There s a lot to be done and it s a lot of fun! I had a chance this weekend to travel up to Lake Tahoe and hike around a little, and I am reading a book on the history of the area that Ann loaned me as well. I am really becoming invested in my temporary home it s such a fascinating area with a rich history and unique aesthetic. I hope one day to make it back out west! Lake Tahoe! Saturday, June 22 nd I have just returned from Los Angeles and my brief time spent with Lita Albuquerque! I spent all of Tuesday here at the Museum preparing everything I had already compiled in hopes that it would decrease the amount of work I would have to do while I was actually in L.A. Unfortunately, it seems I vastly underestimated what was left to be completed! Lita has had an incredibly prolific career she s been working steadily since the late sixties, pretty much, there are so many stories and so many important people to account for. On top of that she is a wonderful story teller so my plan to extract plain facts Lita's studio
from her was instantly thrown out the window. We spent almost all the time I was there (from Wednesday afternoon until Friday afternoon) working together in her studio at the 18 th street Arts Center in Santa Monica It was incredible to be in the presence of some of her works that I had only seen pictures of, previously. I managed to squeeze in a trip to the 3 rd Street Promenade, but even then I was planning for the next day. All in all we made a huge amount of progress together, and she is still working on more information to send me I know that this chronology will be everything that she, and Ann and Bill, are hoping it will be. Now it is up to me to compile, edit, and reformulate all of the Lita Albuquerque information and all of the incredible stories she has told me. I have just about three weeks left here in Reno, and I have to really focus and get down to work to finish both this project and my Hispanic land artist bibliography! Monday, July 1 st This week was all about the chronology. Lita and I have been in constant contact through email and via a Google document that I created that she has been editing. I have begun to put together a final draft of the chronology that Ann can look over and edit for me. It is definitely not easy, because Lita is supplying me with such a large amount of information. This is not the worst problem to have, of course, but the chronology is not the same as a biography, and many of the topics and points that Lita is urging me to cover in my writing are going to be covered by Ann and Bill in their essays. The idea of a chronology is very simple, and at first glance the process of writing one seems very simple, but distilling all the most important points, keeping the rhetoric short and to the point, while still retaining some semblance of style is a difficult task particularly when it must be done in a matter of weeks. That said, I am enjoying the challenge and Ann is a great mentor. My final draft was finished by Friday and I hope to have a copy with Ann s notes on it by next Tuesday. This weekend I was fortunate enough to take a trip to San Francisco! Joanne was in contact with her cousin Amy, and her husband, Gil, and they offered me a place to stay for a couple nights. While I was there I walked around Golden Gate park, visited the de Young museum, experienced the Pride Parade (which was incredible!) and walked around a few of the famous San Francisco neighborhoods like the Castro and the Mission. I m really glad I got to visit, and it was really awesome that I had somewhere to stay that was free. Plus, I took the Megabus out there, which was really cheap and not a terrible ride at all! Thanks to Joanne, who is such a fantastic mentor, I have had some incredible opportunities while I ve been out here!
Sunday, July 7 th This was a short week because of the July 4 th Holiday but it felt like there was twice as much to do! Ann returned my draft of the chronology with her notes her main criticism was that it was still too long. I am so used to writing narrative documents, the point of which is to tell a story. That s not exactly what this chronology is about, it s more about providing an accurate picture of the life and career of an artist. I spent this week editing out the unnecessary information. On top of that, Joanne let me know that I was set to present my Land artist research at a meeting next Thursday, so I got back to work on locating images and nailing down a couple more artists to present to the curatorial department and staff from the Center for Arts + Environment. I have also volunteered to assist with a clay summer camp next week that will run from 8:30 in the morning until 12:30 in the afternoon Monday through Friday. I am really excited about this, it will be the first time I ve been able to work with kids during my internship, and I ve really missed that. However, this means that I will only have half days this coming week to get as much work done on the chronology as I can. I know for a fact that it will not be finished when I leave here, and I have promised Ann that if she needs anything else from me she is free to contact me. To that end, I have spent this weekend doing as much as I can to ease my burden for the coming week. Monday July, 15 th My final week at the museum was incredibly busy! I volunteered to work during the mornings at at a clay camp the Museum School. I had such a blast, the kids were so brilliant and engaged and we had so much fun. They learned basic clay techniques along with how to throw on the wheel it s always awesome to see how quickly they pick that stuff up. I spent my afternoons polishing my Hispanic land artist presentation slides and doing some additional research. Ann went out of town for the week so I did a couple more rounds of revisions on the Albuquerque Chronology and sent them off to her she may be in touch with me in the coming weeks on any final revisions, but from here on out it is in her hands! On Friday I presented my land artist research to David, the museum director, Joanne, Bill, and a few other interested staff members. It was really rewarding to hear them comment on some of the images I showed and both Bill and Joanne will keep my presentation for reference in the future. If nothing else, it will diversify the foundation they have to work from. This experience overall has been incredible. It was most certainly not without its challenges I faced a significant learning curve coming in to the museum. I am most deficient in my knowledge of contemporary artist and the land art movement, but this internship was like a crash course, and I feel much more confident with those subjects now. I also now have the new skill of chronology writing under my belt, which I am sure will come in handy in the future. On top of the challenges, I had a lot of fun during my time in Reno. Everyone I met was incredibly interesting and knowledgeable and always willing to show me something new or take me somewhere fun. This will be an experience that I take with me throughout the rest of my life and has certainly helped me grow. I am moving now into a new job and
soon after that into a graduate program, but I feel so much more confident with my knowledge and my networking skills because of this experience. I would do it again in a heartbeat!