SculptureCenter

sadly, my internship at SculptureCenter is nearly over, which means two things, i will be missing some wonderful folks i have met there, and school is fast approaching. my fall schedule won't allow me to continue interning there for the time being, but i look forward to volunteering with them, with the hopes of returning as an intern again over the next spring or summer. as trite as it may sound, the experience taught me a lot about contemporary, professional artists and sprung forth much contemplation about myself, and my artwork in context of it all; something that deserving of its own post.

during my time at SC i was tasked with assisting in the review of proposals for their In Practice open call (anyone can submit a proposal for upcoming group shows). so this wasn’t a typical gallery sitter / assistant internship, I was actually given quite a bit of responsibility that provided opportunity for making curatorial recommendations. ultimately, i evaluated proposals and then made a recommendation to get the pool of over 700 applicants to a list of 200. those 200 or so will go to a panel consisting of SC curators and independent artists for review and selection. in the process of reviewing hundreds of proposals, each of which included examples of work, artist statement, resume, and project proposal; I was privy to how artists present themselves. through all of this reading i was reminded of my penchant for research, reading and writing (all three that i am eagerly pursuing in a few different directions). above all, i read about and viewed artwork by so many working artists coming from limitless backgrounds affording me a greater understanding of the conceptual, technical, and formal tides that are guiding the contemporary current of art.

one of the more personally unsettling things to fall out from this experience is being confronted with how i fit or don’t fit with this grand scheme of new york art. not getting to deeply into the numerous thoughts that are residing in my head (and that will continue for some time to come) they snapped me out of that little bubble that sometimes surrounds us all,l to consider my position between mfa student, instructor, non-profit worker bee, and one that wishes to eventually take on art professionally. is the new york art environ one that i wish to be a part of? does my work fit the aesthetic, should it? as someone intensely committed to sculpture and defines myself and artwork from a centering point of sculpture, what if my work doesn’t fit someone else’s definition of sculpture? as troubling as all of this issues might come across upon first reading, they are all perfectly healthy issues to be considering and ones that will be continually contemplated and acted upon throughout this crazy pursuit of mine.