by Michelle Miguel, Development Intern
During the quarantine and self-isolation, people have been facing different problems and handling them the best they can. It has been a unique experience interning at the American Folk Art Museum in a time like this because a lot of things that we work on connect to physically doing something such as attending meetings and hosting workshops and tours. Being limited to meeting virtually has been unfortunate and led to missed experiences, but we try to stay connected through weekly video conferences.
In one of our digital meetings, we had a great experience doing art together from home. The museum provided prompts inspired by artworks from the American Folk Art Museum’s collection to create art from home. While there were a fun variety of prompts, I decided to choose “favorite activities”.
Stuck at home, I am left with constant thoughts and longing to see my friends, my partner and my coworkers. Everyone around me plays an important part in my life. They were all involved in my daily routine and it has been hard not seeing everyone. Because of this situation, I wanted to draw an activity I miss when we were able to go outside and visit places. I was able to pour out my feelings into this quick drawing.
I chose to do a digital painting of a special person in my life walking in an exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was a very beautiful and interesting exhibit relating to Japanese culture. The museum’s collection of watercolor paintings and furniture was amazing and I had a lot of fun looking around constantly being distracted. One of these memories was captured by a picture of the Ceremonial Teahouse: Sunkaraku (Evanescent Joys). Throughout the internship, I have come to appreciate museums a lot more and I wanted to relate my personal experiences with my work experiences.
While I was drawing and enjoying the memories I had that day, the rest of my coworkers also chose prompts to work on along with Education Specialist Natalie Beall who hosts our weekly meetings along with recent fun events such as a “Digital Drink + Draw”. Below are two of the amazing artworks from my fellow interns who participated in the meeting, which show diverse styles, prompts, and media.
Drawing from home was a really nice breather of an activity. The other interns and I chatted about random things and updates, and talked about our drawings while also concentrating on what we were drawing. Despite being “just” a fun activity, sharing this experience felt special because I felt connected through our silence and focus and I also felt no pressure to say something and was able to just listen. I believe it is a nice experience to share and maybe others can get inspired to draw at home. There are plenty of resources online to get inspired by along with events to join digitally. There’s also artwork that can be done by yourself such as the “AFAM from Home Community Quilt Project”. Socializing digitally is a possibility for us thanks to the advances of technology, so let’s take advantage of it.
Museum Career Internship Program 