Ivy Miller

Responsibilities

My main responsibility in my internship was to curate and install an exhibit of my choosing. This included looking through the clothing collection and deciding on a topic and main idea. Once decided, my co-intern and I split up the garments to research and write information that would be displayed with the final garments. Other tasks we had to complete included making the various posters to coincide with the exhibit, taking object photos, and making object videos.

Accomplishments

My greatest accomplishment during my internship would be the final exhibit. So much time and energy went into one project that I am very proud of. The final product looks exactly how I envisioned it and communicates the message we wanted to depict. I learned so much about how many little pieces go into the final exhibit other than just the garments.

Learning experience

Some of the biggest lessons I learned were how to receive critiques and feedback in a professional setting and communication. All of the work we did had to be okayed by Dr. Kelly Reddy-Best, which included a lot of meetings where we reviewed the work we had done, and she made adjustments. It was important to understand the feedback and use it moving forward. This goes hand in hand with how important communication is. There are a lot of moving parts to curate an exhibit, and every one of them needs to match the big idea. To make this happen, we had to communicate constantly about every aspect of the project so there was nothing falling through the cracks.

What advice would you give?

My advice is to reach out to the people in charge of the companies/businesses you are interested in to set up a meeting with them. Before you even get to the interview portion, make a meeting so that you can get to know what the people and the company are really about. This can help you understand if that location is a good fit for you.