Release Date: June 17, 2014

National Gallery of Art Awards 18 Summer Internships to a Group of International Students from 12 States and 2 Foreign Countries

Front row, from left to right: Michelle Smiley, Victoria Gao, Allison Burness, Abby Eron, Sarah Battle, Anne Marie Gan, Samantha Fisher, Alessandra Nardi
Back row, from left to right: David Ward, John Salmons, Christine Zappella, Cyle Metzger, Jennifer Rokoski, Megan Whitney, Valerie Lazalier, Christina Taylor, Jillian Vaum, Galina Olmsted

Washington, DC—The National Gallery of Art welcomed 18 graduate students and recent bachelor's degree recipients to participate in its 2014 summer internship program. The interns are joined by a Culturex Fellow funded by the Spanish Ministry of Culture. The international group was selected after a competitive application process and includes individuals from twelve states and two foreign countries. The nine-week internships began on Monday, June 9, and will conclude on Friday, August 8.

The nine-week summer internship program provides the opportunity for graduate-level and postgraduate students to work on projects directed by a Gallery department head or curator. Interns are chosen for this rigorous program based on a strong interest in museum work, outstanding academic achievement, and letters of recommendation, among other criteria. In addition to placements in traditional areas—curatorial, education, conservation, and administration—the Gallery also offers internships in horticulture, graphic design, architecture, publishing, archives, music, and public safety. As part of their regular work schedule, interns attend a biweekly seminar that introduces them to the broad spectrum of museum work and to Gallery departments, staff, functions, and programs.

Support for the internship program comes from individual gifts and endowment funds, and the program is administered by the department of academic programs in the division of education. Information about the summer internship program, as well as about other Gallery internships and fellowships, is available at www.nga.gov/opportunities/interns-and-fellows.html or by calling (202) 842-6257.

2014 National Gallery of Art Summer Interns

Sarah Battle
Parkton, Maryland
Sarah recently completed a BA (art history and education) at Bucknell University. She has interned at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Samek Art Museum at Bucknell University. She will begin coursework for an MA (museum studies) at Johns Hopkins University this fall. This summer, Sarah will assist with special events, helping to archive digital and film photography of past events, among other duties.

Allison Burness
Sydney, Australia
Alli received a BA (art history, English, and indigenous studies) and is currently pursuing an MLA (museums and collections) at Australian National University. Previously, Alli interned at Powerhouse Museum and City of Sydney Town Hall Collection. This summer, Alli will assist with research and planning related to emerging technologies, audience trends, and museum applications of technology for educational purposes.

Abby Eron
Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Abby received a BA (art history and international and global studies) from Brandeis University. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD (art history) at the University of Maryland, College Park. Previously, Abby interned at the National Museum of American Jewish History and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This summer, Abby will catalog and digitize the library's collection of rare photographs of works of art and architecture.

Samantha Fisher
Chazy, New York
Samantha received a BA (art history and French studies) from Smith College. She is currently pursuing a MAC at Queen's University. Previously, Samantha interned in conservation departments at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. She is a recipient of the 2014 Etruscan Foundation Conservation Fellowship. For her summer internship, Samantha is working on the annual maintenance of outdoor sculptures.

Anne Marie Gan
Dallas, Texas
Anne Marie received a BA (art history and Italian) from Emory University. Currently, she is pursuing an MA (arts management) and MBA at Southern Methodist University. Previously, Anne Marie interned at the High Museum of Art and the Crow Collection of Asian Art. This summer, Anne Marie will assist the Gallery's development department with fundraising and administration.

Victoria Gao
Rochester, New York
Victoria received a BA (art history and physics) from Cornell University. She is currently pursuing a PhD (visual and cultural studies) at the University of Rochester. She has interned at the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film and at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. This summer, Victoria will assist the department of photographs with the cataloging and researching of photographs recently acquired by the Gallery.

Valerie Lazalier
Saint Louis, Missouri
Valerie received a BA (art history) from Truman State University. She is currently pursuing an MA (art history) and an MLS at Indiana University Bloomington. Previously, she was an assistant in the registrar's office at Indiana University Art Museum and a library assistant in the fine-arts library at Indiana University. For her summer internship, Valerie will gather provenance information from historical documents relating to the collection of Lessing J. Rosenwald to create web content in support of the Rosenwald Project, a joint effort of the National Gallery of Art and the Library of Congress.

Cyle Metzger
Riverside, California
Cyle received a BA (liberal arts) from Bennington College and an MFA (interdisciplinary studio arts) from Maryland Institute College of Art. He is currently pursuing an MA (art history) at the University of California, Riverside. This summer, Cyle will assist in the preparation of exhibition-related publications as well as materials for distribution and use at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Galina Olmsted
Oberlin, Ohio
Galina received a BA (art history and English) from Georgetown University and an MA (art history and museum studies) from Case Western Reserve University. She is currently a CTPhD student (curatorial track program in art history) at the University of Delaware. Previously at the Cleveland Museum of Art, she was an intern in the development department and a graduate curatorial fellow in the drawings department. This summer, Galina will assist in research and organization for an upcoming exhibition on Gustave Caillebotte.

Alessandra Nardi
Florence, Italy
Alessandra received a BA (history and conservation of artistic heritage), an MA (art history), and a postgraduate degree from the Scuola di Specializzazione in Beni Storico Artistici, Università di Firenze. Most recently, she was a scholar in residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. For her summer internship, Alessandra will assist in updating collection records and other art-historical research.

Jennifer Rokoski
Quakertown, Pennsylvania
Jen received a BA (art history, minor in French) from Dickinson College and is currently pursuing an MA (art history and museum studies) at Case Western Reserve University. She has interned in the education departments of the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Frick Art & Historical Center, and the James A. Michener Art Museum. This summer, Jen will present gallery talks, and will assist the art information program by working with volunteers and researching and preparing responses to written requests about art from the general public. She will also work in the department of teacher, school, and family programs assisting with the National Teacher Institute.

John Salmons
Alexandria, Virginia
John received a BS (architecture) from the Catholic University of America. He is currently pursuing an MArch at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. John previously interned at Studio 3877 in Georgetown and Van Metre Homes in Dulles, Virginia. For his summer internship, John will review files, construction plans, and progress photographs to produce materials showing the development and evolution of the Gallery's master facilities plan projects.

Michelle Smiley
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
Michelle received an AB (history of art) from and is currently pursuing an MA (history of art) at Bryn Mawr College. Previously, Michelle interned at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the National Portrait Gallery. This summer, she will assist in research and organization for an upcoming exhibition on nineteenth-century American landscape photography.

Christina Taylor
Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
Christina received a BFA (printmaking) from Kutztown University. She is currently pursuing an MA and a CAS (art conservation) at Buffalo State University. This summer, Christina will assist paper conservators in organizing and cataloging items in the Paper Sample Collection of historic and contemporary artists' drawing and printing papers.

Jillian Vaum
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Jill received a BA (art history, minor in American studies) from Vanderbilt University and is currently pursuing an MA (art history) at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2011–2012, she was a Kress Interpretive Museum Fellow at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville. For her summer internship, Jill will assist with planning and research for an upcoming exhibition and publication devoted to early American modernism.

David Ward
Salt Lake City, Utah
David received a BA (Chinese) from the University of Utah. He is currently pursuing a JD at Brigham Young University. Previously, David was a legal intern at Baker & McKenzie's Hong Kong office and a congressional affairs intern at the Heritage Foundation, Washington, DC. This summer, he will work in the department of personnel, assisting attorneys in the preparation of cases before the EEO Commission, the Merit Systems Protection Board, and the Federal Labor Relations Authority.

Megan Whitney
Tucson, Arizona
Megan received a BA (art history) from and is currently pursuing an MA (art history) at the University of Arizona. She has interned at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson and My Addiction Gallery. This summer, Megan will assist with cataloging, inventorying, and digitizing the library's collection of reproductive prints of works of art depicting works by old master artists.

Christine Zappella
Jersey City, New Jersey
Chris received a BA (art history and classical studies) from Saint Peter's University, an MS (teaching, math concentration) from Pace University, and an MA (art history) from Hunter College, City University of New York. She is currently pursuing a PhD (art history) at the University of Chicago. Previously, she interned at Save Venice Inc. in New York. For her summer internship, Chris will help catalog new acquisitions of European drawings dating from about 1500 through the early twentieth century.

2014 Culturex Fellowship, Spanish Ministry of Culture

María Isabel Hidalgo Urbaneja
Málaga, Spain
Maribel received a BA (fine arts) from the Universidad de Granada and an MA (journalism, publishing and cultural management) from Sapienza Università di Roma. She is currently pursuing a PhD (art history) at the Universidad de Málaga. Previously, she was a visiting researcher at Humanities Advanced Technologies and Information Institute (HATII) at the University of Glasgow. From July to December, she will assist the publishing office with the next two volumes of the NGA Online Editions series: Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries and American Modernism. Maribel will also help the department of academic programs with planning and developing web content for lecture programs.