Amaya Charley
Programming at the Center
Hal Blakeley, Moustache Cup and Saucer, c. 1940, watercolor and colored pencil on paper, Index of American Design, 1943.8.7277
During our programming in year one, I developed a keen interest in the Index of American Design. As a result, I chose a placement for the first semester of this year with the Center, doing research on Index objects produced in my home state of South Carolina. I utilized TMS and NetX to research the objects and their makers, developed an Airtable database based on my research, and contributed to the ongoing collection-tagging project. The skills I developed during the first half of the year helped me to transition into my second placement in Modern Prints and Drawings this spring. I have been performing Index artist research and TMS data entry, including reconciling discrepancies that National Gallery of Art Archives has identified over the years. Most Index artists do not have birth or death dates in TMS, so my research has mainly consisted of finding these dates as well as their places of birth and death. When investigating the works prioritized by the archives, I also look at the objects in person and enter mediums, dimensions, and inscriptions into TMS.
Civil Engineering major and Spanish minor, Howard University
Howard University Undergraduate Intern, 2022–2024