internship – Flower City Arts Center

Intern Farewell: Zubair Aziz

As the start of the school year approaches, it’s my last day as an intern at the Flower City Arts Center. It’s been a great experience to be able to work at a non-profit organization that benefits the Rochester community. The projects I’ve worked on these past two months have been really fun.

I remember my first week here, I was given the task to design postcards to promote our lighting studio and community darkroom. Having the amount of freedom to work independently on these design projects have really helped me with honing not only my design skills, but also my ability to plan out different stages of the projects and managing my time to complete these tasks.

Aside from that I also got to work on various design projects to be put up in the building itself, such as labels for all the doors, vinyl designs for directions, and posters for the digital labs.

Of course, working on other various projects around the building have been great too. Other things that I’ve done during my time here include reorganizing and cataloging items in the storage room, hanging up a display of the Studio 678 book covers, and doing research for sending out call for entry listings for our juried exhibition, Family Photographs.

My final project: Wintercraft 2018 poster, option 1

As a final note, I’m really grateful to have interned for the Flower City Arts Center. Meeting and working with all the staff here was also amazing, I would not have had the experiences, nor learned as much as I did had it not been for the staff that has helped guide me during my time here. Despite my time here being fairly short, I’ve enjoyed it very well. I hope that the Flower City Arts Center continues to thrive and continue their amazing work in Rochester. It truly is a great place that gives a lot to the community, and I’m glad to have been a part of it, even for just a short while.

Intern Farewell: DesRee Taylor

Photo of me working on images for the website

It’s hard to believe the end of August is almost here and that my time at Flower City Arts Center is almost over. Reflecting on my time here, I have learned so much and had many great experiences. While I was here I kept a log of what I did everyday, and looking at it now there are a few projects and experiences that really stand out to me.

Photo of the Images I hung by the film drying station

One of my favorite projects of the entire summer was one of the first things I did, and that was reorganizing and archiving the class files. While that may sound painfully boring to many, I really enjoyed it and it was an important experience for me as a museum studies student as I think it helped me realize what type of work I’d like to do in the future. The other experience that stood out to me was being able to join the Studio Photography for Teens class on their field trip to the George Eastman Museum. I had the opportunity to meet David Levinthal and hear him speak about his own work as well as his process. I was also able to work with some of the artists in residence here and be present on the Flower City Arts Center’s social media. One experience that combined these things was when I was able to be a part of the live Instagram interview with AIR Megan May. Of course, these were not the only experiences that left an impression on me; everything I did here taught me something.

Photo I took during the field trip to the George Eastman Museum

Without Flower City Arts Center and the amazing staff here, I would not have had any of these experiences or opportunities and I am so grateful for the time that I have spent here. From the youth program, to the artist in residency program, to the internship program, and everything else this center has to offer, Flower City Arts Center is a unique part of the Rochester community and I am thankful that I was able to be a part of it for these past three months. I value the time that I have spent here so much, and I hope that my departure isn’t a “goodbye” and is more of a “see ya later”.

Photo of me with AIR Megan May after her live Instagram interview

Intern Introduction: DesRee Taylor

Hello all! I am an intern here in the Photography & Digital Arts department for the summer. I am a student at SUNY Brockport and I’ll be starting my junior year in the fall. I am a double major in art, with a concentration in photography, and anthropology; I also have a minor in museum studies and public history. In my personal work I am very inspired by the supernatural and witchcraft. I’m a dedicated student, but I also have two jobs and a few hobbies like reading tarot cards, watching the bachelor and growing plants.

As for what I’ll be up to here and my goals as an intern, there are quite a few things I’m looking forward to. Some of the projects I am working on include being present here on the blog, taking photos to help update the website, helping with event publicity, archiving and organizing files, and odd projects around the building. As an intern there are many things I look forward to learning, of course experience is important, but a museum studies student, there are many things that I can learn by being here that I could not else where. Arts centers are great and they play unique roles in their communities.

I’ve had a great time being here so far and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer has in store!