End of an Era

….Hey, it’s been a while. But we are back for one, final, blog post. We graduate on Sunday, and we just wanted to share some of our favorite memories at the Fine Arts Center and reminisce before we go onto our post-Colorado College lives. We are so grateful for the time we have spent here and for all that we have learned. We hope that you have learned something too!

Michael Howell, the former director of the FAC internship program with Amber Mustafic and Suzy Lewis. 

Internship Highlights

New Mexico: We had an incredible week in New Mexico in August, staying in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. We met museum professionals from the Albuquerque Museum, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, New Mexico History Museum, Palace of the Governors, Palace Press, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, and Wheelwright. We stayed at a super fun and cozy bed and breakfasts, like the Downtown Historic Bed and Breakfast in Albuquerque, which is famous for being the location where the plan for the atomic bomb was handed over to a Russian operative. Thank you, Michael Howell, for organizing this trip and for introducing us to all of these amazing places and people!

Amber Mustafic and Suzy Lewis in Albuquerque, NM. 

Amber Mustafic and Suzy Lewis at the Wheelwright Museum with curator Cheri Falkenstien-Doyle in Santa Fe, NM. 

Researching textiles: Over the summer we got the opportunity to show Jean Steiner’s Fiber Arts class a small portion of our vast textile collection. We spent a long time researching the tradition of textiles in the American Southwest, and then we prepared a lesson plan, made handouts and demonstrated proper textile handling to Jean’s class. It was amazing to get to share our love for our textile collection with interested peers who seemed enthusiastic to use their new found inspiration in their own textiles! We recently gave this lecture again, to Kristen Bukowski’s textile class.

Amber Mustafic (left) and Suzy Lewis (right) lead a textile class at the FAC.

Photographing/inventorying pots/baskets: We began a long-term inventory and photography project of some of the pots and baskets in our collection of indigenous art from the American Southwest, focusing on Gila redware and anything Tohono O’odham. It was very special to view and work with this lesser seen portion of the collection and learn a bit of its history

Denver trip: Clyfford Still Museum, Denver Art Museum, Kirkland Museum of Decorative Art:

Our trip to Denver was most definitely a highlight of our internship! Since we already have a longer post on that trip (Under the FAC goes Out of the FAC! Check it out!) we won’t belabor the finer points. Instead, we will do some highlights of this highlight!

Clyfford Still storage & permanent conservation room: The Clyfford Still Museum took our breath away with its state-of-the-art storage and conservation rooms and as true collections aficionados we are hard to impress. Their storage system allows for the museum-goer to look into their storage facility, therefore getting a better look into the museum as a whole. The concept is even more impressive now that we have had a chance to do more in-depth museum studies research.

Conservation room at the Clyfford Still Museum, Denver CO.

DAM Photography room: When we saw the Denver Art Museum’s photography space we officially crossed the line from enthusiastic to riotous. Throughout our career we have been taught of the importance of quality photography as a means of allowing the public more access to a collection, so seeing the outstanding photography set up at DAM nearly had us in tears. Our excitement definitely shocked the poor photographers, but they quickly recovered from their shock and were happy to share with us all about their process, and it was a gift to hear.

Amber's Next Steps I am writing this during my official last day at the FAC. It feels surreal as if I'm still going to walk in tomorrow for my regular Tuesday shift. During my time at the FAC, I have developed a love for our collection of arts of the American Southwest, especially North American indigenous art. I have also become very interested in repatriation and NAGPRA efforts. With this being my current focus, I will be continuing museum work this summer 2019 in NYC at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. My internship there will be in the education department -- very different from collections. I will miss being able to directly interact with the objects in the collection, but I'm excited to be able to work with students and museum visitors. I have no idea where my life would be right now had I not worked at the FAC. Michael Howell has been especially instrumental in getting me to where I am today; he has supported me in all of my interests and endeavors and has been more of a mentor than a boss. Thank you for writing me countless recommendations (usually at the last minute), giving me advice, and always being there for me. Thank you also to Michael Lorusso for helping me become a museum database pro, and thank you, Lauren Tyson, for checking in on me all the time to make sure I don’t get too lonely doing database work in the intern office. Thank you, Suzy, for all the laughs, working with you has been so lovely and it will feel weird to work in a museum without you <3

Amber Mustafic

Suzy's Next Steps Being an intern at the FAC has shaped my career path in immeasurable ways. The amount of trust and responsibility that has been given to me by bosses and co-workers has helped me gain a new sense of confidence that I will take with me wherever I go. I will, however, not be venturing that far! For the summer of 2019, I will be staying right here at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and working not as an intern, but as a Research Assistant. As a Research Assistant, I will be helping the FAC realize many long-awaited projects, such as the digitization of the collection. That involves both helping the effort to photograph a wide variety of collections objects and making sure that the quality of the information meets the quality of our institution! I am so excited to be able to continue on here and continue to experience and enjoy the collection. Working here really has been a gift, and it wouldn’t have been the same without the people who supported me all the way through. I would like to first thank Michael Howell. He is the registrar who first brought me into the FAC and who has been nothing but supportive ever since. Although he has left the museum his impact remains. I know that he will continue to support us in any way possible and I can’t stress how comforting that is to know. I would also like to thank Michael Lorusso for patiently teaching me everything he knows. And a huge thank you to the entire museum staff, specifically Lauren and Rebecca, for supporting us and even just saying hi during breaks! And finally, I would like to thank Amber who has made being an intern better in every way. I will miss her dearly!

Suzy Lewis

If you are interested in the FAC intern program, the applications for the academic year internships come out in August, please contact Julianne Gavino at jgavino@coloradocollege.edu