Starting my first internship with the Taubman Museum of Art has been very interesting, I’ve gotten to work with students from Roanoke as well as schools like Virginia Tech and Radford. I was a little nervous since this was my first internship but I learned relatively quickly. It is great to do your own research and have group members (we were mostly split into groups of three) to bounce off ideas from. Not only are Ms.Beckner and Ms.King very nice but each day we have gotten to do interviews with various Museum staff and hear their stories of how they started to work at the Museum and what they do. On day two we did a Zoom meeting with the Museums volunteer group and got to make collages together, which was a nice break from constantly looking a a computer for research and typing up notes into a group google document.
I have really enjoyed the internship thus far as the focus of my research includes art conservation more precisely the conservation and upkeep of tapestries. This is my first time doing work with any form of embroidery or fiber art which is particularly fascinating in how these pieces are unkempt and prevented from any form of further damage. These tapestries are usually repaired and delicately washed before being hung for viewers. Everyone I have worked with both inside and outside of my group known as the “ Periwinkles” have been very enthusiastic and excited to know more about the tapestries meaning, history and conservation. The students that I am working with are not limited to History or Art History in fact there are fine arts students and even STEM students working with us . I am very excited to learn as much as I can about this tapestry: The Virtues of Charity and Prudence.
