Intern to Employee

ALISA STERN

I graduated in May with a degree in traditional animation. Ever since high school I’ve wanted to work in the animation industry, especially stop-motion. I knew that the industry in general is small and tight, and that stop-motion is especially difficult to break into. With the help of one of my professors, I secured an (unpaid) internship at Bent Image Lab, a studio in Portland, Oregon that specializes in stop-motion animation. There are very few studios like it anywhere, and my professor assured me that my internship would most likely lead to paid work and would be a great opportunity to prove myself to industry folk. So I took the risk and moved to a city I’d never even visited so I could maybe one day have my dream job. I worked for free for two months on some pretty cool projects including an independent feature film and a music video. In august I got hired as an art department assistance and have been working full time since. I’ve helped with puppet, set, and prop fabrication and also done some set dressing for several commercials currently airing on TV. I love it! I guess the risk was worth it.

Posted by Micah Bozeman

Interning at Marvel

DAN MASSO

I’ve always wanted to draw comic books. When the time came I knew I only wanted an internship at Marvel Entertainment. I applied for their production internship program in hopes of getting accepted for the summer semester. As the summer came closer I started to lose hope, until the first week of May when I got a call from Marvel. They wanted me to interview. Unfortunately, unknown to me, I was interviewing for a position that I didn’t apply for, and one that I was not prepared for—the toy department. I left discouraged and sure that the interview didn’t go well. It turned out that I didn’t get it. I was upset, but I didn’t give up. I reapplied immediately. By the end of the summer I got called back for another interview, this time for the position I had applied for. I ended up getting the internship and have been happily handling, scanning and touching up the artwork of the artists who have inspired me. Recently, I have been given more significant work with my first official credit in a major comic book, She-Hulk #23 coming out November 21^st. I think it’s a good start towards my dream.

Posted by Micah Bozeman

From Pratt to Paris

LUKE GEHRKE-RODRIQUEZ

Bonjour, my name is Luke Gehrke-Rodriguez and I settled in Paris after graduating from Pratt Institute. During my senior year, my thesis at Pratt Institute discussed the act of layering material, the crystallizing properties of that material and its removal from a site. It sounds more like an experiment in chemistry; in fact it sort of followed the same principles. I majored in Interior Design. My project was a Hostel located in the neighborhood of TRIBECA in lower Manhattan. Perhaps the endless amount of working hours or the excessive consumption of coffee triggered a change in me. In several ways, the main argument of my thesis referenced back to my life. I found the true college experience; I grew tremendously and my person was altered. I carved a path full of mistakes, but making mistakes and being confused proved to strengthen me. I made the decision before graduation to move out of America. I would find a place and make a name. Being naïve greatly helped my choice to drop everything and start life in Paris. I recently arrived in Paris; don’t expect to see my face any time soon. My goal is to apply to a graduate design school in Paris. Unfortunately, not speaking French makes it hard to enter in that situation. Classes will be in French; obviously I need to learn their language! After graduating, I immediately took classes at the Alliance Française in New York, continuing with the same school when I arrived in France. I took the risk. I made the choice to give everything up, to leave my friends and my family. I left potential jobs in New York. I would not be speaking my own language. I retired my identity, one thought, shamefully wearing the badge of an expatriate. Later, how I perceived expatriates developed into one of reverence. I left to represent my Nation elsewhere and state that I am proud American. Then I thought, how was my choice to leave home any different than that of the brave students from other nations? Pratt is home to many foreign students. They all left their homes and started a life in the city. You need to understand that I was born in New York, so my entire life has been a huge bubble. It was necessary to move away.The one thing I miss is the unbelievable culture in Brooklyn, which centers on Pratt. That area holds a number of scenes and movements, but you need to step back in order to see. Brooklyn holds its own identity, surpassing any borough in the arts and New York culture. I had no understanding of the significance Pratt. I would love to return to Brooklyn and work on design.

Posted by Micah Bozeman

Internship Success @ Pierogi Gallery

RAMYA RAVISANKAR

As a graduate student I was eager to get some real world experience to help acclimate myself to New York. I felt very fortunate to land an internship at Pierogi Gallery in Williamsburg. It was the perfect introduction to Brooklyn because it was low key and relaxed, but I learned a lot about the artists, artwork, and current artistic trends. The key to making my experience at Pierogi beneficial was to closely study the flat files, to pick the owner's (Joe Amrhein) brain, and to make myself useful by being proactive and asking for more work to do. The best part of the experience was that I felt a sense of accomplishment and purpose and discovered that if given the opportunity I could be an asset to a private art gallery. The second internship I had in graduate school was at the newly opened Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum. It was an amazing opportunity to get involved in the ongoing dialogue of feminism and art. I spent about a year at the Sackler Center learning about the Dinner Party by Judy Chicago, researching women throughout history, and gaining a breadth of knowledge about Contemporary Feminist art. It was important to dive into the message of the Sackler Center and believe in the importance of Feminism. As a diligent worker I proved that I was up to the challenge of working the opening weekend, which allowed me to meet a lot of the artists who participated in the acclaimed Global Feminisms exhibition. This proved to be an amazing experience for a young artist like myself. In addition to working hard I tried my best to build a rapport with the staff including the fabulous curator Dr. Maura Reilly. It was a great working environment and I was able to learn through experience, research and conversation with Dr. Reilly. At the end of my internship I was sad to leave, but I will always remember what I learned and I will proudly admit to being a Feminist Artist.

Posted by Micah Bozeman