After serving as Hurford Humanities Center-sponsored interns at the Philadelphia Museum of Art this summer, Janet Yoon '10 and Andreea Bailuc '11 are pursuing exciting new opportunities in the art world.
Andreea Bailuc '11 and Janet Yoon '10 are getting an inside look at the way major American art museums operate. Both credit Hurford Humanities Center-supported internships for helping them make their way in the art world.
This summer, Andreea Bailuc '11 and Janet Yoon '10 participated in the Museum Studies Internship Program sponsored by the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA); both internships were funded by Haverford's John B. Hurford '60 Humanities Center. Now, Bailuc is continuing to work at PMA, while Yoon is interning at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.
At the PMA, Yoon was assigned to the Prints, Drawings and Photographs department, helping preparators frame and mat the works on paper. She also created her own independent study project on the history of early 20th century American frames.
“The internship coordinators did an awesome job of organizing presentations by different museum staff members, who described what they did and how they got to where they are now,” says Yoon.“I encourage anyone who is particularly curious about a future in the museum field to apply.”
Now, Yoon is a full-time curatorial intern at the Whitney, assisting chief curator and assistant director of programs Donna de Salvo and recently appointed curator Scott Rothkopf. Yoon has many administrative duties related to the Whitney's new building, designed by prize-winning Italian architect Renzo Piano. This spring, she will help Rothkopf mount a retrospective of American conceptual artist Glenn Ligon. This won't be Yoon's first curatorial endeavor: With Visiting Associate Professor of Independent College Programs Carol Solomon, she co-curated the Mapping Identity exhibition at Haverford's Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery last spring.
“I love that there is never a dull moment at the Whitney,” says former art history major Yoon.“I'm most looking forward to seeing the curatorial projects come to fruition, and being in the contemporary art scene.”
Bailuc, who took classes at the Musee D'Orsay during a year abroad in Paris, worked in the PMA's development office during her Museum Studies Internship. The French major/art history minor spent the summer conducting research for the museum's Family Foundation and re-organizing the development staff handbook.
“It was an incredible program,” says Bailuc of her internship.“I met with all of the curators, toured galleries with specialists, and got an overview of how a museum runs. It's a well-oiled machine.”
During her time at the Art Museum, Bailuc became friendly with Adelina Vlas, the assistant curator of modern and contemporary art, who, like Bailuc, is from Romania. When the summer was over, Vlas invited Bailuc to intern with her department this fall. Beginning the first week of October, she'll work at the museum one day a week for eight hours.
“I'm excited to be surrounded by people who are so passionate about modern and contemporary art,” says Bailuc, who plans to apply for year-long internships after her graduation in May.
