A Creative Life

Today I started reading Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way and I already love it. It requires a fair amount of time, which will be a challenge for me. However, I think the 12-week program will be a great way to get in touch with my creative side and gain greater confidence as a writer. Writing is such an important part of being a student, art historian, curatorial intern but I definitely struggle with writer's block. I think a lot of young writers struggle with accepting praise and seeing the value in their own work. The author claims that her program will help with that very issue and I am excited to see how her activities transcend into other areas of my life.

To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. ~ Joseph Chilton Pearce

Summer Internship Overview

Albert Bierstadt's Looking Down Yosemite Valley, 1865 (image from BMA website)

Starting June 1, 2011 I will be interning for Graham Boettcher at the Birmingham Museum of Art (BMA). As the William Cary Hulsey Curator, Graham is an extremely talented and enthusiastic curator who shares my passion for American Art. We are both outgoing and love to talk about the superior and splendid traditions of our Alma Maters (Graham went to Yale and I went to the University of Virginia - we agree to disagree). I first met Graham three years ago when I was his summer intern and it was an incredible experience. During my first internship I learned a great deal about the inner workings of an art museum in addition to drafting label copy for the American Art Collection. I will summarize my prior experience in another entry. I know it is safe to say we both look forward to working together again. 

Graham and I have worked to customize my internship so that I will expand on my existing skills while also facing different challenges and obtaining new experiences. I am so grateful to Graham because when I approached him about the possibility of another internship, he instantly knew that I wanted to build on what I already knew and selected several assignments that he felt would both challenge me and showcase my talents.

Among various projects we have planned, one of my responsibilities will include putting together small exhibitions of works on paper. I am extremely excited to have the opportunity to handle artworks and relish the challenge of conceiving, preparing, and executing the monthly exhibits of American artworks on paper. I will keep you posted as these develop!

I invite you to take the time to check out the Birmingham Museum of Art website and Graham's biography. Be sure while you are there to take the time to look at the upcoming events as I will be attending and writing about a lot of them on here.

Welcome!

ser-en-dip-i-ty - [ser-uhn-dip-i-tee], noun, 1. an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident; 2. good fortune; luck.

Welcome to Serendipity Summer! This blog will chronicle my experiences as an art history student, graduate student, and intern over the next few months. I am a second year graduate student in Birmingham, Alabama and in part I am starting this blog as a way of exploring my commitment and passion for the arts. But perhaps more importantly it will document one of the most exciting periods of my life - in the next few months I will be trying to move to New Orleans, establish my career, and finish the last few requirements of my master's. Change is exciting and I cannot wait to discover what is in store for me.

I chose the title because the coming months are a period of transition for me as I will be changing jobs, moving to a new city, writing my thesis, and starting my career. I am hoping to use the challenges I will face as an opportunity to discover more about myself. As much as I loathe the overuse and misappropriation of the word, serendipity truly represents my approach to life and art. Summer is a time of laziness in the south but this summer will be one of the busiest in my life. Although I believe this summer is only the beginning, I love the emotional connection I have with this time of year - it reminds me of frozen lemonades, fireflies, swims at Smith Mountain Lake, and evenings around the campfire with old friends. For kids, college students, and young adults summer vacation is a time of discovery and exploration in the form of summer camps, first-time jobs, and internships. Every year, no matter how old I get, summer still holds the magic of freedom, excitement, and self-discovery, thus this blog is a tribute to the past and a journal of my evolution.

Robert Frost encouraged us all to take the road not taken and as I move through a time of major transitions in my life, I welcome the accidental and unforeseen discoveries because one will not stumble upon their destiny using a Garwin navigator!
/ˌsɛrənˈdɪpɪti/ Show Spelle