MA Art History and Curating students, Karolina, Charlotte, Smitakshi, Lottie, and Alex share their experience interning for various institutions in the arts sector (Edited By Karolina).
To bridge the gap between academia and careers beyond the Art History/Curating degree, the AHCVS Department offers an opportunity for the MA students to engage in various placements. Having secured their internships, students gain a deeper understanding of the arts sector, dedicating a minimum of 70 hours to their endeavour. This translates to approximately 6.5 hours per day, spread over 11 weeks. Placements typically take place between October and December/January for Semester 1, and from February to April/May for Semester 2.
Karolina
My placement was held at Birmingham Museums Trust where I worked as a Cataloguing Assistant. I worked in a warehouse which stocked with items not currently on display in museums. The sheer size of the warehouse and the variety of exhibits (from furniture, paintings, jewellery, to animal skeletons) amazed me each time I returned to work!
As a Cataloguing Assistant, my role involved cataloguing, photographing, condition checking, and labelling a collection of late 19th- and early 20th-century stained glass drawings sent to the US. These intricate designs were produced by John Hardman & Co., a Birmingham-based company renowned for designing and manufacturing stained glass for thousands of churches and other buildings around the world. The drawings ranged from simple pencil sketches to elaborate and detailed depictions of religious figures. Some even had hints of comments or interesting notes meant for the receiving party in the US.
Having received training in object handling and photographing, I felt confident in my work. Additionally, my supervisor often gave me feedback that enabled me to navigate the process. This helped me become skilled in performing close analysis of objects in focus and master the ability to recognise unapparent biblical figures and symbolism.
Overall, I have successfully catalogued 128 and photographed around 200 hand-painted drawings. These will be uploaded to the museum management system and later shared on the Birmingham Museums website. I am immensely happy that my work will make the collection more accessible to the public and, hopefully, facilitate future research on the drawings!
Alex
My placement was with Craftspace, a small organisation that promotes craft and creates opportunities for artists and makers. In this placement Smitakshi (another student) and I helped plan their upcoming touring exhibition, Made in the Middle. The exhibition happens every 5 or so years and solely shows contemporary craft being made in the Midlands.
As you can imagine putting together a show that commissions art, tours the Midlands, and works across a huge range of mediums takes a fair amount of planning. However, the scope and the variety of the exhibition made my experience working on it hugely interesting. We began by helping with the accessibility of the initial call out for artists, which involved interviews, online research, and contacting Arts organisations. Later this grew into researching audiences for the exhibition and how to reach them. It pushed me out of my comfort zone but knowing that Craftspace’s principles so much with my own really helped motivate me to get involved.
The part of this placement that will stay with me the longest is the kindness of the people I worked with. Craftspace is clearly dedicated to making change in our sector and to providing mutual support for their makers. The accessibility of opportunities and the safety of their collaborators was always at the forefront of their work. Craftspace’s people-first approach was hugely refreshing and I hope I can make sure I take it forward with me.
Lottie
My twelve week placement in the Visual Arts team at the Midlands Art Centre was a great opportunity to gain experience working in a contemporary art gallery. From my very first day, I was able to take on various responsibilities relating to current and upcoming exhibitions, across MAC’s four exhibition spaces. My main task throughout the twelve weeks was to research for MAC’s upcoming Waste Age exhibition, building on research by the Design Museum to update a timeline of significant dates and events relating to waste that features in the exhibition.
I also supported the installation of Tatiana Wolska’s Leisure is Resistance exhibition, creating condition checks and reports, and writing briefing templates for gallery assistants, informing them on the exhibition and its accompanying programme. Throughout my time at MAC, I was also responsible for smaller admin tasks, like creating packing labels for artworks and drafting emails to artists and local contacts. I was also able to gain invigilation experience, monitoring the different gallery spaces, and restocking material resources. Overall, my time at MAC was an amazing experience that instilled me with valuable skills for my future career, and increased my confidence working in a professional gallery setting.
Charlotte
I’m in the middle of my placement as a Cataloguing Assistant at Birmingham Museums Trust, cataloguing their collection of stained-glass window drawings from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century. The designs are from the Birmingham-based John Hardman & Co. who produced windows for churches across Europe and the US. They’re absolutely beautiful, although it’s slightly nerve-wracking handling tracing paper that is over 100 years old!
The placement is at the Museums Collections Centre, in Duddeston, where a significant proportion of the museum’s collection is stored. It’s open to the public on Fridays so if you’re interested to see what they have to offer, I would recommend a visit. They have everything from Auguste Rodin sculptures to taxidermy owls to a 1920s chip shop fryer. It’s been really fun to look around the collection and see the history of Birmingham first-hand.
I have been absolutely loving my time at BMT and it’s helped me figure out what I want to do after finishing my MA. I wasn’t sure which area of museums and galleries I was interested in, but I have thoroughly enjoyed working with objects in such a hands-on way and working with a collections management system, which is a really important part of museum work. I’d definitely love to have a collections-based career and this placement has given me the skills and experience to apply for a variety of collections jobs, especially documentation roles.
Going to placement is one of the highlights of my week and it’s definitely going to help me going forward.
Smitakshi
During the second term of my MA course, I had the insightful experience of being placed at Craftspace, Birmingham. My primary role was as an audience researcher for Craftspace’s upcoming touring exhibition in 2025, “Made in the Middle,” which highlights contemporary crafts made in the Midlands.
In this capacity, I was responsible for researching and creating a comprehensive database of Midlands-based artists, makers, curators, art organizations, and art collectives to facilitate an open call for the exhibition. I have conducted an interview with a tutor from South and City College, Birmingham to understand and evaluate how to facilitate specialised support for students interested in art, crafts and design, visiting the exhibition.
Additionally, I supported research around conditions of hire, accessibility, and sustainability for touring exhibitions. My tasks included editing exhibition panels and artists’ testimonies, as well as compiling and analyzing demographic data for exhibition venues. This analysis is intended to guide marketing and community engagement efforts to support minority groups.
This placement has been an incredible opportunity for me to get to know the Midlands, a new place that I had just moved to. And Craftspace’s amazing team helped me connect with the community and deepened my understanding of the local art and history of this culturally rich region.
14th of June 2024
Karolina Mickiewicz
MA History of Art
Golovine 