Author: Elizabeth Masterson
Craft is skillful making which generally produces a functional object. This functional object could be edible, drunk from, or worn. Craft objects can be made from wood, clay, glass, fiber, metal, and found materials. Craft is universal and personal. They come from traditional techniques and familiar materials. These methods are ways to slow down and create. These aspects translate throughout Contemporary Craft’s organization in their mission statement, classes offered, the shop, and their exhibitions.
While at Contemporary Craft, I completed a handful of projects. I created a bibliography for some of the older books in their collection. In this task, I determined an individual book’s educational and monetary value. Many of these books required translating from Portuguese or French to determine the subject of the book. I then estimated its value based on other listings of the same book. One of the more interesting book collections that I saw was the Met Miniature collection books. After this book assignment, I began more hands-on tasks around Contemporary Craft. Since they had just moved locations when I started, there were a lot of things I could do to help out: painting, unpacking, and moving boxes. Sadly, this did not last long as we soon moved to an online internship.
Reconstructing my assignments into a virtual internship, my supervisor, Janet McCall, decided I should interview the staff members. This assignment would help me better understand each person’s role at Contemporary Craft and help shape my post-graduation job search. I structured a set of questions around basic information about their careers, their jobs, how the move affected them and, lastly, how they have adapted to working from home. Throughout this process, I learned about each persons’ educational background, past jobs, and their current position. Hearing about their experience and education was the most helpful. Some got their job strictly because of their work experience while others seemed propelled by education. Mixed in the questions, I asked them what advice they would have given themselves right out of undergrad. Rather than seeking out the perfect opportunity, most of their answers suggested experiencing everything you can so that you can find the things you actually like to do. In my final semester at Pitt, my time at Contemporary Craft made clear that to craft these work experiences is to shape one’s purpose.
Elizabeth Masterson, Museum Studies Intern at Contemporary Craft, Spring 2020