Author: Melanie Pantano
To finish out my final semester at Pitt, I had the opportunity to be a Museum Studies Intern at Silver Eye Center for Photography.
If you’ve been on the planet in 2020, you know that there has been a global pandemic. Although life slowed down for a while during the summer lockdown, once the fall semester rolled around had to get back to work and prepare to graduate. One of my final degree requirements was to obtain a Museum Studies internship for the completion of my minor. I was lucky enough to secure a position at Silver Eye!
In past years, Silver Eye offered students a very hands-on experience, where they could learn how to print photographs as well as get a glimpse of the behind the scenes process of putting together a gallery exhibit. Even though we could not physically go into the gallery, I found our weekly zoom meetings to be highly informational and just as eye-opening.
Prior to my time at Silver Eye, I had a basic understanding of photography since my major was in Film Studies. Even if both mediums use a camera, I did not know that photography was a very different art form altogether. It was almost as if I was exploring an entirely new world. Silver Eye immersed me in the image-making process. I always thought photos were more so a documentary style, but here I found myself redefining what photography meant to me. It was so much more creative, expressive, and personal than I had noticed before.
Because the internship was conducted remotely, I also explored the ways in which the gallery interacted with the public through its online presence. I enjoyed most of the videos that were on their youtube channel that featured artist talks. The artists featured in previous exhibitions would talk about their thought process, methodology, and lives in general. It not only let me peer into their creative process, but it also outlined what it was like to be a working artist today. I found myself thinking more deeply about photographs than I ever had before, and it was so easy! Just by watching their youtube videos, I was able to glean new information to build new connections. Little did I know, this was all preparing me for the culminating project of the semester--making my own online exhibition.
Currently, I am in a class called Exhibition Presentation so I am eager to combine the skills I used learned there with the training I received at Silver Eye. With my online exhibition, I get to engage with my chosen photographer and present their work to the online Silver Eye audience. All of the new questions and interests I have developed over the course of the semester now will come in handy when I have to conduct an interview. Silver Eye made learning something new really fun for me, and I am excited to make learning fun for somebody else.
Melanie Pantano, Fall 2020