September 2023

At the beginning of my senior year, I participated in the planning and execution of the Center for the Arts’ 50th Anniversary Festival. Stretching across six buildings in the CFA’s complex, the festival featured a dozen activities, four of which were completely curated by a respective student intern.

My exhibit was an interactive drawing activity inspired by the work of Sol Lewitt, a 20th century conceptual artist who had close ties with Wesleyan throughout his illustrious career. Inspired by Lewitt’s pioneering belief that “ideas alone can be works of art,” the activity had participants entering the space and taking on the role of formulator, executor, or both: the formulator wrote instructions for an artwork on top of a sheet of paper, and the executor followed that prompt. The resulting drawings mirrored Sol Lewitt’s process for his famous Wall Drawings, where he would provide written instructions and task an assistant with the physical execution of the drawing.

This internship saw me devise and execute an original exhibit, which involved extensive research and multiple rounds of feedback by CFA staff. I assisted others’ projects, and sat in on general staff meetings which exposed me to the administrative demands of a large-scale arts event.