Collaborations with the Ringling

Our affiliation with the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota has created many opportunies for FSU students in the last year, including exhibition classes, lectures, site trips, and internships.

In the spring of 2012, Dr. Matthew McLendon taught a course, Readymades to Garbage, for FSU graduate students. Duchamp’s repurposing of everyday objects is compared and contrasted with the latest trend of using repurposed materials by contemporary fine artists at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The class demonstrates the actual professional experience sought by Art History students.

Internships

Another opportunity to directly interact with the Ringling Museum is through their summer internship program. Paid internships are offered through various departments, including Curatorial, Registration, Education, Marketing, Events, Library, and the Historic Asolo Theatre.

FSU graduate student Mery-et Lescher, a curatorial intern, was directly involved with the staging and logistics of opening a major exhibition, Beyond Bling: Voices of Hip-Hop in Art ( Summer 2011).  She participated in departmental meetings and community events, and worked with visiting artists, while researching and documenting other collection artifacts for future exhibitions.

Working with Undergraduates

In the spring of 2012, Dr. McLendon also gave a lecture, sponsored by the Undergraduate Art History Association, in which he discussed his summer 2011 exhibition Beyond Bling and took the time to meet with the undergraduates afterwards sharing some of his career experiences

For more information on the Ringling Museum visit http://www.ringling.org/