Internship Reflection
For my senior project, I painted a mural in the lobby for the Movement Lab dance show and was an usher for the show as well. The Movement Lab is a dance group in Santa Rosa that puts on a show at Windsor High School once a year. They had students working lighting, sound, backstage, and gallery. Because last year I helped paint a mural with Melissa Jones, I wanted to take what I learned last year and transfer them to this project.
My mentor was Daniel Segobiano. Daniel’s role in our project was huge. He created a very organized space for us to put our ideas/ forms, and always made sure we were on track. He made a chat, and every night we were informed on what needed to be done the next day so we could hit the ground running on that day. His expertise was having done this last year for his senior project. Daniel was a head of lighting this year and last, but he oversaw everything. He explained to us that it would be a fast pace project and that we needed to be focused and to take it seriously.
The biggest challenge we faced during this project was the time crunch. Last year, Ms. Jones told us as a set painter you always had a time limit, so this project really gave you a taste of what that could be like. We started on a Sunday and it had to be done that Wednesday, so we were hustling. I think a challenge for a few of the juniors was patience. There was an order that things had to painted in, and sometimes juniors would ask me if they could start one part of the mural that had to be painted last. I would tell them no, and I did feel bad but I think it was important for them to realize the importance of waiting, because if they had started some of the things they wanted to, we would have had to keep going back to clean up. So I guess it was a challenge for me to say no.
The second part of this internship was ushering, and that was very different. As an usher, we were there to direct people to seating, bathrooms, and answering any questions. I would say the biggest challenge of this was seating people. For example, the show would start and we would ask them to move all the way down the row and they would sit in the middle or save seats, which was not a huge issue until the show started and the late comers would enter and have to find a seat in the dark and have to walk over people. But that was really the only difficult part. I would say these challenges made my internship better. It made it feel like a real experience
I saw my personal growth in my leadership skills and visual art skills. Painting this mural, I felt I did a lot of directing for what everyone needed to be doing and what we could paint. I was constantly thinking of ways to improve our mural to make it look the best it could be. Transferring techniques from the mural last year, we made the it look amazing. For example, adding a lot of water to paint to create a wash. We did this with purple over dark blue, and it gave the mural more detail and depth.
Transferrable skills acquired in this project would be leadership skills, teamwork skills, and time management. These are beneficial in a future career because wherever you go, there are going to be people you will have to work with. Time management is important because most of the time you will have to get a task done with a limit.
This career study was very interesting. After doing it for my junior and senior project, you learn a lot about the process. I would say after doing it, the experience was not better or worse than I expected. It was fun and satisfying, and challenging at times. I think I found that I am good at leading a group to the finish and painting techniques. I could say I never thought I would get to help paint a mural in the lobby because I am usually always on stage, but I was so happy that I got a chance to. I would consider doing it in the future more because it is one of the most satisfying things to finish ever.
My mentor was Daniel Segobiano. Daniel’s role in our project was huge. He created a very organized space for us to put our ideas/ forms, and always made sure we were on track. He made a chat, and every night we were informed on what needed to be done the next day so we could hit the ground running on that day. His expertise was having done this last year for his senior project. Daniel was a head of lighting this year and last, but he oversaw everything. He explained to us that it would be a fast pace project and that we needed to be focused and to take it seriously.
The biggest challenge we faced during this project was the time crunch. Last year, Ms. Jones told us as a set painter you always had a time limit, so this project really gave you a taste of what that could be like. We started on a Sunday and it had to be done that Wednesday, so we were hustling. I think a challenge for a few of the juniors was patience. There was an order that things had to painted in, and sometimes juniors would ask me if they could start one part of the mural that had to be painted last. I would tell them no, and I did feel bad but I think it was important for them to realize the importance of waiting, because if they had started some of the things they wanted to, we would have had to keep going back to clean up. So I guess it was a challenge for me to say no.
The second part of this internship was ushering, and that was very different. As an usher, we were there to direct people to seating, bathrooms, and answering any questions. I would say the biggest challenge of this was seating people. For example, the show would start and we would ask them to move all the way down the row and they would sit in the middle or save seats, which was not a huge issue until the show started and the late comers would enter and have to find a seat in the dark and have to walk over people. But that was really the only difficult part. I would say these challenges made my internship better. It made it feel like a real experience
I saw my personal growth in my leadership skills and visual art skills. Painting this mural, I felt I did a lot of directing for what everyone needed to be doing and what we could paint. I was constantly thinking of ways to improve our mural to make it look the best it could be. Transferring techniques from the mural last year, we made the it look amazing. For example, adding a lot of water to paint to create a wash. We did this with purple over dark blue, and it gave the mural more detail and depth.
Transferrable skills acquired in this project would be leadership skills, teamwork skills, and time management. These are beneficial in a future career because wherever you go, there are going to be people you will have to work with. Time management is important because most of the time you will have to get a task done with a limit.
This career study was very interesting. After doing it for my junior and senior project, you learn a lot about the process. I would say after doing it, the experience was not better or worse than I expected. It was fun and satisfying, and challenging at times. I think I found that I am good at leading a group to the finish and painting techniques. I could say I never thought I would get to help paint a mural in the lobby because I am usually always on stage, but I was so happy that I got a chance to. I would consider doing it in the future more because it is one of the most satisfying things to finish ever.
