With the new school year underway, the Museum is delighted to introduce its team of nine student employees. Ranging in academic study and professional interest, the new interns bring important and varied perspectives to their work at the Museum and to the Museum’s larger role on campus.

This semester the Museum welcomes three student assistants to the curator: Eliza Goodpasture ’18, Kinaya Hassane ’19, and Daniel Rechtschaffen ’18; two education assistants: Julianna Burke ’18 and Baz Gilligan-Kim ’19; two Molinari medal research assistants: Stephen Pastoriza ’19 and Benjamin Wu ’18; one communications assistant: Amani Hite ’20; and one collections assistant: Amber Orosco ’19.

Eliza Goodpasture, originally from Richmond, Virginia, is an art history major and a gender, sexuality, and women’s studies minor. She is assisting co-director Anne Collins Goodyear on preparations for a future exhibition, specifically, conducting research on James Bowdoin III’s collection and collecting tendencies, while also exploring art collecting in the eighteenth century more generally.

Kinaya Hassane is an art history and history double major with an Africana studies minor from Burke, Virginia. She is working with Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral curatorial fellow Ellen Tani to prepare for the upcoming exhibition Second Sight: The Paradox of Vision in Contemporary Art, opening on March 1, 2018. Second Sight will address non-visual experiences, including blindness, as conceptual processes, subjects, and political metaphors in contemporary art.

Daniel Rechtschaffen, an art history major and French minor from San Francisco, California, will be continuing the research he initiated this summer as a BCMA intern, working with curator Joachim Homann to research an assorted collection of French drawings composed and gifted to Bowdoin College by Professor Artine Artinian ’31. Daniel’s work this semester will be in preparation for the exhibition he is curating, which is scheduled to open on January 19, 2018.

The two Education Assistants include Baz Gilligan-Kim, an English major and cinema studies minor from Boston, Massachusetts, and Julianna Burke, a sociology and francophone studies double major from South Berwick, Maine. Baz and Julianna are working with curatorial assistant and manager of student programs Honor Wilkinson to develop in-gallery resources for the permanent collections and exhibitions, to lead tours, and to co-develop and co-execute the Museum’s monthly Family Saturday programs. Baz and Julianna recently joined Honor in leading the first Family Saturday program of the fall, structuring a program focused on the power of images and their role in contributing to identity in ancient Egypt.

Stephen Pastoriza, a Russian and economics double major from Bethesda, Maryland, and Benjamin Wu, a potential history major and economics minor from Washington, D.C., have re-joined the staff at the BCMA to continue the exploration of the Molinari medals and plaquettes collection that they started last spring. Stephen and Ben are working with Anne Collins Goodyear and Amber Orosco to curate an exhibition of the collection for the summer of 2018. Ben continues to catalogue the collection and research individual medals, while Stephen resumes his investigation of the Molinari family and their collecting practices.

Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Amani Hite is contemplating a major in gender, sexuality, and women’s studies and a minor in visual arts. As the BCMA Communications Assistant, Amani is working with assistant director of museum communications Suzanne Bergeron on online and print exposure for exhibitions and programming. Amani’s particular interest in video art and production has led to innovative ideas for video projects that she will be pursuing for the Museum this year.

Collections assistant Amber Orosco is an art history and visual art double major and a chemistry minor from Tampa, Florida. Amber will be working with Museum Registrar Laura Latman on collections management and archiving projects for recent acquisitions. In addition, Amber will continue the Molinari medal research in which she engaged this summer as a Bowdoin Mellon Humanities Fellow. She will be co-curating the Molinari exhibition with Ben and Stephen in the summer of 2018.

The Museum is excited to welcome these students to the 2017–2018 academic year intern cohort. We are grateful for their energy and interest in the BCMA, and we look forward to seeing their research and contributions unfold throughout the semester.