Fourth-year student Gabrielle Williamson receives Ackerman Internship
The Alfred Ceramic Art Museum at Alfred University recently named Alfred University senior Gabrielle Williamson the most recent recipient of the Museum’s Jerome Ackerman Internship. ACAM extends its congratulations to Williamson.
Williamson is a fourth-year student in the School of Art and Design, majoring in Art History and Art Theory. Originally from Utica, NY, she was a member of the National Honor Society at Holland Patent High School, Holland, NY. She also had an early exposure to museum work by taking classes and job shadowing at the Munson-William-Proctor Art Institute in Utica, New York.
In her application for the ACAM position, Williamson described her professional goals as “being an art historian and a curator. New windows will open for me starting with this position. I am confident and excited that this internship opportunity can help shape the future for me with my field.”
ACAM Director Wayne Higby says that when he asked Gabrielle what she liked best about the job, now that she has been working several weeks behind the scenes, she noted the inspiration she has received by working closely with the Museum’s Curator of Collections Susan Kowalczyk. She also said she has enjoyed and learned from helping to prepare the nearly 100 labels for the artwork in the current exhibitions Selections: The Archive and Knot Stories.
“This work requires in-depth research into the collection that only a true scholarly mind would relish,” Higby says. “Gabrielle Williamson is, without a doubt, the perfect student for the Ackerman Internship. We are so please to have her on our team this semester.”
Laura Ackerman-Shaw established The Jerome Ackerman Internship at the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum in honor of her father Jerome “Jerry” Ackerman (MFA ‘52) a designer-craftsman whose artistic collaboration with his wife, Evelyn Ackerman, was at the heart of California's Midcentury Modernism movement. The couple established the Jenev Design Studio in West Los Angeles, and as highly visible artists participated in every edition of the influential California Design shows at the Pasadena Art Museum, from 1954 to 1976.
Jerome "Jerry" Ackerman MFA '52, and wife Evelyn at their kiln in 1954.
Applications for the Ackerman Internship are accepted in person at the Museum’s front desk or by email: [email protected] -- applications must include a letter of interest, resume and two professional letters of recommendation. Applicants should have good organizational skills with strong attention to detail as well as good written and oral communication skills and a proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and Adobe Photoshop. For additional information, call the Museum office at 607-871-2421.