Meet Our Spring 2023 Interns

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 Meet our spring 2023 interns, who recently completed their internships. 

Dedipta Bhattacharjee, The City College of New York

Dedipta Bhattacharjee is a senior at The City College of New York majoring in English, Asian Studies, and Publishing, with additional minors in Art History and Journalism. She is a Kaye Scholar, Isaacs Scholar, City College Fellow, NBCU Fellow, and Stanford/CUNY Humanities Research Program alumnus. Her research under the City College Fellowship pertains to the portrayal of South Asian women in literature and how literature acts as a medium to link history to the realities of women. Dedipta is passionate about women’s rights, environmental sustainability, and DEAI initiatives. In spring 2023, she worked at the Phillips as a DEAI intern with Horning Chair for DEAI Yuma Tomes and DEAI Manager Shelby Bergstresser, utilizing past and present archives to further the museum’s mission to bring more inclusivity and accessibility to art spaces. She designed graphics for the DEAI department, including a diversity statement poster.

Elissa Diaz, University of Toronto

Elissa Diaz is a recent graduate of the University of Toronto, having majored in Anthropology and Latin American Studies. She worked as a Curatorial Intern to expand her knowledge of museum practices and procedures, which included projects such as moving archival files from the Phillips’s Carriage House to the museum library and archives, meeting with artists to discuss potential collaborations, and conducting research for upcoming exhibitions. She plans to further her education in this field in the future. Elissa will be continuing her work here at The Phillips Collection as the Temporary Assistant to the Director of Contemporary Art Initiatives and Academic Affairs Vesela Sretenovic.

Abby Osborne, George Washington University

This is Abby Osborne’s second cycle with The Phillips Collection’s Marketing and Communications department., working with Director of Marketing and Chief Communications Officer Renee Littleton. Abby worked on draft pitches to journalists and media organizations, as well as creating marketing emails for the museum. She helped with community outreach, including the Phillips’s new business partnerships with restaurants and cafes in the neighborhood to offer discounts and specials to museum members and visitors. She also helped promote upcoming exhibitions and events throughout the community and updated mailing lists. She is a student at The George Washington University, double majoring in Art History and Political Communication.

Terrell Lawrence, Prince George’s Community College

Terrell Lawrence is currently in his last semester at Prince George’s Community College, majoring in general studies while also pursuing a certificate in human resources management. He will be transferring to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore next fall. It has been a great experience, working as the HR Intern with the Director of Human Resources Angela Gillespie and Senior Payroll and Human Resources Manager Gwen Young. He assisted with the Staff Appreciation Breakfast held for all staff in March, helped with the rollout of the spring 2023 Temporary Detail Opportunities, and assisted with the layout and testing of the Phillips’s new internal employee engagement platform.

A Sculpture Changes Over Time

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On view in Pour, Tear, Carve: Material Possibilities in the Collection is a virtual reconstruction of Antoine Pevsner’s Construction in Space, a sculpture made of Celluloid which has changed over time.

Working with Plastics
Antoine Pevsner was born in Russia and immigrated to France in 1923. He worked in a Constructivist style, inspired by the increasingly industrial world. Pevsner and his brother, artist Naum Gabo, were pioneers in exploring new media. They became fond of Celluloid (cellulose nitrate) for its flexibility and transparency; Pevsner used it to make Construction in Space (1929). However, this plastic changes color and deteriorates as it ages. Both artists abandoned it in favor of more durable materials such as acrylic and glass.

Left: Early photo of the sculpture before it began to decay. Right: Current deteriorated condition of the sculpture.

Close-up images of deteriorated condition

Deterioration
Duncan Phillips acquired Construction in Space in 1953. Three years later, when it was requested for an exhibition in France, Phillips noted the work’s fragility. The artist wrote to Phillips that if he sent the sculpture to the exhibition at the Museé d’art moderne, he would make the necessary repairs to the piece. The work went to Paris and repairs were made, but the plastic continued to deteriorate. In 1979, the work was sent to an exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Conservators noted its severe discoloration and made repairs with yellow tinted epoxy to reinforce the once transparent object. Upon returning to The Phillips Collection, the object was placed in a wooden storage box and not shown again because of its poor condition. A handwritten note from 1987 indicates that pieces had “deteriorated” and it “needs re-gluing.”

Isolating the Sculpture
In 1996, conservators recommended isolating the object from the rest of the collection so that the acid off-gassing from the cellulose nitrate would not adversely affect other works in art storage. In 2015, a custom box was fabricated for Construction in Space and it was placed in a well-ventilated space in the storeroom with acid scavengers to absorb the off-gassing.

Inside of storage box with acid scavengers (long white bags). The green/yellow strips indicate the amount of off-gassing from the plastic.

A Virtual Reconstruction
Because the sculpture cannot be restored or exhibited intact again, conservators decided to preserve the work’s original appearance by making a virtual replica. Stefan Prosky, a 3-D animator and technology artist, made a virtual reconstruction of the sculpture using 800 digital images of the work and also studying early photographs.

In the Studio with Mimi Herbert

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Simona Cristanetti, sculpture conservator, dusts Butterfly during the installation of the exhibition.

Mimi Herbert’s acrylic sculpture Butterfly, 2021, is among the works featured in Pour, Tear, Carve: Material Possibilities in the Collection. The fabrication process of this striking work intrigued museum staff. As part of an ongoing initiative to document the materials and techniques of works entering the collection, conservators and curators were pleased to conduct an interview with Herbert in January 2023. The interviews allow museum staff to learn more about the artists’ practice and assist conservators in developing plans for the care of works of art. The group was given a comprehensive tour through Herbert’s three-room studio and was introduced to her process, which included participating in the creation of a sculpture.

Paper maquette indicating dimensions and where folds will be made.

Herbert conceives her idea for a sculpture first by working with a paper maquette. During this phase, she determines the size of the sheet of acrylic that will be needed, and where the folds will be made.

Herbert with different colored sheets of acrylic against the wall that she obtains from a California supplier.

The acrylic is cut to the dimensions needed following the designs that she makes using the maquettes. The sheet is then laid on top of a custom-built table with a bank of heat lamps to soften different sections of the acrylic where she plans to make folds. Above, the right side of the orange piece of acrylic is being heated in order to be manipulated after becoming pliable.

Heating the acrylic sheet

Herbert observes the section of acrylic after being heated for a short time to see if it is malleable enough to fold. Phillips staff (left to right: curator Renee Maurer, conservator Lilli Steele, and curator Camille Brown) stand ready to assist the artist. Because of the intense light and heat, the artist and any assistants always wear dark goggles and heat resistant gloves for protection.

Moving the acrylic sheet

When the sheet is sufficiently softened, it is removed from the heat and placed on a worktable.

Folding the acrylic sheet

Herbert demonstrates how she makes the first fold, smoothing the heated edge of the acrylic with a soft cloth. The acrylic sheet cools and becomes unworkable in less than a minute so the artist and her assistants must work quickly.

Mimi Herbert, Durga Reclining, 2023

Several weeks later, the work that began with Phillips staff participation, entitled Durga Reclining, was completed by Herbert and her studio assistants. The painstaking complexity of her process can be fully appreciated after having followed her steps from inception of the piece through folding and manipulating the warmed acrylic sheets to arrive at beautiful abstract sculptures.