Interning at the O’Keeffe Museum
Student Maureen Burdock is getting experience at a world-class institution.
08.30.2010
Media Contact: Maria Alexandra Velez
1-443-509-5793
maria.velez@santafeuniversity.edu
Santa Fe, NM—August 30, 2010— Artist Maureen Burdock moved to Santa Fe from Chicago in 1996 because of its vibrant artistic community. Although she is 40 and a successful graphic novelist, Burdock wanted the one thing she hadn’t yet accomplished—a college education. With more than a dozen museums and more than 240 galleries, Santa Fe provides rich opportunities outside the classroom and studio. One of the university’s internship partners is the
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, the world’s largest repository of the late artist’s work.
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum is a world-class arts institution,” says Linda Swanson, chair of the university’s Art Department. “If our students were in New York or LA, the competition to get an internship at a place like this would be so fierce that very few students would have that opportunity. In our small and supportive community of Santa Fe, our relationship with the museum gives students unprecedented access to these kinds of extraordinary experiences.”
Burdock, who plans to graduate in spring 2011, was chosen for a semester-long paid internship with the museum’s education department. It is supported by the local BF Foundation, which connects art students with extracurricular opportunities in the city. She works with a range of populations in the Santa Fe area, particularly girls and women. “I encourage them to be their own super heroines,” she says.
“The internship is an exceptional option for me because I believe in using art to deliver social messages,” Burdock says. Her experience has been so successful that the museum hires her to teach additional workshops.
The O’Keeffe internship also helped Burdock decide on her next challenge: She plans to attend graduate school and teach art at the college level.
See her work on Burdock’s website.
