LMC Student Karina Teichert Shares Her Experience as an Art Intern

Author: Sarah Engel

Interview

Growing up, Karina Teichert changed her mind a lot about what she wanted to pursue. She recalls wanting to be an inventor, a veterinarian, an artist, a fashion designer, a museum curator, a psychologist, and a writer. “I wanted to do it all,” she said. The Cumming, Georgia native is now at Georgia Tech, double majoring in LMC and Public Policy, with concentrations in media and literature.

Karina is currently interning for visual artist and teacher Katina Douglas. In her role as an art curator, she is in charge of coordinating Douglas’ art exhibition, set to take place on March 19th, 2022. This involves everything from social media campaigning to writing press releases and ordering catering! “I’m essentially a manager and assistant, all rolled into one!” Karina found her internship through the LMC CoLab’s “Highlights of the Week,” also known as the HOW newsletter. “I saw the ‘ad’ in the opportunities section and figured I’d have nothing to lose by reaching out!”

Karina’s favorite part about working under an artist? “Getting to see the inspiration and process behind her work. She has such a beautiful style and it’s been amazing to watch her art change and grow.” Having put on events before, Karina expected the role to have more structure and found the freedom to be quite a shock. “Because this internship is largely self-guided, I’ve been scheduling tasks for myself each week. For example, one week I’ll focus solely on writing and emailing out press releases. The next week, I could be drafting up ideas for hanging the pieces. It’s a pretty variable job.”

To students interested in similar roles, Karina suggests asking as many questions as possible. Asking industry experts about their experiences and advice has helped her. So much so in fact, that Karina said she couldn’t do her job without those who have supported her along the way. Georgia Tech’s LMC program, for example, was extremely helpful: “I took an experimental film class with Professor Gregory Zinman last semester and he had talked about his curation experience, so I emailed him after I got the internship and he’s been insanely helpful throughout this whole process. I’m eternally grateful to him!”

Outside of LMC/PUBP classes and art curation, Karina plays roller derby (“Go YJRD!”), is in a synth-pop band called “Great Great Great Beautiful Lives Yes Yes!”, and enjoys spending time with her Syrian hamster named Benny (short for Benvolio).

The art exhibition, “Epitome Of A Cautionary Tale,” explores Douglas’ experiences as a black woman whose life and history have been molded by the insidious hands of racism, colorism, and homelessness. The exhibition is set to take place on Saturday, March 19th, 2022. Be sure to check out @karinadouglasart on Instagram and purchase your tickets.

This story was written by LMC major and CoLab Communications/Editorial Intern, Sarah Engel.

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