While working at the Dixon’s front desk, Della has seen many exhibitions come and go, but she’s always been interested in what went on behind the scenes to make it all happen. This summer, she experienced the curatorial department’s perspective through the Curatorial Internship.
Her goal going into this internship was to get a comprehensive understanding and hands-on experience working in as many parts of the curatorial process as possible. From researching future artists for "chat label" material to repainting walls from past exhibitions, she found that the curatorial department is in a constant balancing act between two halves: the new and the old.
The New
The Dixon is continually opening new exhibitions that reach various audiences and showcase both well-known and emerging artists. On Della’s first day, she accompanied Ellen Daugherty, the Dixon’s Associate Curator, to visit Debbie Likley Pacheco’s Studio, the current featured local artist in the Mallory and Wurtzburger galleries. Stepping into her studio felt like entering her creative mind; the artwork in her show, Living in Layers, filled the room, lined the walls, and surrounded them from all sides.
“Debbie asked for my input concerning what pieces to keep or cut from the show and how to arrange them. She took me as seriously as Ellen. I immediately felt like I was held to a high standard and made it my mission throughout my internship to meet it.“
-Della Rhodes
Della was also present for the installation of Café Society, a show that has been eight years in the making by Julie Pierotti, Martha R. Robinson Curator. She saw firsthand the amount of coordination it takes to successfully weave all of the moving pieces involved in setting up a traveling exhibition from the moment the first shipment arrives. It is truly all hands on deck!
The Old
One of her favorite areas she's delved into during the internship is the Dixon’s exhibition archives. Having the opportunity to see the physical records of the Dixon’s very first exhibition in 1976 allowed Della to appreciate the museum’s history by scanning old slides and uncovering photographs of the people who have been here since the beginning. She's been in the process of digitizing media such as negatives, transparencies, polaroids, and cassette tapes throughout the Dixon’s history as a museum.
It’s easy to get lost in an interesting exhibition. Digitizing the 1988 exhibition A Baron’s Gold and Silver Treasures, for example, was a difficult rabbit hole to climb out of.
“Looking into the archives allows me to travel into the past, and it’s always surprising what I find.”
-Della Rhodes
With over one hundred slide photographs of objects, an old Acoustiguide containing a tour of the exhibition given by the third director of the Dixon, John Buchanan, and the humorous press photos of the Baron standing in a giant shoe or climbing on his own furniture.
In just eight weeks, Della had the opportunity to experience every facet of the Curatorial Department, gaining valuable hands-on insight into museum work. Internships give students and emerging professionals the chance to explore careers in a nonprofit museum setting while developing practical skills and meaningful connections.
"New exhibitions will soon fill old archives, and the cycle continues. I’m extremely grateful to have been in this segment of the cycle, getting to be involved in shows such as Mary Sims: A Retrospective, which brought in an astounding network of people who connected through Sims’ life and work. Every exhibition becomes a part of the Dixon’s history, and I’m excited to see what’s next."
-Della Rhodes
The Dixon offers internship opportunities in Communications, Curatorial, Development, Education, and Horticulture. Applications for our 2027 internship program will open in spring 2027. Follow us on social media to be the first to know when applications go live.
The Dixon curatorial internship is an amazing experience because the intern gets to be a part of so many different aspects of our department. It's a little taste of everything—meeting local artists, installing our Mallory/Wurtzburger galleries, experiencing a main gallery installation, learning about what a registrar does and helping to do things including cataloging art, working on our curatorial archives, researching, writing a feature for the newsletter, attending weekly curatorial meetings, learning about what the preparator does and helping him do it (patching, painting, moving pedestals, hanging labels), and more. We ask the intern to be a part of just about everything we do here. It's a very rich experience.
-Ellen Daugherty