From Our Eyes: Spending the Summer with the Escalette Permanent Art Collection

August 22, 2024

Cassie Chan (‘25 Art History) and Bella Marinos (’24 Psychology major, Studio Art minor) worked as interns for the Escalette Permanent Art Collection this past summer.

This past summer, Cassie Chan (‘25 Art History) and Bella Marinos (’24 Psychology major, Studio Art minor) interned for the Escalette Permanent Art Collection. The two students worked on collections management, curation, research, and more. Chan and Marinos reflect on their ten week internship; what skills they learned, the projects they worked on and how the internship benefited them.

By Cassie Chan (’25 Art History)

As one may imagine, summertime at Chapman means a campus just as dry as its desert location. Yet, while student life sleeps, I found another source of vitality interning with the Escalette Permanent Art Collection, an experience I could not be more grateful for!

During my time as an intern this summer, I dove headfirst into the world of collections management, curation, and research. Pursuing a degree in art history, I never had the opportunity to work hands on with pieces that I study. My adventures in the collection led me to a variety of new lands, some particularly dusty, like when reporting on the condition of artworks on display and delicately cleaning them, a task I found I could completely lose myself in.

By Bella Marinos (’24 Psychology major, Studio Art minor)

My internship began on a hot and humid June morning. I made the mistake of wearing a plaid wool blazer in an attempt to look some form of business casual. I entered the “fishbowl” (a nickname for the Escalette Collection’s offices) for the first time, sweaty, scared, and very excited. That was how my 10 weeks with the Escalette Permanent Art Collection began.

I had prior encounters with the Escalette and its leaders, Dr. Fiona Shen (Art) and Jessica Bocinski (Collections Manager), when I helped co-curate a show as a part of Professor Lassner’s Contemporary Gallery Practices class in the Spring of 2023. At the time I had been a lukewarm Psychology student with a secret interest in art. The curatorial project, “Relative Fantasies,” was my first taste of what working in art looked like. It brought me to a crossroads where I could either continue to pursue psychology and practice art on the side or completely immerse myself in the art world.

I chose the latter, and am happy I did.