Director of Collections Maureen St. Onge, former Artwork Research Intern Gio Becerra, Manager of Educational Initiatives Rachael Pullin, and Project Assistant of the Helen Frankenthaler Catalogue Raisonné Valerie Rodriguez in HFF’s collections storage viewing Frankenthaler’s Overture (1992).
Internships
Internships at the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation are at the heart of our educational mission. We are committed to a student-centered approach and provide our interns with immersive access to the work of artist-endowed foundations and visual arts professions more broadly. The Foundation currently offers two types of internships: Nine-week summer internships in partnership with the Studio Institute and six-week internships in collaboration with Bennington College.
Each HFF internship experience is crafted to be adaptive to the unique interests, needs, and skill sets of our students to allow for the greatest possible development during their time with the Foundation. Internships at the Foundation prepare students with résumé-enhancing skills and provide opportunities for research and publication. Throughout each internship, we facilitate opportunities to engage with our network of colleagues to further support the next generation of artists, scholars, and arts professionals in building connections within the field.
Former Artwork Research Intern Valerie Rodriguez working in the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation Archives during her summer 2023 internship.
Summer Internships
The Foundation currently offers a competitive paid nine-week summer internship, which is open to undergraduate students with backgrounds that are historically underrepresented in the visual arts. The program is part of a three-year pilot partnership with the New York-based Studio Institute and the Aspen Institute’s Artist-Endowed Foundation Initiative (AEFI), which operates a consortium supporting the next generation of leaders in the visual arts.
Previous HFF interns have gained hands on experience conducting artwork examinations in our collections storage, documenting Frankenthaler’s work for the forthcoming catalogue raisonné, developing curatorial projects, and writing essays on artwork in the Foundation’s collection for publication on Nowscape.
Applications for Summer 2025 are open until March 5th. Please note that the Foundation does not accept applications directly. Visit the Studio Institute for further details, eligibility requirements, and to apply.
Former Digital Asset Intern Marigold Green viewing Frankenthaler’s 10/29/52 (1952) at the Art Institute of Chicago during a trip to the 2024 College Art Association Conference.
Bennington College Internships
The Foundation has supported internships for Bennington students through the Creative Legacy Fellowship and Museum Fellows Term programs. For further information on our partnership and collaborations with this institution, visit our Bennington College page.
Former Artwork Research Intern Gio Becerra in the Foundation’s collections storage with Director of Collections Maureen St. Onge examining Helen Frankenthaler’s Summer Picture (1959).
Summer Internship Spotlight: Gio Becerra
In summer 2024, Giovanna Becerra joined the Foundation as our Artwork Research Intern. Gio is an artist and senior at SUNY Purchase studying sculpture and anthropology. In her creative practice, she explores the intersection between craft and fine art, as well as the origin of folklore and its unconscious influence on Ecuadorian society. During her time with HFF, Gio supported a major, ongoing photography and research project cataloguing framed works on paper in the Foundation’s collection. She gained hands-on experience examining and documenting artwork in our collections storage and recorded the information obtained from her research in the Foundation’s database. Over the course of the internship, Gio completed cataloguing for fifty works on paper and drew from her experiences to write a forthcoming article on Frankenthaler’s collage that will appear on Nowscape.