Michelle Meyers: Reflections of a SUNY Buffalo State Work Study employee

      When I was given the opportunity to work at the Burchfield Penney I had no idea what I would be doing. I never thought that a photography major could work at a museum. When I walk into the Burchfield it was a different atmosphere than any museum that I have been to and growing up on Long Island I have been to a few museums in New York City. The Burchfield Penney had a friendlier atmosphere to it and it was a more upbeat attitude to the building. Since the museum was so different than what I was use to I believed working there would be more interesting than just sitting at a desk all day.

            When I started working in the archives I knew it was going to be a great experience. The archives felt like a second family to me. I learned a lot while working at the museum and I also helped with projects that I never thought I would help with.  

            The major project I work on was editing oral interviews for the Living Legacy Project. I learned a lot for the project because the interviews I listened to were all different types of artists. These interviews weren’t just work for me they were also a learning experience. I learned many valuable lessons on what I should do when I left college as an artist. This was not the only project I worked during my time at the Burchfield Penney. 

            Another project that I helped with was the hanging and taking down of exhibitions. The hanging of the exhibitions was proved to be much more difficult it helped me learn how to hang a show in which is a skill I used in the not so distant future for my own show that I had to exhibit my work in.  Taking down the exhibitions was an easier task but it was is also a bittersweet memory of what we accomplished with the exhibition.

            I enjoyed my time working at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. I have learned a lot from it and have made some new friends. In the future I will be using every thing I learned and I hope to go and visit everybody again. I just want to say thank you to everybody that I work with you all were like a family to me and I really enjoyed working with you.