International Musuem of Art & Science - Armando Garcia, Week 3

     





On Thursday, July 21st, the Monarch Butterfly was officially labeled an endangered species. Since the species is critical to Latin culture and Dia de Los Muertos, I thought it would be better to focus more on the butterflies during October and the event. After researching the species, I found the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas, 20 minutes from the museum. I suggested a collaboration with the center to my supervisor for the Dia de Los Muertos event as a way to promote the butterfly and to help people learn how they can help with the preservation of the species. I found an activity where kids can make their butterflies out of paper and attach them to sticks to mimic flying as they move around. I also found articles and stories about the butterfly migration and the myths associated with the creatures that will provide more information on the importance of the butterfly to our culture and the environment.


 Example of Butterfly Art Activity


This week I assisted the person in charge of the Biozone science room. I love animals and environmental science, so I was excited about the day. I met Andrea, the person in order, and she told me what I’d be doing throughout the day and what to look out for regarding the activities. They had an origami boat activity that took me about 3 tries to get right, but I could help the kids when they needed help. I met a lady from the Philippines, and she asked about one of the animals, a bearded dragon named Ryujin. After answering her question, we started talking about wildlife trafficking in the Philippines and the Americas and how the governments do little to combat it. Later in the day, another staff member came in and took the bearded dragon out of his enclosure to do a presentation. I hadn't expected many people to show up as the museum didn't seem busy, but a small crowd came out of nowhere, and the presentation went really well.  After that, it was feeding time for the animals, and this is where I met Gobi, the Leopard Gekko. Seeing him trying and failing to catch his crickets, he turned me into a lizard person.


     Gobi :)      First Attempt of a Boat.


The most challenging, and if I'm being honest, the funniest, part of this experience occurred on Saturday. A child's birthday party. My supervisor was working from home that day, so I had spent most of the day in the back doing research. I decided to take my break in the Biozone room since Andrea was a fun person to talk to, and I could see Gobi and Ryujin, but when I stepped outside, I was very confused. I didn’t know that the museum allowed birthday parties at that time, so it caught me off guard. I found Andrea in the art room and offered to help since it was only her in the room. I spent the rest of m day refilling paints, washing brushes, and scraping dried paint to the point where my hands were shaking a bit. It gave me more respect for museum staff as they deal with that more regularly.




                

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week #4 - Rodolfo Lopez, Museum of History, Anthropology and Art of the University of Puerto Rico

Image
  Week #4 - Internship Journal Blog Museum of History, Anthropology and Art of the University of Puerto Rico by Rodolfo Enrique López-Gutiérrez/YAP 2022 This week was the most eventful week of my internship at the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras campus. It was the week of orientations for the freshman students. New students would receive an orientation through campus, then they would visit the main building where there were several information booths with staff members to help and orientate students about all the locations and resources of information. The Museum had a booth at the activity. About an hour before the activity started, we brought brochures, the Taíno tattoos stamps, books based on the museum’s collections, books about Puerto Rican artists, an iPad to present a slideshow of its programs and services, and photos of a miniature 3D version of  “El Velorio”. We participated for three days; some days it was a bit slow, other days there were too many students to ...
Read more

Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose - Week 1

Image
 Howdy y'all!  The internships are normally conducted for a month in July, but due to family reasons I did my internship for 2 weeks in August at the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose in San Jose, California.  I arrived in California on August 2 after a long, miserable night early morning from Chicago, heading straight to my place I was staying, ready for the next morning - starting with a 1.5 hour commute by the San Jose VTA Light Rail to the Children's Museum. Arriving at the museum was no problem, as the museum has its own light rail stop, not to mention being a giant purple building. You just can't miss it.  The problem, however, is that the front entrance is decently hidden - so immediately after I arrived, I walked all the way around the entire building, confused and awkwardly searching for the front door - until I conceded defeat and messaged Evelyn, my internship supervisor, who said she would find me, as she was just arriving too. After meeting up and ...
Read more

Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose - Week 2

Image
 It's week 2 and the last week!  Admittedly, as I felt - and as the staff confirmed - this second week was more a jumble of everything that needed to be done, less 'structured' in a sense. But this was all fine and well, as it really did represent the state of the museum after COVID, as everyone and everything was operating with a 'skeleton crew,' having limited positions due not only to financial restraints but also COVID concerns for the little kids. Everyone, therefore, had to wear multiple hats, and I was no exception. Before all of that though, life did throw itself in my face and show that no one is immune from random inconveniences. Returning from Yosemite on a weekend trip, we timed the return of our car perfectly, as we spent all day in Yosemite and returned to SFO airport at around 10PM, which was also our car rental return time. My friend, who lives in Thailand, would also be perfectly on time to catch her 1AM flight back, so everything was perfect. We re...
Read more