#exploringthearts

Interning at BAX was such a fun and cool learning experience. 

The environment at BAX was welcoming and kind and before I even knew everyone’s name I was greeted with friendly hellos from everyone I passed. I  met people I didn't even work with and I got to know them and their work.

Fernando and Melanie told me stories about themselves and their experiences and made me feel like an employee at BAX even in the small amount of time that I have worked there. Even just sitting and doing work. I hear the laughter and screams of the NanoBAXers and their counselors and it's always so entertaining to hear! 

I only had had a small amount of knowledge about Photoshop and how to work with images online to get a cool outcome, but working at BAX this summer have learned so much more. I even learned to work with such apps as Illustrator and InDesign! Initially, I was unsure of how my work would come out. Seeing all the masterpieces for the Open House, I was nervous that I would not have something I could be proud of. However, as the weeks progressed I started to think of what I could incorporate into my design to make it publishable and amazing. I drew multiple drawings before I came to the one I chose. I thought of being in the City of New York, and the location of BAX, and how it could all come together. Then I came to find the essence of New York, as silly as it may seem, Public Transportation. It all became clear. All around me in NY are busy streets and cars full of people. As this idea came about, I noticed that I should stop drawing numerous bland ideas and take time to pursue one spectacular idea. As I drew this sketch onto a board, I showed it to Fernando and he said, "This has a lot of potential." Just this small sentence filled me with so much excitement and energy, that all those thoughts of having a bad poster design completely dissipated. 

As the poster design progressed I started to think of how I could incorporate my own touch to the poster. So I thought of the various art forms I had studied in school, painting, jewelry making, photography. That last one stuck. I wanted to take a photo of the BAX building and be able to use it for the poster. Fernando helped do just that. We took various photos of the building and finally chose one that fit well. With this photo, everything started to come together. I opened the photo in Photoshop and got to work. Later I imported the photo into Illustrator to turn it into a drawing and then used InDesign to bring it all together.

Jacob came to us with a strong interest in comic books. So we worked on designing the 2016 Open House poster as a comic book cover. After a few weeks of research, we were not making a lot of progress. It took us some time to figure each other out and come to an understanding of how to work together. 

What finally brought us together? A spirited discussion about the “Save Martha” scene in the Superman V Batman movie, which lead to a deep conversation around feedback and aesthetics. After that, we knew we could be frank with each other and not take it personally, which after all, is the cornerstone of a good collaborative team. To top it all off he came up with a fabulous design that we were proud to display throughout the neighborhood. 

In this photo, Jacob explains the various color choices for his design. 

I loved interning at BAX. 

BAX provided me with opportunities I’ve never experienced before. When I first started off at BAX I was doing more administrative tasks like updating the website. Fernando even helped me to pick up some basic HTML coding. It was very interesting to learn how the websites we use every day actually function. It was something very new to me but thanks to my mentor I was able to quickly learn my way around. 

BAX was my first ever internship and so my first time sitting behind a computer at a desk and listening to commands. It was a wonderful real-life experience. It was preparing me for life after high school. 

Later on, during my time at BAX, I began to focus on designing. Although I had designed before, at school and in my free time, I was able to learn very important techniques from Fernando. These were skills that any real designer needed to know (like color combinations and spacing). Fernando was always very patient and ready to teach me new techniques and then re-teach the techniques. I was able to give back to BAX by designing signage and postcards. However, it was while designing the fall open house poster that I was really able to fully utilize everything I learned. I worked hard on putting together something that represented my way of designing. I was very satisfied with the work I created under Fernando’s supervision. My time at BAX was an all-around learning experience that could not have possibly been recreated anywhere else!

Shacaari McDonald interned at BAX through Exploring The Arts Inc, during the 2015/16 school year.

This past weekend Fernando Maneca (BAX's Marketing & Communications Director) went to LIU Brooklyn to see the gallery opening of #‎YOUTHing‬, featuring the work of truly exceptional young artists. Their talent and radiance made possible through a program at MoCADA Museum. (Check them out. They're awesome.)