Thanks to generous support from the Mellon Foundation, and our donors, we regularly offer fellowship and intern opportunities. Check back for new offerings in 2025.
2024 – Cheyenne Morning Dove Reel (Ho-Chunk)
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, Cultural Anthropology
Fellowship in Native American Collections Care
Cheyenne is shown here creating a storage bag to protect silver items from tarnishing using Pacific Silver Cloth. This bag, and Cheyenne’s instructions for making it, will be shared in an upcoming community workshop on caring for silver heritage items in personal collections. She is interested in how Indigenous people define their own identity, how that identity relates to the cultural caretaking of material objects, and in when an Indigenous object becomes a living being. Cheyenne is also working to help MACC establish protocols for heavy metal pesticide testing using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy.
2024 – Sutton Hastman
Buffalo State University, Garman Art Conservation Department, Objects Specialization
Objects Conservation Summer Intern
Sutton completed an internship in the Objects lab as part of her graduate training in the Buffalo State conservation program. During her time at MACC, she worked on a variety of projects to expand her experience with different materials. Pictured is Sutton consulting with a client and lighting specialist regarding treatment of an artist designed outdoor lighting fixture.
Sutton will finish her third year of training with the National Parks Service in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia and anticipates graduation with her Masters’ degree in 2025.
2023 & 2024 – Olivia Thanadabout
Wesleyan University, Bachelor of Arts, Studio Arts and Art History
Fellowship in Collaborative Conservation
Olivia, shown here stabilizing a painted mural at George Floyd Square, is MACC’s current one-year Collaborative Conservation Fellow. She has a special interest in community-led preservation and her independent research project is related to cultural heritage materials in the St. Paul, Minnesota Hmong community. She plans to apply for graduate training in Art Conservation after her Fellowship.
2023 – Rachel Moore (Hopi)
University of California Los Angeles/Getty – Conservation of Cultural Heritage
Objects Conservation Intern
Rachel completed an internship in the Objects lab as part of her graduate training in the UCLA/Getty conservation program. She worked on a wide variety of projects and materials, including the application of Japanese tissue mends to stabilize areas of cracking on this Ojibwe birch bark basket.
Rachel anticipates graduation with her Masters’ degree in 2025.
2023 – Austin Big Crow (Oglala Lakota)
Institute of American Indian Arts / Museum of
Contemporary Native Art
Fellowship in Native American Collections Care
Austin is shown here practicing inpainting on an item
from MACC’s study collection as part of a workshop on repairing ceramics. A full-time art handler at the Museum of Contemporary Native Art in Sante Fe, New Mexico, Austin’s Fellowship focused on expanding his practical skills and gaining experience on a general preservation assessment at Crazy Horse Memorial Museum.
2023 – Ruby Stately (Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians)
Augsburg College, Native American Studies and Religion
Fellowship in Native American Collections Care
During her Fellowship, Ruby performed accelerated aging tests (pictured here photographing samples after their removal from the Oddy test oven) and wrote a research paper critically evaluating the role of community collaborations in collections care.
She is now working with the Native American Artist-in-Residence Program at the Minnesota Historical Society.
2023 – Rose Émond-Gagnon
Queen’s University, Master of Art Conservation, Paintings Specialization
Paintings Conservation Intern
Rose spent her time in MACC’s Paintings Lab assisting the conservators with a variety of projects during her internship. Rose has since successfully completed her graduate training.
Rose now works as a Paintings Conservator at Archives Canada Preservation Centre in Quebec.
2023 – Autumn Heatrice
Florida State University, Bachelor of Science, Anthropology
Fellowship in Collaborative Conservation
Autumn, shown here during a general preservation
assessment at the New Orleans Museum of African
American History, gained valuable hands skills during her Fellowship and contributed to the archiving an inventorying of materials at the George Floyd Global Memorial.
Autumn now works as the Registrar for Southeast Regional Black Archives Research Center and Museum.
2022 – Dakota LaPlante (Cheyenne River Lakota)
Augsburg College, Bachelor of Arts, History
Fellowship in Native American Collections Care
Dakota brought this technique of mending ceramics back to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center where he worked as a volunteer and was able to immediately put it to use on broken items in their collection. He also participated in several general preservation assessments during his Fellowship, and recently co-taught a workshop on ceramics repair at ATALM, a national conference for Native American collections caretakers.
He now works as a Repatriation Manager at the Harvard Peabody Museum.
2022 – Olav Bjornerud
Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art
Conservation (Class of 2023)
Objects Conservation Summer Intern
Olav completed an internship in the Objects lab as part of his graduate training in the WUDPAC program. In addition to assisting with the treatment of several monumental outdoor sculptures, Olav treated an 18th century French frame, a pair of bronze door handles designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and several folk art objects.
After graduation, Olav accepted a position as Assistant Conservator for the renovation of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Modern and Contemporary galleries.
2021 – Lorna Brundrett
Objects Conservation Summer Intern
Lorna completed an internship in the Objects lab as part of her graduate training in the Garman Art Conservation Department at Buffalo State. While at MACC, Lorna completed numerous treatments, including a 19th century Settle, a metal sculpture, an ivory figurine, and several large-scale outdoor sculptures.
After graduation, Lorna joined Linden Preservation Services, Inc. as a Preventive Conservator.
2021 – Monique Tyndall (Stockbridge-Munsee Band of
Mohicans)
Institute of American Indian Arts, Tribal Archivist for the Menominee Indian Tribe
Fellowship in Native American Collections Care
Monique is seen here conducting arsenic testing at MACC on samples taken from items in a Native American collection. Arsenic is a poisonous element that was commonly used in the past to help preserve historic artifacts and is unfortunately found frequently in Native American museum collections.
Monique is now the Director of Cultural Affairs for her home community of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans.
2020-21 – Acoma Gaither
University of Minnesota, Master’s Degree, Heritage Studies and Public History
Fellowship in Racial Justice Collections Care
Acoma worked with community caretakers at the George Floyd Global Memorial to stabilize paper-based materials and prepare them for exhibition. She also spent time during her Fellowship learning preservation techniques in MACC’s Paper Conservation Lab (seen here).
Acoma is now the Curator of Black History at History Colorado.
2020 – Kiera Hammond
Howard University
Fellowship in Racial Justice Collections Care – Pilot
Program
Kiera is shown here stabilizing materials at the George Floyd Global Memorial, where she assisted in providing emergency response for collections as well as training for community volunteers on preservation ethics and storage techniques. Kiera was instrumental in setting up an inventory protocol that community caretakers are using to this day to create the first inventory of the collection.
2019 – De’Lana Northbird (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe)
University of Notre Dame, Library Assistant at Leech Lake Tribal College
Fellowship in Native American Collections Care
De’Lana, pictured here taking light readings, participated in several General Preservation Assessments – including this one in Coon Valley, WI – during her Fellowship. Recommendations on managing light exposure, one of the ‘agents of deterioration’ in museum collections, is included in the final report that De’Lana helped to author.
2018 – Kendra Greendeer (Hoocąk / Ho-Chunk)
University of Wisconsin, Madison, PhD in Art History
Fellowship in Native American Collections Care
Kendra helped to develop MACC’s protocols for Oddy testing during her Fellowship. This is an accelerated aging test to determine if materials are safe to use for long-term storage and display with artwork. With a strong interest in contemporary Native women artists, during her independent research project she interviewed several local artists on their views of materials and conservation.
Kendra is now a member of the Art History faculty at the University of Oklahoma, and recently invited MACC to present to one of her classes.