Blog #5, Daniela Talamantes Martinez, SAMA

Hello everyone!

This has probably been one of the most interesting weeks while I was here at the Museum. On Thursday, was "Tres Museos," a San Antonio event where a max of 200 school teachers visit the San Antonio Museum of Art, and then are bussed to the Witte Museum and McNay Museum. After check in, I helped the educators with the "slow-looking" tours in the Japanese gallery and the contemporary gallery (viewing the painting, "Temptations of Saint Anthony"). It was a wonderful opportunity for elementary and middle school art teachers to be exposed to the museum and possibly bring back new lesson plans to their classrooms. 


I also was able to go into one of the operations warehouses with my supervisor where all the gallery building materials where stored. Glass cases and the fresh scent of wood filled the air as I stepped into one of the curating offices where galleries where planned. I saw blueprints of future exhibitions, and saw how the education department fit in to the museum process. After this, I gave my end-of-internship presentation on an object that spoke to me to the other interns and educators. I chose the mesquite sculpture, "Enamoramiento" by Jose Luís Rivera-Barrera. This piece reminds me of a bond to my nuclear family, to my extended primos and abuelita, and now, to my Youth Ambassadors Program (YAP) family. I connected the sculpture to themes of love, familial bonds, and ethnic Latino roots that are important to me and the artist. I also connected the sculpture to Klimt’s “The Kiss.” By creating a demo art project, which involved incorporating colorful Art Nouveau elements of The Kiss, I was able to connect with the educators and lend a new perspective on the two pieces. It was moments like these in which I was so grateful to be an intern, to be reminded of why I want to pursue teaching.

At the moment, I am writing an essay on my experience as a Youth Ambassador and SAMA intern for my supervisor to put into the "Rivard Report." Sunday will be my final day as an intern, as that is SAMA's "Family Day." I will be helping out at the portrait selfie station with my handmade props.

(Here is Olivia, a fellow intern, and I setting up the education tables for the incoming teachers for "Tres Museos")

(Here is the sculpture, "Enamoramiento" by Jose Luís Rivera-Barrera)

(Here is the art project demo I made for combining "Enamoramiento" and "The Kiss")

(Here is one of the educators presenting "Temptations of Saint Anthony" in the contemporary gallery to teachers)