Press Room

Exhibition, Behind the Dish, features Tableware Representing Students' Diverse Cultural Heritage, Ranging from Mexico to China

On view Thursday, August 20, 2009 at Museum's Open Studios

New York, NY (December 31, 1969)

Supported by a gift of Cathy Seligman and Bonnie Eletz, the Museum of Arts and Design has initiated ArtsLife, a new internship program for high school students intended to help students gain practical work experience in a non-profit art museum setting. As part of the program, the students are curating and organizing their own art exhibition, Behind the Dish, which will be presented on August 20, from 6:30pm-8:30pm in the Museum's Open Studios.

The six ArtsLife interns, chosen from 300 applicants, come from different high schools representing all five boroughs. For Behind the Dish, each student made a bowl for their favorite dish, reflecting their cultural heritages: Mexico, China, Nepal, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Latin-America.

• Xue Qin Zhang, a Chinese-American student who lives in Brooklyn, made a special bowl for her Shou Mia (Birthday Noodles), a Chinese noodle soup, typically made with an egg in the center.
• Pallow Parajuli, who lives in Queens, made a dish for his Nepalese dumplings called MoMo. MoMo originated in China before they were introduced to the Nepalese kitchen. To reflect the fusion between Chinese and Nepalese culture, Pallow combined both modern and ancient designs in his vessel.
• Monserrat Galarza, who lives in the Bronx, created special pot, bowls, and spoons for her favorite Sancocho soup. Sancocho is a Dominican soup which has the power to bring Monserrat's busy family members together for dinner, a rare occurrence.
• Celeste Quinones, a "New Yorican" who lives in the Bronx, created a vessel for the typical Puerto Rican rice, beans and chicken dish. Celeste portrays her closeness to her culture as well as her dislike of the Puerto Rican staple, beans. Three vessels make up this piece, allowing each ingredient to remain separate and, in the case of the beans, covered.
• Eduardo Ibarra from Brooklyn made a bowl for his Mexican la salsa de molcajete dish. Eduardo created a plate for tortillas and a bowl la salsa de molcajete. Both are decorated with designs meant to evoke Eduardo's Mexican roots.
• Jonathan Gardenhire, who lives on the Lower East Side, created a dish that holds the Puerto Rican dish pastillon. The vessel is detailed with petal-like flourishes meant to evoke the flowers the student's mother displays around the house. Jonathan also painted special Taino symbols on the dish; these represent Puerto Rico's ancestry. The Taino tribe was the original tribe that inhabited not only Puerto Rico, but also Central and parts of South America.

The ArtsLife High School Internship Program is a paid summer internship for rising juniors and seniors in the five boroughs, intended to teach them how a non-profit arts organization is managed and providing them practical work experience. Three hundred students applied to participate but only six were chosen.

Interns are paid a competitive wage to work part-time for six weeks. The interns worked with every department at the Museum. Their many accomplishments over the summer included assisting the Museum's Curatorial Department with a web-based research project for an upcoming exhibition; working with children in the MADlab program; lending their voices for a cell phone tour of the museum; assisting ceramicist Phyllis Kudder Sullivan, one of the Museum's Open Studio artists, with her work; writing a blog and creating a slideshow for the MAD website; and meeting with professionals and artists from other arts organizations around the city including The High Line (in association with the Whitney Museum), The Point, The Chelsea Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Pace Wildenstein, Urban Glass, Flux Factory, PS 1, High 5 and Governor's Island.

Behind The Dish is the conclusion of the six week ArtsLife internship program. The students produced all elements of the exhibition, working with Open Studio artist Rachel Miller to create the art, consulting with the Museum's registration department on how to handle the art work, and working with the Museum's communications department to promote the exhibition.

Behind the Dish will be on view Thursday, August 20th from 6:30pm -8:30 pm in the Museum's Open Studios. The students' dishes, specially designed for each bowl, will be served at a reception prior to the opening at 6:00pm at the Museum's The Sarah and Seth Glickenhaus Education Center on the 6th Floor.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF ARTS AND DESIGN
The Museum of Arts and Design explores how craftsmanship, art, and design intersect in the visual arts today. The Museum focuses on contemporary creativity and the ways in which artists and designers from around the world transform materials through processes ranging from the handmade to cutting edge technologies.

The Museum's exhibition program explores and illuminates issues and ideas, highlights creativity and craftsmanship, and celebrates the limitless potential of materials and techniques when used by creative and innovative artists. MAD's permanent collection is global in scope and focuses on art, craft, and design from 1950 to the present day.

At the center of the Museum's mission is education. The Museum's dynamic new facility features classrooms and studios for master classes, seminars, and workshops for students, families and adults. Three open artist studios engage visitors in the creative processes of artists at work and enhance the exhibition programs. Lectures, films, performances and symposia related to the Museum's collection and topical subjects affecting the world of contemporary art, craft and design are held in a renovated 150-seat auditorium.