While completing her internship in the UTA Fine Art Collections in Spring 2025, sophomore Rachel Chen has been awarded Internship Stipend by the Association of Registrars and Collections Specialists (ARCS), an award given to students who show a remarkable interest in the fields of collections management and registration. Rachel’s supervisors, Museum Studies professor and UTA Fine Art Collections Manager Cheryl Mitchell said:
“Rachel is an incredible student and a joy to work with as she pursues a wide variety of skills to launch what will be a very promising career in the art world. She has shown an elevated level of maturity and focus on her studies in art historical research, curatorial and exhibition design, registration and database management, collections care and management, as well as in her case-study over future conservation needs for works in the UTAFACs. We are very proud to be a part of her educational journey!”
For Fables and Folklore exhibition, I researched 14 traditional Dong Ho Vietnamese woodblock prints to better understand their cultural context and the folklore behind each image. I also contributed to designing exhibition layout, writing context labels, and creating promotional materials. Researching these works was initially challenging due to the limited scholarship on Vietnamese art. Much of my information came from translating descriptions provided by Vietnamese sellers who continue producing Dong Ho prints today. Despite these difficulties, the process was incredibly rewarding. Not only I deepeneded my understanding of the artworks but also uncovered the layered histories and narratives they carry. It was fascinating to find parallels between Vietnamese folktales and the Chinese stories my parents shared with me as a child. This project also led to a meaningful friendship with a Vietnamese student Mina Kennedy who helped me verify translations and shared her experiences growing up with these prints, especially how they are traditionally displayed during Lunar New Year.
One of my favorite works I researched was The Rat’s Wedding, an iconic Dong Ho painting. Its playful depiction of ambitious rat parents arranging a marriage for their daughter is layered with political and social commentary, particularly the image of mice appeasing a cat, a reference to corrupt rulers. Understanding these layers transformed how I viewed the piece and deepened my appreciation for it. Another work in the exhibition that captivated both my friends and me was Shima Seien’s Heroine Yuguri. I’m drawn in by her gaze every time I stand in front of it, the softness and colors are absolutely stunning! This piece introduced me to Seien Shima who has since become one of my favorite Japanese artists. Seien was a prominent female artist of the early 20th century who worked in the Kihonga genre, a style that sought to revive traditional Japanese painting techniques during the onset of Westernization and the incoming influence of their modernized styles.
Outside the exhibition, my internship at the UTA Fine Arts Collection has included archiving over 60 works from the Palmeri-Goodstein print collection, installing and deinstalling art across campus, and currently, working on cleaning a Picollo wood sculpture and drafting a treatment proposal for it. These tasks cater to my interest in art conservation, which I plan to pursue as a career in the future. Currently, I am an Art History major minoring in Museum Studies but I come from an artmaking background as well. It is the hands-on aspect of working with a piece of art and understanding the materials, techniques, and its history that I am fascinated by.
I have to give credit to the wonderful Professor Cheryl Mitchell and her passion for the collections and doing right by her students. I am constantly amazed by the amount of work she takes on and her ability to maneuver and overcome all the challenges that arise. Professor Mitchell's positivity is infectious, her generosity and willingness to help is what I aspire to have, and her work ethic pushes me to want to be greater and put forth my best effort to what I believe matters.
