An Inviting Conversation

NBSS is awarded an inaugural IDEAL Internship Grant from the Decorative Arts Trust

When Sarah Turner, North Bennet Street School’s President, first received the call for applications to the IDEAL Internship Grant, the timing couldn’t have been better. She remembers, “Our community was in the thick of a campus-wide conversation about improving diversity, equity, and inclusion. One of our strategic goals was to create more offerings for the general public, to introduce craft to broader audiences.” 

Awarded by the Decorative Arts Trust, a non-profit dedicated to fostering appreciation and study of the decorative arts, the grant set out to create curatorial opportunities, improve access, and foster mentorship for students of color in the museum field. Each grant offered a generously paid, months-long internship, enabling an aspiring curator to study and experience every aspect of exhibition design, installation, and curation.

Matthew Thurlow, Executive Director at the Decorative Arts Trust, explained, “Access to the museum field for students of color has been hindered by innumerable factors, but the two elements that we addressed through the IDEAL Internship program are those of the visibility of the arts as a viable academic and professional path and the financial backing to ensure that underrepresented students have the necessary support to pursue these opportunities.” 

The IDEAL Grant’s timeline lined up perfectly with the In the Making Exhibition, a group show already planned to open in September 2023 under the same name as the School’s  popular four-season In the Making livestreamed series. The exhibition would bring to NBSS various works by the show’s guests—some of the same items previously only seen by viewers online. Sarah said, “I loved the idea of a call-and-response between the show and the exhibition, which was a natural extension of In the Making.” 

After applying for the Grant, NBSS received exciting news that the School had been selected as a recipient. Kristen Odle, the host of In the Making and the School’s Retail & Exhibit Manager, led a search for the intern candidates and later co-curated the exhibition. Considering submissions from candidates across Boston, Ja’Hari Ortega JM ’24—a current student in the NBSS Jewelry Making & Repair (JM) program—was the clear choice for the assignment. 

Kristen shared, “When I read over Ja’Hari’s statement, I was struck by how she referred to a curatorial approach for this exhibition that would bridge the blurry gap between art and craft. She totally won me over.” 

Ja’Hari came to NBSS in the spring of 2022 after graduating from MassArt’s Interrelated Media program. A maker at heart, she viewed the JM program as a deep dive into jewelry fabrication, which would extend and support her pre-existing sculpture practice. Throughout her artistic career, Ja’Hari has consistently pursued her craft parallel to a curatorial practice. At MassArt, she worked with a community arts initiative, curating shows in local cafes and galleries. She also worked as a curatorial intern at the MassArt Art Museum and the exhibitions department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA).  

“As an undergraduate, I would put in long hours at the studio, but when I walked into a museum, I didn’t see people who looked like me making, curating, or viewing the art.” To change the status quo, Ja’Hari got serious about pursuing a curatorial role of her own outside the studio. 

Yet, until winning the IDEAL internship, her curatorial and making practices were always separate pursuits. “That’s when I got excited,” she explained from her bench in the JM workshop, her apron pocket brimming with Sharpies, pens, and tweezers. 

The internship began in the summer of 2023 with a listening tour for networking and gathering ideas for the exhibition. Kristen and Ja’Hari visited local workshops, museums, and studios, including meeting with the mounts department at the MFA, taking an art collection tour at The Quin House (a private Boston club), and a studio visit to the Artisans Asylum maker space.

Towards the end of the summer, makers’ work began arriving at NBSS. Unpacking the wooden crates and beginning to imagine the exhibition installation and design was when Ja’Hari got to make her mark. 

“It was fun sketching the floorplan and re-connecting with the MFA mounting department for advice. I even got to build my own mounts for a few of the pieces,” she said. 

When the show opened in the NBSS front lobby in September 2024, a collage incorporating the voices of every In the Making participant in the gallery’s center became a reality thanks to Ja’Hari’s vision. Viewers could read wall texts and then use their phones to access a series of QR codes linking to extended interviews. 

Ja’Hari said, “Kristen was great to work with—she was willing to help me turn my installation vision into something attainable. She also respected the contributions, perspective, and feedback that I provided in terms of representation, diversity, and education.”

“In the Making is about sharing stories, giving representation, and offering a platform to underrepresented and marginalized crafts and tradespeople. The exhibition achieved that but also represented works from a wide range of geolocations and experience levels,” Kristen said. “Ja’Hari helped make that possible.” 

For Ja’Hari, the most powerful part of the internship was hosting her own In the Making episode with Stephen Hamilton, a Boston-based artist of color who incorporates African and Western techniques into his textile art and wood carvings. The episode was live-streamed from the Royall House and Slave Quarters in Medford, Massachusetts.

Stephen was a previous  mentor of Ja’Hari’s, and she had a full-circle moment interviewing her mentor in the internship’s context. “It meant a lot to bring Stephen’s work into the NBSS building,” she said. “Our conversation addressed many important and relevant themes like accessibility, diversity in craft, and understanding the origins of certain craft techniques.”

Ja’Hari said that curating a show that incorporated so many diverse voices was a great launching point. “It was a great start, and I hope to see more access to information and opportunities that will help transform the future of these industries and educational spaces.” 

Speaking from the Decorative Arts Trust perspective, Matthew said, “We have a great admiration for North Bennet’s role in preserving the craft traditions of decorative arts. This internship offered a unique and meaningful chance to bridge the role of maker and curator through Ja’Hari’s contributions to the exhibition.”

“Our School’s partnership with the Decorative Arts Trust has been invaluable,” Sarah shares. “It was such a natural fit of shared work to expand our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and provide students with transformative opportunities. Thank you to everyone involved in making this program a success—our students, staff, partners, and supporters alike.”