The Block Museum is proud to continue its paid internship program by welcoming two Undergraduate Interns for the FY22-23 year Elizabeth Vazquez and Vitoria Monteiro de Carvalho Faria. As part of the Block Museum of Art internship program, our students are conducting directed research on works of art in the permanent collection, assisting with curatorial research, and working with our collection database. All Block interns take part in a Museum Seminar series in which they meet regularly with museum staff members for discussion and a behind-the-scenes look at museum careers.

Hi! I’m Elizabeth Vazquez, one of the new undergraduate curatorial interns at the Block. I’m a junior in Weinberg studying anthropology (read: archaeology) and history. In my spare time, I’m probably cooking with my club Cookology, or taking ridiculously long walks along the lakefill. I’m interested in the line that’s drawn between history museums and art museums since they often present the same kinds of artifacts just with different framing. Trying to understand this distinction is what drew me to the Block considering my academic focus being more historical. I want to try a new way of looking at things, and in the process, I hope to help a new perspective to the Block’s staff! 

While I’m at the Block, I’m working with curator Essi Rönkkö on researching possible artists for acquisition in Chicago galleries and working digitally with the collection database. Because I want to pursue a future career in museum spaces, I am ecstatic to be working at the Block and opening doors to all sorts of different paths with the help of Block staff. I grew up in Chicago, and spent many summers at our local museums learning about the world in immersive museum spaces. Because of this love for these spaces, I realized that the best way to stay in the museum is to one day work there. Some of my favorite museums I’ve visited include the Met in New York City and the Archaeological Museum of Epidaurus in Argolis, Greece.