BEN DAVIDOFF

Elizabeth Cherry, the executive director of Tucson's Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), gets a breath of fresh air outside Hotel Congress. Currently focusing on her intern program wherein UA art students can experience gallery work, Cherry is making plans to ultimately run the MOCA.

Wednesday August 29, 2001 |

"Contemporary" isn't the first word that comes to mind when thinking about art in Arizona. Tucson especially seems awash in cactus art, coyote art or something least involving feathers.

But several UA students receive full exposure to the world of contemporary art as interns for Tucson's Museum of Contemporary Art. While it may sound glamorous, the museum's executive director Elizabeth Cherry assures her interns it's not.

"Running a gallery doesn't consist of standing around, wearing black and looking cool," said Cherry, who is closing her own gallery to run MOCA.

She placed advertisments in the Tucson Weekly and Daily Wildcat in addition to putting the information on the UA art department's various listservs to generate interest in her intern program.

Student interns at the museum work three to nine hours a week for up to three credits. Preparing artwork for display is a complex process, one that her interns must learn quickly through hard work and watching Cherry in action.

"She's always running around," said intern Sarah Trujillo, an art history junior.

Cherry hopes to get all of the museum's spaces, which include the Toole Shed Studios, the Hazmat Gallery and Arcadia, up and running cohesively. Each space is near the intersection of East Toole Avenue and the Sixth Avenue underpass.

Cherry also plans fundraisers for the museum and other events, such as concerts and poetry readings.

The museum will be unlike other art spaces downtown because its main purpose is to serve as a venue for showing contemporary art, not selling it.

"I knew there were a lot of aspects involved; I wasn't aware of the depth," said intern and photography junior Melissa McLaughlin.

McLaughin decided to intern for a new perspective on the day-to-day tasks of running a museum.

Trujillo, on the other hand, took a class about contemporary art recently and thought the internship would be a good way to meet local artists.

"Most of the museum's interns' work will consist of stuffing envelopes, hanging (setting up) shows, writing press releases and maintaining the museum's mailing list," Trujillo said.

Management information systems senior Irene Sulaiman will create the museum's Web site for credit and for experience towards receiving her Webmaster certification.

Art history senior Megan Smith interned for Cherry's own gallery last spring and knew about the work involved. When Cherry told Smith about a possible internship at MOCA, Smith decided to come back.

"I was interested in the whole new idea of this being a new museum and independent art gallery," Smith said.

Last spring, she did many of the same things the new internship entails, plus, she got to be "·smoozy with the artsy fartsy crowd," she added.

"Smoozing" is exactly what the interns do once completing the preparation. That is, the interns can meet artists, stand around and look cool. But even that task involves more than it implies.

"Running a gallery and running a museum is about establishing relationships with artists," Smith said. "Dance, theater, music is all interrelated. Working within those circles helps you make connections between them."

MOCA's next show is "Sharing Sunsets," featuring 10 Los Angeles-based artists. It opens at the Hazmat Gallery Sept. 29, and continues through Nov. 11.