Intern Spotlight: Caitlin and Rachel Ulangkaya

Caitlin and Rachel Ulangkaya

Caitlin and Rachel Ulangkaya during the installation of "What If Eye

This spring the Appleton was happy to host interns (and twin sisters) Caitlin and Rachel Ulangkaya. Caitlin is a senior at the University of Central Florida pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Art History, while Rachel recently obtained her bachelor’s degree from Rollins College in Critical Media and Cultural Studies with a concentration in Asian Studies.

Internships at the Appleton help prepare students for careers in the museum field and beyond. Under the guidance of museum registrar David Reutter, Caitlin and Rachel received hands-on experience with the curatorial department, focusing on fundamental museum operations such as art handling, gallery installation and cataloging works in the collection. They installed artwork in the special exhibition, “What If Eye: Fifty Years of Exploration with Ummarid ‘Tony’ Eitharong” and in other gallery spaces, while working on individual projects relevant to their degrees.

Drawn to storytelling, Caitlin hopes to become a curator. She conducted research on works from the Appleton’s permanent collection to design an exhibition that will be on view in the European galleries this summer. On her time at the Appleton, Caitlin said, “I have Dr. Colon at UCF to thank for allowing me the opportunity to intern here. My favorite project I worked on is my personal exhibition. It has been a difficult process, but I learned a lot about what goes into making an exhibition. Choosing the artwork is probably the most fun part.” Caitlin plans to pursue a graduate degree in either art history or museum sciences.

Rachel’s background in Asian film studies and the Japanese language aided us in editing videos and providing subtitles for videos installed in the exhibitions, “What If Eye” and “Framing Tokyo: Joel Bustamante’s Architectural Photographs.” Rachel’s favorite project was developing a future film series for the museum.

“Though CF has an international film series, I wanted to try bringing a different approach to film curation to the Appleton, as other major museums have series centered around specific art movements or themes,” Rachel says. She plans to pursue a master’s degree in film preservation.

Appleton internships are open to current and recently graduated students ages 18 and older and are designed to provide engaging experiences in a real-world business setting. For internship inquiries, contact AppletonMuseum@cf.edu.