Jeffrey Mobley, a fine arts major at the Cleveland Institute of Art, spent the summer of 2018 as an Education Intern at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH).
According to Jeffrey, the summer internship not only provided him with valuable career experience and the opportunity to apply his artistic skills in a professional environment, but enabled him to make valuable contacts and form some long-lasting connections.
Some of the work assignments Jeffrey completed at CMNH required in-depth research. For one project, he was tasked with illustrating the life cycle of a dragonfly for the Smead Discovery Center. He was able to access the organization’s rich resources, including visits to the CMNH Natural Areas. Jeffrey says this allowed him “to get up close and personal with a few dragonfly species, such as the damselfly”— a unique and valuable on-the-job experience.
“One challenge as an artist,” he says, “is to decide what program to use to get the best out of each assignment.” He utilized his knowledge of Adobe Illustrator to execute both simplified and complex designs and text.
Jeffrey says he took the internship opportunity as a chance to evolve. “This internship was a well-rounded and complete summer experience that has shaped me as an individual in a positive way… The most important experience I took away is how to apply my various art skills to a professional work environment. This alone is the best skill in terms of creating a stepping stone toward my career as a biomedical artist.”
