How has your experience been at MASARY?

Hi, my name is Max Ryan and I am a junior in the Studio for Interrelated Media program at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Coming into Massart, I wanted an internship opportunity and I was very determined to make that happen. My sophomore year, my wonderful professor Nita Sturiale told me about Sam Okerstrom-Lang or, as I know him now, Samo. Flash forward to a couple of skype calls and a pandemic, and here I am, the Masary Intern. I knew going into the Internship that all the information given to me would be directly applicable to my own artistic practice. Samo gave me assignments that really sparked great dialogue between him and I and it allowed me to understand and visualize what my goal is as an artist. To work so closely with someone that is using the exact media that I one day hope to produce was eye opening.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to one of Masarys fabled Thursday meetings and it was so enjoyable for me to listen in on the ongoings of the studio and to see what all the other members were doing. The meeting really informed me on how important collaboration is. It's really exciting to be a part of a team that is as inspirational to me as Masary. You look at the repertoire of projects and the level of artwork that is being created and you might think that this studio has an abundance of workers but there are only a total of seven members. Their work and importance on community, conceptual driven work, showing consideration to the viewer and other collaborators shows how special this studio is. Within my own responsibilities, I would be given the opportunity to create video edits, work on my own projection pieces, curate loops and shadow installations.

Thanks to Masary, I got real hands-on experiences with a lot of the technology and learned important nuances that came with becoming a full time artist. Among these opportunities, it’s important to note that Masary as a whole has a very high standard for work ethic. It is this kind of standard that's really important to me and motivates me to create the best work that I can. This was exactly what I was looking for in the internship and the opportunities that I have been given are indispensable. There really is a lot of time and consideration that is put into the curation of work at Masary. All the values that Masary holds in such high regard has definitely rubbed off on me in a very positive and influential way.