By: Erik Pedersen, Senior Communications Manager
BALTIMORE – A Notre Dame of Maryland University art student was recently selected for a highly-competitive internship at the largest art museum in Maryland.
Jensen Armstrong ’24 will serve as an intern for the American Painting and Sculpture department at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) for the remainder of the semester. The position will include extensive research opportunities to support a planned future reinstallation of American Art galleries at the BMA.
“Jensen is an exceptional student of art history who is passionate about the role and responsibility of museums in telling the stories of art and history, especially those that have been marginalized or misrepresented,” said Dr. Jennifer Wester, associate professor in NDMU’s Art Department. “Jensen's appointment is a truly impressive feat; these BMA positions are highly coveted, and this one was open to both graduate and undergraduate students. Her selection for this role as a junior at NDMU reflects her maturity as a scholar and researcher, and her valued perspective in reimagining the way the American art collection is interpreted and displayed.”
The Baltimore Museum of Art was founded in 1914, and it currently contains a collection of more than 97,000 objects from a variety of eras and cultures. Armstrong will be working with Dr. Virginia Anderson, the Curator of American Art and Department Head of American Painting & Sculpture and Decorative Arts.
An art major specializing in art history, Armstrong is also vice president of NDMU’s Morrissy Honors Program and a student worker in the archives at the Loyola Notre Dame Library. She was involved in an oral history project with Morrissy alumni as an intern for the program’s 40th anniversary celebration last April, and she is currently assisting the archives department with moving rare book collections into climate-controlled rooms.
Armstrong credits her experience in both of those roles, along with her work as an assistant for the Art Department’s Gormley and Civera Galleries, with helping her obtain the BMA internship as an undergraduate. She also highlighted the personalized support received by NDMU’s art department faculty, including Dr. Wester, department chair Geoff Delanoy and assistant professor Sul-Jee Scully.
“I absolutely adore the Art Department faculty,” Armstrong said. “I have such close connections with them, and that’s given me the confidence to move out of my comfort zone in the classroom.
“The ability to work so closely with professors, not just in the Art Department, is one of the main reasons I decided to attend Notre Dame,” she continued. “That personal experience is something you can’t get at other schools, and I think it helps students thrive in their learning here.”
Established in 1895, Notre Dame of Maryland University (NDMU) is a private, Catholic institution in Baltimore, Maryland, with the mission to educate leaders to transform the world. Notre Dame has been named one of the best "Regional Universities North" by U.S. News & World Report.
