Her Story
About Summer
I've been drawing and painting since I was a kid, and my parents nurtured that. It was something I always wanted to do, something I loved, and my parents were very supportive of that. A few of my older cousins had gone to Howard University, so I went there on a tour, met with the chair and showed them my portfolio. I got accepted and graduated from Howard, which seems like eons ago. After graduating, I was dating someone who was an architect, and I always loved architecture, so I found a program at the University of Arts that merged those things I was really interested in, which was architecture and art. I got my master's in museum exhibition planning and design. I took maybe like 7 months off before grad school, and I'm really happy I went to the University of Art and got my master's because that really opened the door to other opportunities. Once I graduated with my MFA, the floodgates opened. My first job out of college was working at Staples & Charles, which was a small design firm in Alexandria, Virginia, where I got my footing in exhibit design. I moved to Florida for a while, and then got into museums and design firms doing exhibit design. One of my favorite jobs was working at the U.S. Center of Military History where I was able to handle artifacts and work with handlers and conservators, working closely with our curator. Being able to actually handle Roman Bearden's pieces and Norman Rockwell's pieces was just so cool to me. Unfortunately, during a time where the government was under distress and sequestered, I put my information on LinkedIn. I always knew I wanted to teach, but I always felt like that was something I'd do when I was in my 60s or something like that. A classmate who was much older than me and was the chair of Howard University's Department of Art remembered me and asked me if I'd be interested in teaching at Howard, and I said absolutely. I've been there for 13 years, and for the last couple years, to break up the monotony, I also work part-time at Prince George's Community College. All throughout my time, I've always created work and stayed busy within the field and in the community and different organizations, exhibiting my work.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Summer
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I tell them to make sure that this is something that you want to do. Depending on what you want to do, whether it be a college professor, or a curator, or an art dealer, or anything in this field, I think a lot of these students today think that they can just graduate, and then they just make it. But you have to crawl before you walk. I am so thankful that I was able to get in the industry where I literally started at the bottom and saw, especially in the museum world, every aspect. I was a Bonsiest Fellow, I was an intern. Then I got a real job. I was in the graphics department. I did 3D design. And then I moved up to assistant curator and things of that sort, so I kind of know every little aspect, and I love that for me, because I understand the process. I've had bosses who just were bosses, and they didn't really understand the process, and things that you can do, and things that you can't do. So the thing I like to tell my students is you have to crawl before you walk. So it may not be an easy road, but if it's something that you want to do, stick with it. Get that training, get all the experience you can, especially as a young adult. I encourage students to apply for studying abroad or different internships, because half the process is just applying.
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