What surprised you most about the summer 2025 Reilly internship, or the David Muench Photography records?

My lack of imposter syndrome coupled with feeling like a fetus at all moments. I expected to be more overwhelmed by the scope of either David’s work or my own responsibilities. While doing it all together was new, the individual tasks to get the end goal of complete exhibit was stuff I’d done at least a few times before. Once I stopped thinking further than my feet could get me, it was easier to get moving. Rather than being as daunted as I’d expected by the culmination of an entire life’s career placed directly in front of me, I found myself curious. Mostly because I sat there thinking about my abysmal storage situation (none) for my far bigger paintings and what that would look like in 10 years.  

I was surprised there wasn’t more dissonance between my artistic woo woo whatever approach to things and the analytical minds I’ve been surrounded by. Sure, I’ve had to explain some artsy terms, but there haven’t been fundamental misunderstandings of what I’m suggesting or talking about, only suggestions to be more realistic or clear. My assumption is that’s because I’ve got a more science/math brain than I want to admit, and art is an inherently human thing to enjoy and create, so therefore most everyone’s got some form of appreciation.  

What do you hope people will take away from viewing the exhibit, whether online or in person?

David Muench’s work has masterful use of design elements, which I’ve called attention to through my selections and think could be helpful for someone studying art and its principles. Ideally, the relationships between pieces make sense and reveal things that wouldn’t have been highlighted if they were displayed separately.  

I hope that I’ve stayed true to David Muench’s intent of fostering a love for the environment and the landscapes we interact with on a daily basis. It’s my wish that this selection makes viewers want to explore places on their own, especially the variety we’ve got in Arizona and around Flagstaff. It’s certainly made me want to explore despite always choosing to lock myself in the painting studio instead.  

What was your favorite task or step during the internship? What was your least favorite?

I really enjoyed arranging the two spaces, Scholar’s Corner and the SCA gallery space, and the different challenges they presented, the groupings that would present themselves based on the layouts. In Scholar’s, there’s only one wall that would be suitable to a pair of images and therefore most selections are individual. In the actual gallery space, there were a lot more relational decisions to be made. This is only exciting to me, but I’m glad I got to mess around with different label types. I’ve previously done scuffed, handwritten labels for a guerilla exhibit and the standard white rectangle of information for the normal ones. I’ve installed bigger vinyl and have designed numerous things in Adobe Illustrator. How hard could tiny vinyl labels be? Graphic design is not my passion; it is the bane of my existence. And yet, it is one of the most useful tools I’ve picked up in my life. The rewards for my efforts are always worth wanting to ram my head through the nearest wall for a few hours.  

How has this internship informed your academic career at NAU? How does what you learned this summer connect to your studies?

This summer has built upon some of the experiences I’ve had curating, and serves as a real-world application of the processes we’ve been mimicking and following in courses.  I’m finding it all feeds into each other. The courses and skills subsequently learned prepare me for opportunities like this one, which allow all my knowledge bases to work together. This is true not only in terms of requirements, but also how my art history knowledge has been able to inform both the artistic and academic sides of my career. Understanding the processes of creating the art or material I’m working with helps me better inform the audience about the piece and notice small details, things of this nature.  

I had never done anything substantial with websites before and certainly not for exhibition design. While I don’t think I’m going to be a website wizard, knowing how to design a layout that’s navigable (and pretty!) and how to display information in an accessible way is very important in this day and age, especially in the public-facing field I’ve chosen to pursue. Websites and social media will inherently have a bigger reach than a physical event or something promoted locally, which means I’ve got to stop pretending I’m living in the ’90s.

Did the internship experience help you clarify anything about your future career or possible work experience you hope to gain before or after graduating?

While the internship experience hasn’t drastically changed my ideal career (it was already in this vein), it certainly showed me there are lots of ways to get there, which makes me less concerned about taking the “correct” path and more concerned about the path suddenly no longer leading where I thought and ending up in a town I’ve never heard of. But I suppose that’s already happened; I’m a graphic designer turned painter attempting to convince himself and others he can be taken seriously when talking about his practice. Truthfully, had you told me this is how I’d be spending my summer when I signed up for the PFA gallery last fall, I would have asked you if the ceiling had also collapsed and you just dug yourself out of rubble. I’m stoked to not have been proven wrong or come to the realization that I hate thinking about display and audience engagement and subtle design choices before that’s what I’m trying to do for 40+ years. I feel less like I must choose between art and academics, and less like I have to know how to balance them immediately. You know, both relieving and a whole other set of problems. 

Anything else you’d like to share about your experience?

This internship has been one of my favorite experiences NAU has offered me, or rather that I’ve worked towards. I evidently enjoy struggling with new things, and therefore all of the digital stuff was a fun, frustrating puzzle for my materially minded self. I’ve never had as much control over an exhibit as I have for this one, which forced me to trust myself and my visual eye. It’s done a lot of good for pushing my skills further, gathering new ones, and my confidence in my ability as a curator and as a writer. 

Congratulations, Niko, for putting together a great show! David Muench: The Allure of Light will open September 2nd, 2025, in Cline Library Special Collections & Archives.