About Adam

Hometown:
Jakarta, Indonesia

University Partner:
Williams College

Degree:
B.A. in Art History, 2007

Grant Partner:
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Senior Mentor:
Alan Chong, Curator of the Collection

"Initially, I believed that my internship would be successful if I learned a great deal about art history. It was a success, but not because I learned a lot about art (which I did) or even because it answered my questions about museums. It was a success because my ongoing reflection revealed to me questions that, at the start of the summer, I didn't know I should be asking."

Scholar Background

After an international childhood spent in New York City and Hong Kong, Adam settled in Indonesia alongside his family in 1995. His time in Jakarta was checkered by evacuations and government overthrows, including the May 1998 riots. “The longer I live here, the more I know but the less I understand,” Adam wrote in his college application essay to Williams. But despite the tumultuous events, he has grown to appreciate his time as an expatriate, becoming more critical as a result. In pursuit of his passion for art, Adam made the transition from a chaotic city state to a bucolic New England college. At Williams, he took an intensive art course load and dedicated himself to articulating complex landscapes, whether emotional or physical, through his artistic creations in various mediums, such as drawing, painting, printmaking, and photography. After three years as a museum associate at the Williams College Museum of Art leading and creating individual tours, Adam was very excited to finally see his own work hanging in the museum during the art majors’ senior exhibition. After graduation, Adam worked for two years in the marketing department of the award-winning, Boston-based architectural firm, William Rawn Associates.

Internship Description

At the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Adam helped research an exhibition of the journals and scrapbooks that Isabella Stewart Gardner created during her travels in Asia. The time he spent in Asia gave Adam a special interest in and insight into Mrs. Gardner’s collection, and the interdisciplinary, multilateral nature of the museum workplace surprised him. Trips to Florence, Italy and Washington, D.C. with his mentor Alan Chong, Curator of the Collection, gave Adam the opportunity to further immerse himself in the international art scene. The highlight of Adam’s experience was undoubtedly his two-week trip to Florence. Beyond his memorable experiences visiting museums and enjoying Italian food, Adam learned the value of networking with prominent art historians and curators to help ensure a museum's viability and the professional development of its leaders. 

Where are they now?

He is currently pursuing his Masters of Architecture at Cornell University.