Kai Rittgers has Many Responsibilities as Intern for Master Craftsman Studio
from FSU Art BA ’20 Kai Rittgers:
My name is Kai Rittgers and I am a junior at Florida State University, and if I graduate on time I will be graduating in the spring of 2020. I am from Melbourne Beach, Florida but was born in California and have attended Florida State University all three years. I am currently completing my Bachelor of Arts degree in studio art.
As an intern at Master Craftsman Studio, I learned many new things and met a lot of new people. I was first introduced to the Master Craftsman Studio and given a tour of the equipment, projects, and materials. After being introduced to the Master Craftsman Studio my responsibilities began. My responsibility as an intern included helping out on the many projects at the Master Craftsman Studio. I might have to help paint, repair, cut, sand, etc. My other responsibilities as an intern were to show up on time and to use the equipment and materials properly because the equipment and materials can be expensive. I gained many skills from my time at Master Craftsman Studio. I learned how to work with new equipment such as a lathe, glass cutter, soldering iron, and more. I also learned how to work with new materials including glass, solder, and others. There are craftsmen/women at Master Craftsman studio who have been working with the equipment/materials for years that showed me how to properly use the equipment/materials. Working on projects with other interns and craftsmen taught me how to better work with others to complete a project.
I enjoyed my entire time at Master Craftsman Studio. One of my favorite parts of the internship was getting to use a blow torch for a project. Learning new things does not usually involve a blow torch but at Master Craftsman it does. Another part of the internship I really enjoyed was learning how to weld and plasma cut. Welding involves melting and putting metal together; plasma cutting involves cutting the metal with hot plasma. These were my favorite parts of my internship but I also enjoyed cutting and soldering glass for stained glass projects and working with a lathe. I would highly recommend an internship at Master Craftsman Studio to anyone who wants to learn how to use all sorts of new equipment and materials, learn how projects are produced, put together, and installed with a team, and get to work with their hands. Everyone at Master Craftsman Studio is very friendly and were willing to help me with anything I did not know how to do
