From Back-of-House to Front and Center: Mia Staff Artists Reflect

By Tara Kaushik

January 13, 2025—In 2006, a group of Mia staff began inviting submissions from their coworkers to a small art show that would be installed in a hallway by the Kresge Staff Lounge, across from a set of vending machines. Visible only to those who worked back-of-house in the museum, the show included 10 or 15 works at most.

In the years since, the staff art show has grown and developed into an exhibition in its own right. Today, you can view “Artists at Work: The Mia Staff Art Show” in the Community Commons, located in the Katherine Kierland Herberger gallery on the first floor. It’s organized by Team Mia, a group of museum staff devoted to encouraging relationship-building, providing accessible opportunities for connection and growth, and recognizing and celebrating museum employees.

This year’s show received over 60 submissions from nearly every department in the museum. It showcases an incredible array of creativity, with striking variety in media, form, and content. Below, a few artists in the show reflect on their creative process and the experience of sharing their hidden talents publicly.

Rocky Xóchihua, Building Service Manager

Balancing an arts practice with other priorities requires its own brand of creativity. “I have a five-year-old and a seven-year-old, and after that happens, your time for your own things very much goes down,” says Building Service Manager Rocky Xóchihua. “So if I’m working on pieces, I just leave everything out—the canvas, the water—and even if I just have five minutes, I sit down and paint a little bit.”

Xóchihua also creates alongside her daughters. “Like my mother before me, I really encourage my daughters to be creative. We do art all weekend. I give them their own sets of watercolors and tell them, ‘these are your paint brushes, and you’re responsible for taking care of them.’ When my girls do art, I get to make art as well.”

Allison Keirstead Jones, Visitor Experience Representative

Visitor Experience Representative Allison Keirstead Jones appreciates the mobile nature of her embroidery. “I worked on my piece here in the museum while answering phones, I worked on it on the bus. It fits into all these little spots in my life,” she says.

Competing priorities are often just one hurdle in cultivating a commitment to artmaking, however. Plagued by their own high expectations, adults often lose touch with their inherent creative capacity. In her iconic book The Artist’s Way, arts educator Julia Cameron recommends: “Do what intrigues you, explore what interests you; think mystery, not mastery.”

The artists in the staff art show offer an example of how to do just that.

Todd Jones, Head of Security

“I just got into photography this summer,” says Todd Jones, Mia’s head of security. “I enjoy it, I enjoy seeing the final product, that uncovering of ‘what does my eye catch?’” he muses.“I’m always driven to try the next new thing that’s interesting to me. Whether that’s trying pottery, pastels, that kind of thing.”

For Jones, artmaking is also a way to rebuke stereotypes. “I strive to do things that don’t always fit the mold of a Black man. I’m a hunter. I do photography. I do crop art. Those things are often associated with a certain demographic, so for me to do them is kind of outside the box. That really drives me.”

Emily Wecker, Security Lieutenant

Security Lieutenant Emily Wecker is inspired by the possibilities within reusable materials. “We had a lot of used paper lying around, and I was making paper cranes for a while,” she says—pulling a thumb-sized one, on cue, from her pocket.

Wecker, who submitted a painting of her cat Shiloh to the show, describes artmaking as a joyful outlet. “I have painted pictures of all my cats. I create things that make me feel happy,” she says. “It feels like Shiloh has increased his grandiosity. He’s been shown to the world. He’s such a good boy. He deserves to be appreciated,” she laughs.

There are nerves involved, undoubtedly, in sharing one’s art so publicly.

“Mia is an environment where there’s an emphasis on excellence and a high level of professionalism as far as how art is presented, so it was intimidating,” says Keirstead Jones. Yet, the act of sharing can also enhance creativity—and foster connection.

“I was a bit nervous at first because there are so many talented people here,” says Wecker. “But I also think that’s what makes it so interesting to work at Mia: You can take that creative energy, collaborate, learn from each other, and learn about each other. It’s fun to see what other people are doing with their brains.”

Keirstead Jones concurs. “That’s something that I have always felt about working at Mia, is that it’s very much encouraged to have that creative side of yourself front and center. So many people in this environment are artists, so it connects me more to people to show this side of myself and have that be integrated into my work persona. Once I saw my piece up on the wall alongside my coworkers’, it felt really good.”

While Mia is renowned for its world-class collection, this exhibition highlights the creativity of the people who make the museum what it is. “Artists at Work: The Mia Staff Art Show” is a testament to Mia’s commitment to promoting creativity within its walls and sharing that passion with the community—out front, no longer back-of-house.

“Artists at Work: The Mia Staff Art Show” is on view in the Katherine Kierland Herberger Gallery, Community Commons, until April 13, 2025. Admission is free, and everyone is always welcome.