Internship Opened Tian's Eyes to Wabash Hospitality
by Steve Charles
Tian Tian ’11 calls his internship at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum his “introduction to the real world” of professional graphic design, but the summer also opened his eyes to the extraordinary hospitality and friendship alumni offer Wabash students.  Six thousand miles from his native China, the art major/economics minor found an unexpected home away from home with Mary Jo and Bob Wright ’87 and their family.
But the work came first, and Tian’s starting day after orientation at the Children’s Museum is one he’ll not soon forget. The junior art major/economics minor was told to come up with two designs for the museum’s new second-floor “Green Wind Terrace.” He threw himself into the project at 8:30 that morning.
“Then at 1:10, my boss came in and said, ‘I need you to attend a meeting with me and the VPs,’” Tian recalls. “On the way there I discovered it would be my responsibility to present the designs!”
Tian says it all happened so fast, he didn’t have time to be nervous about the meeting. "I have always been comfortable about public speaking, so once I began my presentation, it went pretty well. “I’ve become comfortable working on a tight deadline, too,” adds Tian, who has been designing posters and other presentations for the College’s media center practically since he arrived at Wabash. “I think I picked up a lot of language and design and computer skills working at the center. But my boss at the museum pushed me pretty hard, and I enjoyed that. That’s how you get better, find out what you can really do.” By the time his internship as a new media graphic designer ended in July, Tian had created or contributed to eight projects, including an innovative touch screen in the Science Portal education center and 12 exhibition boards marking the five-year anniversary of the Dinosphere, one the museum’s most popular attractions. “This internship makes me realize how far I can go either in graphic design or in public relations and marketing, and I’m interested in all those areas,” says Tian. In fact, he’s hoping to work as a marketing intern next year. Unlike many artists, Tian sees marketing and art as complementary fields. “My economics background at Wabash has helped me to think both as an artist and in a way that understands the market. I think this dual perspective will affect my eventual career choice. I really wish to integrate art skills with real-life marketing skills to make it. “I used to be more conservative about this, but right now I’m more comfortable with people promoting themselves and doing it well, as long as it doesn’t affect the work. That’s how an artist can reach and influence the general public.” Tian will reach a public of his own next April in Salter Hall. The designer and painter is also a classically trained pianist, and when he returns to Wabash after studying in France this fall semester, he will present a recital of Chopin sonatas in celebration of the 200th anniversary of his favorite composer’s birth. “Chopin has been my life’s passion,” says Tian, who has studied piano for 15 years and whose mother sang opera professionally in China. “Piano is a catalyst for my life, keeps me energetic, leads me spiritually.”  Over the summer, the grand piano in the Wright family’s living room in Indianapolis became that place of energy and spirituality for Tian. It also gave him the chance pass along his love for the instrument to Bob and Mary Jo’s sons, Thomas, 13, and Jonathan, 9.
Tian came to stay with the Wrights in May after his fraternity advisor, Jon Pactor ’71, learned that Tian had an internship in Indy. Pactor contacted Wright, an Indianapolis attorney, who called his soon-to-be houseguest during final exam week. “He said, ‘Tian, I’m Bob, and I’ve been talking with Jon Pactor. Would you like to stay with us?’ He’d never even met me, yet he was willing to do this for me.” An only child, Tian enjoyed having two younger brothers, teaching them Mandarin Chinese as well as piano while they introduced him to Guitar Hero, and badminton games in the backyard became regular nightly fare. Standing next to a miniature replica of the Great Wall of China in the Children’s Museum courtyard just below the site of the future “Green Wind Terrace” he helped design, Tian smiles when he thinks back on his summer in Indianapolis, a city one-tenth the size of the artist/designer’s hometown of Sheny “I told Mary Jo, ‘You really make me feel as if I’m back at home.’ “I consider my stay with the Wrights and my internship a comprehensive experience. At the museum, I worked very hard to prove myself, and at night I felt like I could come home. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it all.”
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