Archive for November, 2010

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Thursday Nights….More than The Office or Grey's Anatomy

Published November 11, 2010 Community Connection Closed
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Have you ever wanted to go out on the town with your friends before all the weekend excitement happens?    If so, I recommend coming to the Museum on Thursday evenings between 5 and 9 p.m.   Bring your educator ID and receive FREE admission to enjoy a variety of experiences like Jazz in the Atrium,  artist encounters, lectures, and much more!

Below are a few of the fantastic programs that are happening over the next few months.

For more highlighted Thursday and Friday programs, go to the Evening Programs section of the DMA’s Educators Web site.

Until next time….

Jenny Marvel
Manager of Programs and Resources for Teachers

Creating MAW

Published November 10, 2010 Members Closed
Special Member Gift

Member Appreciation Week (MAW) is about celebrating and thanking members of the Dallas Museum of Art.

The Dallas Museum of Art has an event planning team, but this event falls directly to me. This isn’t just any event – it’s an entire week to personally say “thank you” to all our members. One of the best parts of my job is talking to people every day about why they love the DMA. It’s my chance to say that I’m happy you are member. Our members are pretty amazing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been stopped at the mall and grocery store by members.

Our first MAW was last December. We had a great turnout, but we realized that we were competing with holiday parties. This year, we decided to have the event before Thanksgiving, so that we wouldn’t interfere with other events. We will celebrate Monday, November 15 through Saturday, November 20 so that all members have the opportunity to stop in. We have tours, scavenger hunts, story time for kids, and my favorite, the Museum Store estate sale!

I start the actual planning in July, which means a lot of coordinating with our educational staff. With the help of Arts & Letters Live, we secured an appearance with author Stacy Schiff for her new book, Cleopatra. We’re thrilled that it’s a sellout and we  hope to provide more events like this in the furture. Speaking of other events, on Monday members will be the first to shop for pearls, gold, watches, vintage brooches, rings, sterling silver pieces, pendants, and more at the second annual Art/Find estate sale in the DMA’s Museum Store.

My favorite part of planning MAW is picking out the member gift! This year’s gift is photo cubes. We’ve noticed that people love taking photos here so why not give them something to display those photos. I’ll soon be creating little squares for the photo cubes that say, “Add your photos to our Flickr page!” I’m constantly in the galleries taking photos and I add them to the Museum’s Flickr page all the time.

I hope you can make it next week, and if you do, please be sure to say hello. For a complete listing of events, visit DallasMuseumofArt.org/EventsforMembers.

Wendi Kavanaugh is the Member Outreach Manager at the Dallas Museum of Art

Seldom Scene: A Weekly Snapshot

Published November 8, 2010 Behind-the-Scenes Closed
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A DMA conference room where great programming ideas are born.

Uncrated Gets Crated

Published November 5, 2010 Behind-the-Scenes Closed
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Earlier in the week DMA preparators de-installed a sculpture by Donald Judd in the Museum’s Hoffman Galleries. (They’re setting up for Big New Field.) We thought photos of its crating would be fun to share with our Uncrated readers:

"Exotic" Mexican Objects at the DMA and Crow Collection

Published November 5, 2010 Community Connection , Friday Photos , works of art Closed
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In commemoration of the 2010 bicentennial of Mexico’s independence from Spain, many Dallas-area institutions have hosted events or created exhibitions related to Mexico’s past, present, and future.  In addition to highlighting Mexican and Spanish colonial works in the Museum’s fourth floor galleries, the DMA currently has two special exhibitions celebrating Mexico’s 200th anniversary: Jose Guadalupe Posada: The Birth of Mexican Modernism and Tierra y Gente: Modern Mexican Works on Paper.

For me, one of the most intriguing objects in these galleries is an eccentric folding screen from colonial Mexico.  This screen is elaborately painted and gilded in the European decorative tradition, but its central vignettes are drawn from a Flemish book of moralizing tales.  Additionally, the ornate borders of the screen contain Japanese and Chinese-inspired motifs popular in European Rococo.  This object connects with a recently opened exhibition, Black Current: Mexican Responses to Japanese Art, 17th-19th Centuries, also in celebration of Mexico’s bicentennial, at the Crow Collection of Asian Art.

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*Photography by George Ramirez

This exhibition includes Mexican-made objects, such as folding screens and rolled paintings, that were greatly informed by trade via the The Black Current.   This marine trade route, established in the 16th century,  ran eastbound from Manila to Acapulco, bringing goods such as decorative arts, silk, and spices to Mexico.  Approximately 500 Pacific crossings were made along the dark river in the sea, feeding the growing market for luxury commodities in Mexico and generating Asian demand for American resources such as silver.  These exchanges led to an artistic interchange that left lasting impressions on Mexican artists.

Cosmopolitan, Mexican-made objects, such as those in Black Current and the DMA Screen, reference their Asian precursors through the inclusion of Asian-inspired motifs, use of laquer, inlay and shells, and format of the folding screen and scrolls mounted on rollers.  Additionally, they serve as visual documentation of ambitious exchanges between spatially disparate cultures.

Ashley Bruckbauer

Programs and Resources for Teachers Intern

French Art Teacher Workshop

Published November 4, 2010 Art & Teaching , works of art Closed
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Bonjour!  I would like to invite you to travel to France through works of art at the Dallas Museum of Art on Saturday, December 4 from 9:00 to 12:30pm.    We will explore 18th–19th century French paintings and sculptures, the Reves Collection, and the special exhibition The Mourners: Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy.  

 

      
      

 

 

To register for this teacher workshop or to learn more about other workshops and programs offered in Spring 2011, go to DallasMuseumofArt.org/teachers. 

À bientôt….

Jenny Marvel
Manager of Programs and Resources for Teachers

Teaching with African Art

Published November 2, 2010 Art & Teaching Closed
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Prior to becoming the Coordinator of Museum Visits at the DMA, I served as a McDermott Curatorial Intern working with our curator of African art, Dr. Roslyn A. Walker.  During my year with Roz, I learned not only about the arts of Africa, but I also grew to love the DMA’s collection.  We have a fantastic collection of African art at the Museum, and I enjoy sharing it with our docents, teachers, and especially with students.

A few weeks ago, I led a docent training session entitled Art and Death in Africa.  A majority of African art deals with the cycle of life, so birth, initiation, and death are constantly referenced in our collection.  I felt that death was an especially interesting theme to investigate since it ties in so nicely to one of our current special exhibitions The Mourners: Medieval Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy.  Check out last Friday’s photo post for some of my favorite works from the collection relating to art and death in Africa.

Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria at the MFA, Houston

In September, I was invited to lead a Teacher Workshop at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston related to the exhibition Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria.  The works of art in the exhibition date from the 9th to the 15th century, and many of them have never traveled outside of Nigeria.  It was a special treat to see them, let alone to teach with them!  We spent time in the exhibition and also in the MFAH’s African galleries exploring the themes of kingship and belief.  At the end of the day, teachers created concrete poems inspired by a work of art in the Ife exhibition.  I was impressed with the teachers’ finished products, which were created on paper that they had embellished with a watercolor wash. 

A concrete poem created by one of the teachers

Later this month, I will be presenting Themes for Teaching with African Art at the Texas Art Education Association conference in Austin.  Using works of art from the DMA collection, I will share themes, questions, and experiences that can help students make connections between African art and traditions and their lives today.  If you’re attending TAEA this year and want to learn more about teaching with African art in your classroom, plan to attend my session at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, November 12th.  I hope to see you there!

Shannon Karol
Coordinator of Museum Visits

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