Last week, Shannon introduced one of our 9×9 experimental programs, Provocative Comparisons. On Saturday, I led our second Provocative Comparisons conversation focused on She, an onyx sculpture by Bosnian-French artist Bojan Šarčević, and The Icebergs, by American painter Frederick Church. My conversation with two visitors while looking at these works of art was rather delightful, as we all shared our observations, questions, and ideas about these artworks. I especially loved seeing new aspects of these artworks and new connections through the eyes of my partners. What connections can you find between these two works of art?
Bojan Šarčević, She, 2010, Dallas Museum of Art, DMA/amfAR Benefit Auction Fund, 2011.4
Frederic Church, The Icebergs, 1861, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Norma and Lamar Hunt, 1979.28
Tomorrow, Nicole will lead Provocative Comparisons with two more works of art. Below is a sneak peek…to see its counterpart, join Nicole on Saturday, July 30, at 3:00 or 7:00 p.m.
Rufino Tamayo, El Hombre, 1953, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Art Association commission, Neiman-Marcus Company Exposition Funds, 1953.22
The DMA special exhibition Silence and Time has been a great springboard for conversation on tours with students and in programs with teachers this summer. Since we have just a month left to enjoy the installation, I thought it would be fun to share some new experiences and conversations it inspired, and some familiar activities we revisited. Look for a blog post in mid-August about a half-day teacher workshop in Silence and Time that incorporated some of the experiences below.
Start with silence Prime yourself for time in the galleries by sitting in silence for a few minutes.
Silence and Time was inspired by a specific few minutes of silence: American artist John Cage’s 1952 composition 4’33.” As the introductory wall text states, “Cage’s controversial work comprises three movements…arranged for any instrument or combination of instruments. All of the movements are performed without a single note being played. The content of this composition is meant to be perceived as the sound of the environment that the listener hears while it is performed, rather than as four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence.”
What did you notice during your 4’33” of silence?
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Just one minute Take just one minute to look at an artwork. When your time is up, turn so your back faces the artwork, and write down as many details about it as you can. If you’re with a friend, have him or her quiz you about the artwork with your back turned. How much were you able to notice and remember in just one minute?
Look longer Spend fifteen minutes with just one artwork in the exhibition. Get close, move far away, and use ideas below to help you look closely.
Create a log of what you see.
Make a sketch of the work of art.
Write down questions you have about the work of art.
Write down what you like about the work of art.
Write down what confuses you about the work of art.
Write down how the work of art makes you feel.
Tracking time Consider all the ways time can be measured both mechanically (clocks, calendars) and naturally (changing of seasons, hair growth, erosion). Find as many examples of ways we mark time as you can in works of art in the exhibition.
Find the time Are there artworks that suggest suspension of time? Time moving slowly or rapidly? That time is cyclical or linear? Challenge a friend to identify different representations of time manifested in artworks in the exhibition. If you enjoy thinking about possible shapes time could take, pick up Alan Lightman’s Einstein’s Dreams, a collection of short stories that describe parallel universes where time behaves differently–sometimes in circles, sometimes backwards, etc.
Make your own artwork
Use make-shift art materials from your purse or pockets to create an artwork that will change with time. As you’re looking for materials in your purse or pockets, consider which objects show more or less wear and tear and which objects age more or less quickly. Then, explore the galleries looking specifically at materials the artists used.
With the 75th anniversary of the Texas Centennial Exposition around the corner, we decided to dive into our archives and share some of our finds with you.
Texas Centennial Exposition ticket
Seventy-five years ago, in the summer of 1936, people throughout Texas and the United States traveled to Dallas for the Texas Centennial Exposition. The Exposition, held at Fair Park, was both a world’s fair and a gateway to attractions and events throughout the state celebrating the 100th anniversary of Texas’s independence from Mexico.
The following four photographs are from a set of twenty images published by John Sirigo, official photographer for the Texas Centennial Exposition, as “Genuine Official Photographs, No. 1.”
Texas Centennial Exposition, Esplanade and Exhibit Buildings
Texas Centennial Exposition, Midway
Texas Centennial Exposition, State Building
Texas Centennial Exposition, Ford Building
Advertised as An Empire on Parade, attractions included the Esplanade of State; exhibit halls and sponsored pavilions focusing on major industries in Texas; The Cavalcade of Texas, a living saga of over four hundred years of Texas history; Sinclair’s Dinosaurs, a prehistoric “zoo” of dinosaur reproductions; The Old West, with replicas of historic buildings; the Midway; and the Civic Center, made up of six units of cultural and educational attractions.
Souvenir Guide
Postcard view of museum building (E.C. Kropp Co., Milwaukee, Wis.)
The Hall of Fine Arts, the largest building in the Civic Center, was the permanent home of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, now the Dallas Museum of Art, for nearly fifty years. For the Exposition, the Museum held an enormous exhibition of paintings, sculpture, and graphic arts, including European art from before 1500 to contemporary Texas painting and everything in between. The exhibition, which filled the whole building, included almost six hundred works of art loaned by ninety-six major museums, galleries, private collectors, and artists.
The French Room at the Texas Centennial Exhibition included works by Manet, Renoir, Picasso, and Toulouse-Lautrec.
Grant Wood's "Amercian Gothic" was in the Contemporary American Paintings section of the Texas Centennial Exhibition.
The Texas Centennial Exposition ran from June 6 to November 29, 1936, and over six million people attended. Exhibit halls constructed for the Exposition still form the core buildings at Fair Park.
Hillary Bober is the Digital Archivist at the Dallas Museum of Art.
There are things I expect to see coming into work on a Monday, like empty galleries, art being moved, staff shuttling to and from Starbucks for morning coffee. One thing I definitely did not expect to see this past Monday was a 12-foot sculpture of a rocket ship made of chicken wire, burlap, tape, and felt lurking in the corner of our C3 Tech Lab space. Talk about surprising!
The Rocket Ship is a communal artwork created by visitors during our 9×9 C3 Artistic Encounters program last Saturday. What I love about the Rocket Ship, which looks like something from a Michel Gondry movie or a cousin of a Claes Oldenberg soft sculpture, is that it is a realization of visitor interpretations of a work of art.
In the Center for Creative Connections, we have a metaphor response wall where visitors can leave their thoughts about Lee Bonteou’s Untitled (35). One of the prompts visitors respond to is: “If this work of art was part of something larger, what would it be?” Multiple responses to this prompt have been “Rocket Ship.” So, as part of our new 9×9 Programing initiative, C3 staff teamed up with artist Rene Muhl to make this response real on a very large scale. Kari Laehr, Center for Creative Specialist, worked with Susan Diachisin, Director of the Center for Creative Connections, and is excited to share her rocket ship-making experience with us. Here’s Kari:
Last weekend in the Center for Creative Connections, we launched our new 9×9 Programing, specifically our third consecutive program called Giant Constructions. The program was based on Bontecou’s Untitled (35), currently found in our gallery and, I must admit, one of my favorites in the space!
Lee Bontecou, Untitled (35), 1961, welded metal and canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated, 1963.92.FA.
This work of art encourages participants to contemplate space through a mysterious dark opening that simultaneously toys with depth perception and confrontational elements. Participants were encouraged to create a large-scale sculpture that would act as an extension of the Bontecou piece. We had a wonderful time with Rene discussing Bontecou’s work and trying to answer questions about the artist’s intent, types of materials used, and other interactive prompts. As Amy mentioned above, the main prompt was “If the piece were a part of something larger, what would it be?” Many responses to our interactive prompt came back with the same answer – ROCKET SHIP! With the help of artist Rene Muhl, imagination became reality as our rocket ship took shape.
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The program lasted four hours and was a casual come-and-go process. As you can see, everyone had a great time adding to our Rocket Ship. There are many ways to interact with art, and we look forward to continuing to promote new and exciting programs through the rest of 9×9 in July!
Kari Laehr
Center for Creative Connections, Specialist
Last weekend, the Museum launched an experimental summer program: 9×9. For nine days in July, the Museum will stay open later than usual (until 9:00 p.m.) and will offer a variety of new and fun programs. The program I am most excited about is Provocative Comparisons. Offered on Saturdays at 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., Provocative Comparisons encourages participants to look closely, contemplate, and converse about two works of art in the collection. Through these conversations, we begin to discover meaning and connections that tie these works of art together.
I led the first Provocative Comparisons session this past Saturday, and we looked at a Shield Cover and Shield in Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection, as well as Jackson Pollock’s Portrait and a Dream. What connections can you find between these two works of art?
Shield Cover and Shield, Apsáalooke (Crow) people, Montana, ca. 1860, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y.
Jackson Pollock, Portrait and a Dream, 1953, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Algur H. Meadows and the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated, 1967.8
Join Melissa on July 23rd at 3:00 and 7:00 for the next installment of Provocative Comparisons. To whet your appetite, here’s a preview of one of the works of art that will be discussed. What work of art from the DMA’s collection would you compare with She?
Bojan Šarčević, She, 2010, Dallas Museum of Art, DMA/amfAR Benefit Auction Fund, 2011.4
Shannon Karol
Manager of Docent Programs and Gallery Teaching
Have you ever imagined which artist you are most like? Well now is your chance to find out with our new Artist Personality Quiz. On Friday nights during 9×9 you can stop by the Artist Personality Quiz table in the DMA’s concourse and take our 11 question quiz to find out which artist you are.
Start getting in touch with your inner artist with a sneak peek of the Artist Personality Quiz below, and stop by Friday to find your match.
My friends would most likely describe me as:
a. The brooding rebel.
b. The independent bohemian.
c. The laid-back hipster.
d. The charismatic life of the party.
e. The contemplative dreamer.
f. The detailed-oriented planner.
When I am vacationing, you can find me:
a. Renting a cottage on a secluded bluff in the Hamptons.
b. Soaking in the sun and desert landscape in Santa Fe.
c. Relaxing on the beach in Santa Monica.
d. Running with the bulls in Pamplona.
e. Taking a culinary tour of the French countryside.
f. Enjoying the hustle and bustle of Times Square.
Once you discover who your DMA Art Doppelgänger is you will receive a button proclaiming which artist you are. Then stroll through the galleries and strike up conversations with other doppelgängers to discuss how you answered the quiz questions and to find out what you have in common.
Below is a collage by Romare Bearden called Soul Three. In addition to being an accomplished artist, Romare Bearden also occasionally composed jazz music and associated with musicians such as Branford Marsalis, Duke Ellington, and Fats Waller. This musical influence appears frequently in his collages in the form of musical themes and subjects. Soul Three, for instance, shows three musicians playing guitar and tambourine.
Romare Bearden used music in many ways when he created art. Sometimes he drew while listening to music. He described this experience by saying, “[o]ne of the things I did was to listen to a lot of music. I’d take a sheet of paper and just make lines while I listened to records—a kind of shorthand to pick up the rhythm and the intervals.” Bearden also advised that, in making art, you “become a blues singer—only you sing on the canvas. You improvise—you find the rhythm and catch it good, and structure as you go along—then the song is you.”
Romare Bearden, Soul Three, 1968, Dallas Museum of Art, General Acquisitions Fund and Roberta Coke Camp Fund
Shiva, the Hindu god of creation and destruction, is shown in the bronze sculpture below in his most transcendent state as Nataraja, or Lord of the Dance. Here, Shiva is the embodiment of cosmic energy who dances the rhythm of the universe and beats his drum in time. Music and dance, in the Hindu tradition, are considered pathways to divinity, and worshippers perform to honor the god.
Shiva Nataraja, 11th century, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Mrs. Eugene McDermott, the Hamon Charitable Foundation, and an anonymous donor in honor of David T. Owsley, with additional funding from The Cecil and Ida Green Foundation and the Cecil and Ida Green Acquisition Fund
Next, this black serpentine bust of Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter shows the musician as he appeared a few years before his death. Leadbelly was a troubled folk singer and two-time murderer who was reputedly pardoned for his crimes when the governor of Texas heard his music. In this bust, he is portrayed sensitively by the sculptor Michael G. Owen, Jr.
Michael G. Owen Jr., Leadbelly, 1943, Dallas Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Gooch Fund Purchase Prize, Twelfth Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture, 1950-1951
Finally, for the Senufo peoples of Côte d’Ivoire, the drum is an instrument of music and communication. Drums are used by Senufo women to accompany songs sung in a secret language to deal with gender conflicts and other frustrations, and serve as a sort of “public address system” for the Senufo community announcing important events or rituals. They are also pounded to create a rhythm which encourages competition among young men hoeing the fields.
Drum, 20th century, Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Marcus
These are only a few of the many works at the DMA which celebrate music. List your favorites in the comments below.
Coming into my second month at the museum, I am beginning to learn more about the different facets of our education department. Last week, I participated in our YMCA and Boys & Girls Clubs Program, a week-long program that employs interactive gallery experiences through tours, as well as hands-on art activities based on objects explored in the Museum. By documenting my first experience with the YMCA and Boys & Girls Clubs Program, I aim to shed some light on our summer programs at the DMA.
Tour supplies
Our week begins on Monday at the Grand Prairie Boys & Girls Club. My colleague Melissa Nelson and I head out in the beloved Go van Gogh® van, armed with a bag full of art supplies. Because it’s our first interaction with the students, we start off with introductions about us and the Museum. As a group, we talked about the different collections the DMA has to offer and what their first visit will be like. Finally, we ended the session with an art activity, in which the students drew their own museum filled with items they collect at home.
On Tuesday, the students traveled to the Museum for their first visit, and the tour theme is Animal Safari. The Animal Safari tour is a fun and engaging tour that encourages students to look closer at the different types of animals found in artworks throughout the Museum. Some activities I included are an animal scavenger hunt in the American silver gallery, an acrostic poem about a seal or sea otter spirit mask, and a drawing based on the sculptures of mythical animals (aso) from Indonesia. You can find more interactive activities on our Teaching Resources page.
Preparing for an Animal Safari tour
On Wednesday, we went back to the Boys & Girls Club and reviewed some of the animals we saw on the tour. Two objects that we asked for them to recall are the sword ornament in the form of a lion and the mythical animal (aso). Inspired by these two objects, the students created their own animals with Model Magic clay. It was a great way to connect the students with the artworks and spark their interest in returning to the Museum on Thursday.
On Thursday, the students returned to the DMA for a second time, ready to participate in the Heroes tour. During the tour, students explored characteristics of heroes and what it means to be a hero in artworks from diverse cultures. During the tour, we read Courage by Bernard Waber, drew a hero portrait, and wrote a story about heroes together as a group.
Students working hard on their trophies
Our final meeting took place on Friday at the Boys & Girls Club. We reviewed the different roles of a hero and talked about which artworks we liked the most. One object that was visited was the Nautilus Centerpiece, which is a yachting trophy. In this activity, students created their own trophy that either represented themselves as heroes, or to give to someone they consider their hero, like a family member or a friend.
Artist Trophy
My first week with the YMCA and Boys & Girls Clubs Program has been a blast! I can’t think of a better way for students to spend their summer than having fun with art and taking the time to look, question, and create.
An entry to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts with exhibition banner above
As the DMA’s curator for the forthcoming exhibition on Jean Paul Gaultier, I recently had the opportunity to travel with some of my colleagues to the Montreal Museum of Fine Art, where the exhibition had its international premiere. The Montreal Museum, which had organized the exhibition, did a tremendous job in presenting the works not simply as couture draped across mannequins, but as truly vibrant objects of art and design. The excitement was indeed palpable, as the red carpet was rolled down the front steps of the Museum and the crowds began to gather for opening night. Even for the second night’s reception, over 2,000 people gathered for a preview of the exhibition!
The crowds converge for one of the opening receptions
Gaultier arrived from Paris to join in the festivities and one could see he was enjoying himself as much as anyone else in attendance. One of the remarkable aspects of the installation was the creation of specially “animated mannequins” for the clothing which incorporated custom-molded heads to accommodate video projections of which made them appear to speak, sing, and scan the crowds (at the entry stood Gaultier’s own double—a mannequin welcoming those many visitors). Throughout the exhibition, Gaultier’s fashions reflected both his exceptional talents and sheer joy in life. As guests poured through the crowded galleries, they stopped to admire their new favorites—perhaps a dress of brilliant feathers making the wearer appear exotic and bird-like or a Can-Can dress with the repeated image of kicking legs on the interior?
Animated sailor mannequins with Gaultier's fashions in his iconic marinière (sailor striped shirt) motif
The Gaultier mannequin is programmed
Crowds gather around the exhibition's moving catwalk
More crowds in the "Urban Jungle" section of the exhibition
