2012 | Dallas Museum of Art Uncrated

Archive for 2012

Happy Birthday, Mr. President!

Today we celebrate the 280th birthday of our first president, George Washington. A pivotal and iconic figure in our nation’s history, Washington is easily recognizable on the dollar bill and quarter. Here on view at the DMA are a couple more examples of representations of our founding father.

"George Washington", c. 1786, Jean-Antoine Houdon, Painted plaster, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Ronald E. Fritz

The artist Rembrandt Peale saw how the nation was being shaped through art. Using the popular neoclassical style of the time, Peale depicted the president as an idealized, authoritative figure in military garb. In this famed “porthole portrait,” Peale monumentalizes Washington by depicting him gazing pensively out of the painted stone frame. Peale created over seventy iterations of this portrait in hopes of creating an image as iconic as Gilbert Stuarts’s (which can be found on the quarter and the dollar . . . as well as at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston). Peale’s painting is also used in the George Washington Portrait Program. You can learn more about this program on Mount Vernon’s website.

"George Washington", Rembrandt Peale, c. 1850, Oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, The Karl and Esther Hoblitzelle Collection, gift of the Hoblitzelle Foundation

Encouraged by the then French ambassador Thomas Jefferson, the well-known French neoclassical sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon journeyed across the Atlantic from France to Mount Vernon with the goal of creating a life-size sculpture of the president. Houdon created a life mask of Washington, which later served as a model for the DMA portrait bust and the life-size sculpture now in the State Capitol at Richmond. Again, Houdon idealizes the president and portrays him as an enlightened leader. (Some artists took this “idealized” representation a little too far. See Horatio Greenough’s massive sculpture, dubbed the “Enthroned Washington.”)

Don’t miss these works in the galleries as you celebrate President’s Day weekend!

Fun Facts:
• George Washington was 6 feet, 2 inches.
• Washington owned at least eight sets of dentures, none of them made of wood.
.• At his inauguration in 1789 he had only one tooth left.
• Washington’s presidential inauguration was held in the Federal Hall in New York City, as opposed to Washington, D.C.

Melissa Barry is the McDermott Curatorial Intern for Contemporary Art at the DMA. Lexie Ettinger is the Adult Programing Intern at the DMA.

Friday Photos: Designing Exhibitions Workshop

Published February 17, 2012 Friday Photos 3 Comments
Tags: Design, exhibition, exhibition design, Jean Paul Gaultier, Jessica Harden, teacher workshop

Last Saturday, a dozen teachers explored exhibition design in a half-day teacher workshop, slipping in and out of the galleries before the crowds waiting for one last look at The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk. We were thrilled to have Jessica Harden, DMA Exhibition Design Coordinator, take us through various galleries she had designed. As we looked at the work, she enlightened us on the effect of design elements on visitor experience. It was especially exciting to hear Jessica explain her creative process for the Gaultier exhibition, which is full of imaginative elements, such as a satin-tufted display case and graffiti-filled walls!

The teachers spent the second part of the day designing mini exhibitions of works in the DMA’s collection. They considered lighting, wall color, interactive components, mood, and object and visitor safety, pinning their layouts and ideas to project boards. The teachers ended the day by sharing how their chosen design elements expressed the focus of their exhibitions. Here’s the breakdown of our Exhibition Re-design Project.

Enjoy these photos that capture some of our fun morning. Thanks to all the teachers who joined us on Saturday!

Andrea Severin

Coordinator of Teaching Programs

Traveling with The Mourners

Published February 16, 2012 Behind-the-Scenes , Curatorial , European Art , Exhibitions 2 Comments
Tags: Dallas Museum of Art, DFW Museums, Dijon France, Musee des Beaux –Arts Dijon, The Mourners, The Mourners: Medieval Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy

It usually takes a few years to pull together a complicated, large and/or high value exhibition with loans from all over the world. The Mourners is an exhibition with only forty objects, and most from one source. So why did this project take about three years to open at its first venue, and why was it so complex? Well, the little sculptures are fragile, medieval and made out of stone—alabaster. In addition, they are the most treasured objects at the Musee des Beaux—Arts Dijon. The Director of the Museum, Sophie Jugie, had to promise the Mayor that absolutely nothing would happen to the little guys while they toured the United States for 2 ½ years!

After a year of conversation about the project with various parties, the DMA was asked by FRAME (French Regional American Museum Exchange) to organize and manage the exhibition tour.

In 2008 I visited Dijon to meet the staff, begin coordinating the logistics of our agreement, and of course to see the sculptures first hand to have a better idea of requirements for handling, packing, shipping, etc.

Tomb of John the Fearless. Musee des beaux-arts Dijon prior to removal of the sculptures.

In 2009 Preparator—and head mount maker—Russell Sublette visited Dijon to trace the bottoms of the sculptures in preparation for mount design. Over a few months he completed a couple of different designs for the mounts, here is one example.

After the mount decisions were made with Dijon, we had to purchase everything we would need: paint, felt, screwdrivers, drills, lots and lots of brass plate, and different width brass rods. Meanwhile a French packing company was busy building crates.

In January of 2010 we landed in Dijon. It was VERY cold. We immediately drove to the local “home depot” to purchase two heaters since the the Musee des beaux-arts is in the basement—of a stone medieval building. To make very detailed mounts, you need dexterity, your fingers cannot be frozen due to the cold.

I worked with the Dijon staff and Benoit Lafay (France Institute of Conservation of Works of Art) to remove the sculptures from the tomb.

The next three days we spent on high resolution photography of each sculpture, which you can appreciate in detail by going to mourners.org. Leonard Steinbach and Jared Bendis devised and organized the impressive photography equipment to complete the amazing photography. We set up shop in the gallery next to where the tombs are located. They took approximately 350 photographs of each sculpture!

Meanwhile, Russell and DMA colleague John Lendvay worked on making each mount. The first three days they worked in the gallery. And when we left the museum on Friday evening, we walked out and into a raging blizzard—the worst Dijon had seen in something like 80 years! The city looked beautiful, but it was oh so cold.

The mounts are crucial to the safety of the sculptures and travel in their own crate with all the supplies needed to make adjustments, touch up paint, replace padding, etc. They were made to fit each individual sculpture, painted to match the color of the alabaster, and padded with conservation felt.

The first stop in the exhibition tour was The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Here we had to complete more of the refinements on the mounts, as the time in Dijon had not been sufficient.

Extensive notes and diagrams are needed to make certain that each sculpture is fitted into the mount correctly.

Russell and John discussed each mount until comfortable with the design. As you can see, some of the sculptures have had repairs over the centuries, some have very small bases, and most have intricate drapery at the bottom. Many details to take into account when deciding where the clips should be placed.

At the end of the installation, a bit of very careful touch up paint might be necessary on the mounts. And they looked spectacular!

After experiencing the blizzard in Dijon, it was fitting that after we finished the installation in New York we barely made it out due to a snow storm in the east. The day the three of us left to return to Dallas, ours was the last flight out before they closed the airport. I think it is the Mourners—they like the cold! And they are wearing those fancy fur lined robes . . .

At each venue, we must complete a very detailed condition examination with the Objects Conservator of the host museum, and a Registrar from Dijon. We keep binders with dozens and dozens of photographs and notes to compare and annotate.

The sculptures travel in individual “inner” boxes and two per crate. Each inner box is configured to fit the sculpture and provide space for hands to lift the sculpture safely. With such a long exhibition tour, we had to build very good travel crates. As you can see, plenty of labels, photos, and numbers to keep things clear.

When the exhibition was in Dallas, Russell and John had the time to complete what we call “seismic mounts.” The exhibition traveled to Los Angeles and San Francisco after Dallas and we had to prepare supplemental mounts which were installed in earthquake zone venues.

Now the little Mourners have been to seven museums in the United States. Each time they are carefully packed and transported to the next museum. Once there, they are carefully unpacked and condition examinations are completed on each sculpture again.

Then, they are slowly and carefully installed once again. Mount placement is marked once the curator makes a decision as to where he wants the sculpture, we use templates to then mark the position of the seismic mounts, holes are drilled, and mounts are screwed in place. Then ever so carefully, the sculpture is “dialed” into place. Each sculpture has a unique way of fitting into the mount. Some are a little trickier to install than others. Below John is using a mirror to see behind the sculpture because the space is narrow. Very creative!

If you missed the exhibition here in Dallas, you still have an opportunity to see it at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond through April 15th.

As a Registrar, I have been doing exhibitions for over 28 years and this is one of my top five favorite projects of my career. Each time we de-install them and each time we unpack them, I marvel at the beauty of each piece and find yet another detail in the carving that amazes me. Even after 14 times—that has to be the hallmark of a real treasure.

The Mourners: Medieval Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy at the Dallas Museum of Art, October, 2010.

Gabriela Truly is the Director of Collections Management at the DMA

Touring Totes Tutorial

Published February 16, 2012 Creativity 3 Comments
Tags: sewing, tote bags, tutorial

Last month, Melissa and I made touring tote bags for Hannah and Jessica to thank them for all of their hard work thus far as our interns. I also made a bag for Loryn, who probably spends more time than anyone touring in the galleries. Melissa and I both sew, so we set aside an evening to whip up the tote bags for everyone. Of course, after we saw the finished products, we wanted to make them for ourselves, too!

Below is a tutorial to make your own DMA Teaching Programs touring tote bag. I have included photographs for many of the steps — sometimes it’s easier to follow the photos than the words on a sewing tutorial.

Materials needed:

1/2 yard of fabric for the bag exterior
1/2 yard of fabric for the lining
1 yard of fusible interfacing
1 1/2 yards of webbing (for the straps)
Basic sewing supplies (sewing machine, thread, pins, and a hand-stitching needle)

Step One: Cut two rectangles measuring 22 inches by 17 inches from your exterior fabric AND from your lining fabric. You’ll also need to cut two 22 x 17 rectangles from your fusible interfacing.

Step Two: Iron the fusible interfacing to the wrong side of your lining fabric. This will give your tote bag some stability and make it sturdy for carrying paper, pencils, books, etc.

Step Three: With the right sides facing each other, pin your two exterior panels together along the side seams and along the bottom. You’ll leave the top open. Stitch together using a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

Step Four: Repeat step three with your lining fabric. However, you will need to leave a five or six inch gap in the middle of your lining — this will allow you to turn your bag right-side-out at the end. (I like to use red pins on either side of my gap as a visual reminder to stop my sewing and leave a space.)

Step Five: On your bag exterior, measure and mark a line on each side seam three inches from the bottom of the bag; this will help you square the corners of the tote. Put your hand inside the bag and pull the corner out, turning it into a triangle. Stitch a horizontal line across the triangle where you made your pen mark. After you’re done, cut the triangle off to eliminate any bulk from your corners (be sure not to cut too close to the seam). You’ll follow this step on each of the bottom corners of the exterior and lining of your bag.

This is how the bottom of your bag will look once you box the corners

Step Six: It’s time to attach your straps to the bag. Take your 1 1/2 yards of webbing and cut it in half, leaving your 3/4 yard for each strap. Find the center point of your exterior bag. Mark two lines four inches on either side of that center point and pin your handles in place. You’ll want to pin the handle to the right side of your lining fabric.

Step Seven: Make sure your exterior fabric is facing right-side in. Turn your lining fabric right-side out and insert into the exterior tote pocket. Be sure that your side seams are matched up. Pin both pieces together all the way around (make sure you include the handles in your pinning). Using a 1/2 inch seam allowance, stitch all the way around your bag. I recommend going back and sewing a second time over your handles–this will help reinforce the handles and keep them from pulling out of the tote.

Step Eight: Find the hole that you left in your lining fabric. This is how you’re going to turn your bag right-side out. Pull the entire bag, including the handles, through that gap.

Step Nine: Tuck your lining fabric into the exterior of the tote bag. You’ll want to be sure that your corners are nice and square, too. Once everything is in place, you might decide that you want to topstitch your tote to give it a finished look.

Step Ten: Use a needle and thread to stitch the hole in the bottom of your tote bag closed. Once that’s finished, you’re ready to go.

Here we are with our finished touring totes. They’re sew cute!

Shannon Karol
Manager of Docent Programs and Gallery Teaching

How it's Made: Etruscan Jewelry

Published February 14, 2012 Art & Teaching , Creativity , How It's Made , works of art 3 Comments
Tags: Dallas Museum of Art Collection, Etruscan Jewelry, Granulation, How it's Made

Welcome to the introductory blog of the “How it’s Made” series. In this series, I aim to shed some light on the technical methods of how objects in our collection were created and to gather a greater appreciation for art-making in general.

Coming from a metalsmithing background, I wanted to start this series with precious metal objects. I selected Etruscan jewelry because I have such admiration for how beautifully designed and how well-crafted these metal objects are. While studying metalsmithing at the University of North Texas, I had the opportunity to learn several of the same techniques the Etruscans used, but with the convenience of modern tools and technology.

Pair of "a bauletto" type earrings, Etruscan, 6th-early 5th centuries B.C., Museum League Purchase Funds, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., and Cecil H. and Ida M. Green in honor of Virginia Lucas Nick

Who were the Etruscans?

Early inhabitants of Italy, the Etruscans settled in the northern region of Rome in the late eighth century B.C., and can trace their heritage by name in modern-day Tuscany. The Etruscans succeeded the Villanovan culture, a civilization that established early foreign trade and was adept in creating bronze jewelry. The influx of Greek colonization in Italy aided in the transition from Villanovan to Etruscan culture, which thrived until Roman imperialism succeeded around 200 B.C.

Etruscan territory

What Makes Etruscan Jewelry Interesting?

Today, it’s no mystery why jewelers love to use gold. Gold is a very easy metal to work with; it’s malleable (which means it’s easy to shape and form), there is less clean up after soldering, and it doesn’t tarnish over time. So, why is Etruscan gold so amazing? This ancient civilization manipulated metals and implemented tedious applications without the modern convenience of a torch and other fancy tools is pretty incredible. It amazes me that such delicate pieces could be fused together by controlling an open flame instead of a pressure-controlled torch.

Take granulation, for example. Granulation derives from the Latin word granum, meaning “grain,” and it describes the method of fusing small granules to a base. This ancient technique is a hallmark of Etruscan jewelry and requires a lot of meticulous preparation.

Pair of Funerary Earrings, Etruscan, 4th-3rd Century B.C., gift of Mr. and Mrs. Cecil H. Green

In order to make the granules, Etruscans would place gold dust or very small clippings of metal into a crucible. In order to keep the granules from clumping together and melting into one giant granule, they placed layers of charcoal between the clippings, and then heated them to their melting point. At that point, the metal dust or clipping will roll itself into a little ball and create a granule.

Modern granulation technique, courtesy of "The Complete Metalsmith" by Tim McCreight

Once you have your tiny granules, you have to then position them and fuse them to a base. Today, metalsmiths use ready-made flux and solder to join granules on a base. According to Jochem Wolters in his essay “The Ancient Craft of Granulation: A Re-Assessment of Established Concepts,” adhesive non-metallic solders such as the gem chrysokolla (which literally translates to “gold glue”) or any other copper-bearing compounds were the solder of choice for the Etruscans.

Chrysokolla, a gem used for non-metallic solder

If you’ve never soldered before, and you’re having a hard time visualizing this, think of a peanut butter sandwich. You have two surfaces that need to be fused together. Think of the base and the granule as the two slices of bread, and the solder as the peanut butter; without it, the two surfaces cannot fuse. Once you have your solder and granules in place, you place your object over an open charcoal fire and heat it evenly. Amazing!

It’s important to note that the Etruscans didn’t reinvent the wheel in terms of metalsmithing techniques, for many of the methods they are recognized for (such as granulation, filigree, chasing, and repoussé) were borrowed from neighboring cultures. The true reason Etruscan jewelry stands out is because of the ancient metalsmiths’ technical skill and amazing ability to manipulate gold with precision. I can attest that even with modern tools, it is difficult to execute many of the techniques that were used in the 6^th and 7^th centuries B.C.

I hope you find Etruscan jewelry as riveting as I do, and if you have any questions about other works from our collection, please feel free to post your questions in the comments area.

Happy making,

Loryn Leonard
Coordinator of Museum Visits

Resources:

Barbara Deppert-Lippitz, Ancient Gold Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art, (Washington: University of Washington 1996), 31-57.
Tim McCreight, The Complete Metalsmith: Professional Edition, (Davis Publications: February 2004).
Jochem Wolters,”The Ancient Craft of Granulation: A Re-Assessment of Established Concepts,” Gold Bulletin, Vol. 14, Number 3, 119-129.

Friday Photos: Face to Face

Published February 10, 2012 Art & Teaching , Friday Photos 1 Comment
Tags: Art, collections, Dallas Museum of Art, exhibition, works of art

I am very excited to announce that this Sunday, February 12th is the opening of Face to Face: International Art at the DMA. This exhibition, comprised entirely of works of art from the DMA collection, honors and celebrates the contributions of our generous donors. As a result of their kind philanthropy, the DMA has grown into a diverse international collection. If you are a frequent visitor of the Museum, some or maybe even all of these artworks might be familiar to you, but their intriguing and unusual display design will have you looking at them in all new ways. The works of art will be presented in pairs of two, each coming from a different culture that share some kind of commonality. Through close looking and the guidance of thoughtful label text, the discovery of similarities between two seemingly dissimilar objects will provide a new perspective on the collection. An example of one of these provocative pairings is below.

What do you notice about these two pieces? What kind of connections can you make between them? Why might they be shown together?

Eccentric flint depicting a crocodile canoe with passengers, Mexico or Guatemala: Maya culture, Late Classic period, c. A.D. 600–900, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., in honor of Mrs. Alex Spence, 1983.45.McD

Eros lamp holder, Greek, perhaps from Asia Minor, Hellenistic period, early 1st century B.C., bronze, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., in honor of Anne Bromberg’s 30th anniversary with the Dallas Museum of Art, 2005.12.a–b.McD

Stumped? Come to the exhibition to find out more about these and many other works of art!

Hannah Burney
McDermott Education Intern for Teaching Programs and Partnerships

Community Connection: Oil and Cotton

Published February 9, 2012 Art & Teaching , People 3 Comments
Tags: Art, Community, Community Connection, Kayli House Cusick, Oak Cliff, Oil and Cotton, Shannon Driscoll, workshop

Every six months or so, our department gets away for a day-long retreat. It’s an opportunity for us to reflect, look ahead, and spend time together outside of our typical work spaces. We’ve been fortunate to hold two of these retreats at Oil and Cotton, a creative space in Oak Cliff that offers a variety of multidisciplinary art classes, workshops, and camps. Opened in September 2010, the space is managed by Shannon Driscoll and Kayli House Cusick.

How did you get started?

Shannon: Kayli and I met during a volunteer project in our neighborhood called The Better Block. The project took an area of the neighborhood, where Oil and Cotton is now located, and made temporary changes to the block that we felt as a community would make it more pedestrian-friendly. We met at one of the first meetings, where we both raised our hands and said we were interested in doing a pop-up art studio for the community.

After that, Kayli and I started planning, and we created Rock, Paper, Scissors. We used a warehouse on Seventh Street, asked for donated materials from friends and family, and set up a base of volunteers for two days during the Oak Cliff Art Crawl. We set up a long, long table full of art supplies and materials, and had volunteers lead people through creative projects, from collage to stenciling to drawing and painting. All the volunteers were artists or had different creative backgrounds from Oak Cliff and beyond. The space was packed with crowds for the entire weekend. It was really wonderful to see people of all ages and backgrounds and from different parts of the neighborhood and of Dallas, sitting together and making things side by side.

After the festival, people in the community approached us and said they didn’t want us to stop what we were doing. The gentleman who owned the warehouse had a building that came up for rent, and we talked to him and decided to go for it. Kayli and I both come from art-related backgrounds, and we brought our experiences as artists and educators to what we’re doing.

Shannon Driscoll, co-owner and instructor at Oil and Cotton

What did you do before opening Oil and Cotton?

Shannon: I had a private conservation practice – I’m an art conservator. I had also been teaching classes on the side at my studio and at the Dallas County Jail with Resolana – I’m a board member for Resolana as well.

Kayli: I wrote curriculum for my mother, who had a business for about twelve years off and on. It was something we did as a family growing up; she was an art teacher, and she made elementary art curriculum for Coppell ISD. When she opened a business with my sister, I was a music composer at UNT, and it ended up being the perfect fit. I also taught piano lessons privately out of my house forever and ever. Then I had a child; when I met Shannon, my daughter was two, and that’s what I was doing. I had always had the idea on my backburner, if I could ever figure out how to combine all the loves I had, and have a work environment my child could be in, I could do everything I love to do. It all came together when I met Shannon and she said, of course we can do that.

What has the community response been to Oil and Cotton?

Shannon: It has been wonderful. A day hasn’t gone by when someone has not come in to ask how they could help us or how they could donate materials to us or asked us for another class that we’re not offering. People feel involved in what we’re doing; they’ve seen us grow from something very small to something more permanent and a part of their neighborhood. I think that’s exciting for people. They feel invested in what we’re doing, and they want to help us. We wouldn’t have been able to do what we’ve done in this amount of time without their help. People have donated a box of white tiles, which we used to create backsplash for the sink; corks; fabric; paper… we always find a way to use what we’re given. We’ve had people come to us and say, “I have this idea for a project, and I want to see it happen”. For example, an architect led a two-week architecture workshop for teens, and they created a deck for us. All the materials were donated, and architects came and talked to the teens everyday. We’ve had the most amazing, talented interns that support our education outreach, and we’ve had teachers who help select children in the neighborhood who might not be able to afford classes here, and we give them scholarships. We rely on these neighborhood teachers to send us people who need help, and who will benefit from coming to Oil and Cotton.

A community collage was part of a free open house and student exhibition

What has been your most successful or fun class?

Kayli: For me, it’s songwriting camp. I got to work with other musicians – I worked with David Daniels, who is a touring indie rock musician; Floramay Holliday, a touring country music singer; and Mikal Beth Hughey, a jack-of-all-trades who plays in some bands locally and teaches piano and voice in her studio at The Kessler Theater. It was a weeklong summer camp. The kids came in and formed bands; they collaborated to write a song together, rehearsed it like crazy, recorded it, made a CD, and had a performance at the end of the camp. They had to come up with merchandise and think about the visual aspects of what they were doing, in the form of a band t-shirt, poster, and CD cover. We had a photographer take pictures of them for their CD’s. It was just awesome fun for me as a musician; I got to learn from other musicians how they approach writing. We occupied the whole space, with kids rehearsing in every room as loud as they could be. The kids could be themselves without a lot of adult interference.

We also got to work with the DMA on the Mark Bradford exhibition. That was very special – I am a big fan of his work. We were part of a meeting with people from Oak Cliff to bring some Oak Cliff blood into the situation. We volunteered to work with Nicole and have our teen class to do this interactive project during a Late Night. That was really fun. What I liked about that was all the ages and different people; we had senior citizens to little kids, and it was a lot like Rock, Paper, Scissors. Everyone brought something different to it. By the end of the night, the teens were destroying the project and making little sculptures out of it. It was originally a weaving, and it became sculptural.

Oil and Cotton Mark Bradford Late Night project

Has anything surprised you since the opening of Oil and Cotton?

Kayli: The amount of generosity people have shown in our community, and the enthusiasm of the art community here to try and make Dallas good. The amount of interns and volunteers we get because they want to see us succeed and want to be a part of it. People understand this is art in social practice, that we’re making this happen for real. It’s been a surprise to us that something that is natural for us to be doing makes people think “Oh hey, I can do my thing and survive. If I don’t spend too much money and work my tail off, I can survive”. It helps to have the support of our neighborhood, and we could never have made it without that support. People offer to paint walls, dig the dirt in back of the building. My mother also gave us a ton of furniture and art supplies.

What is one of your most treasured handmade possessions?

Shannon: I am a collector of art, and art has always been a part of my life. My dad is a junker; I grew up going to yard sales, estate sales, and junk shops with him in Baltimore, so I’ve collected things over the years. I’ve got a collection of drawings that a little girl made from 1908. She must have done them in her classroom, because there is a drawing of the back of the head of the child sitting in front of her. There is also a drawing of a doll she titled “Mr. Eat-a-Pie”. They are beautiful pencil drawings, and she watercolored some of them as well. She made a little portfolio for them that says 1908 along with her name.

Kayli: A little woodblock that was my grandmother’s. She was an Okie, and she had an amazing collection of all kinds of Native American things. She had this little tiny wood block, around five by seven inches, with mustard yellow paint remnants on it. I’ve always wanted to do something with it. It has a sort of a tesellation or radial design with teepees and geometric shapes that come out from the center. It looks like an old lino; you can see all the different colors used to print it, like red and green under the yellow. You know it was used a lot, but you don’t know what for. It says “20 cents” really big on the back.

Kayli House Cusick, co-owner and instructor at Oil and Cotton, and her grandmother's woodblock

Kayli: We would love to see more teachers getting together here. We’d love for people to know that if they have a group and want to do a special technique workshop, we’ll either teach it ourselves or find someone else to teach it. This is great space for retreats. (*Editor’s note: we agree!)

Melissa Nelson
Manager of Teaching in the Community

Different Perspectives

Published February 8, 2012 Behind-the-Scenes , Contemporary Art , Exhibitions Closed
Tags: archeologist, architect, Dallas Museum of Art, Mark Manders, Mark Manders: Parallel Occurrences/Documented Assignments, Perspectives, poet

We are trying something new at the Dallas Museum of Art in conjunction with our current contemporary art exhibition Mark Manders: Parallel Occurrences/Documented Assignments. What questions or emotions do you experience after viewing Mark Manders’ work? You can now discuss your reactions to the exhibition to discover answers or perhaps look at the work in a new way.

Installation View of "Mark Manders: Parallel Occurrences/Documented Assignments"

Every Thursday, through the end of the exhibition, staff and special guests will be in the exhibition from 6:30 to 8:45 p.m. for our new In Residence program. Just look for the person wearing the In Residence button and start a conversation or ask thim or her a question about Manders’ process or the materials he uses.

Mark Manders, "Ramble-room Chair" , 2010, Courtesy of the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp

As part of the In Residence program, we have invited an archaeologist, a poet, and an architect not only to answer questions and talk with visitors about what they perceive in Manders’ work but to participate in a conversation for our Perspectives series.

Perspectives is a series of conversations led by DMA staff who will explore with the special guests what their professions can reveal about Manders’ work. The first Perspectives conversation will take place tomorrow evening and will feature archaeologist Dr. Gregory Warden.

Mark Manders, "Anthropological Trophy", 2010, Courtesy of the artist; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp

If you can’t join us tomorrow night, be sure to stop by one Thursday evening before April 12 and take part in this new program. It might just change your perspective!

Mark Manders, "Room with Chairs and Factory", 2003-2008, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Marguerite Stone Bequest and Gift of Mrs. Saidie A. May (both by exchange), 393.2010

Stacey Lizotte is Head of Adult Programming and Multimedia Services.

What to Expect on a Docent-Guided Tour

Published February 7, 2012 Museum Insight 3 Comments
Tags: Art, Dallas Museum of Art, docent-guided tours, docents, students, tours

A few months ago, Loryn shared her tips for making the most of a self-guided visit to the DMA. I thought I would weigh in today with a summary of what to expect when you schedule a docent-guided tour at the Museum. We offer docent-guided tours Tuesday-Friday at 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., and 1:00 p.m., and all requests for docent-guided tours must be submitted at least three weeks in advance.

Let’s say you’ve submitted your request and received your confirmation letter from Loryn. What happens once you actually arrive at the DMA?

An excited 4th grader hops off the bus

First, you’ll be greeted by one of our fabulous docents. This docent will chat with you to make sure that you’re broken up into smaller groups (we assign one docent for every fifteen students), and s/he will match you up with the docents for your tour. Once your tour is under way, you should expect to see five to six works of art in a one hour tour. We emphasize quality over quantity–we believe your students will gain more from in-depth experiences with a limited number of works than they would from trying to see twenty works of art in one hour. If you would like your students to see more paintings and sculptures while they are here, consider scheduling a self-guided visit after your tour. That’s a great way for your students to be able to go back and look at works of art that are most interesting to them.

Discussing Mark Rothko's Orange, Red, and Red

Three years ago, we created a program goal for K-12 docent-guided tours. Our goal states:

On docent-guided tours, students will experience the Museum as a comfortable place to visit and return to, discover that works of art are relevant to their lives, and begin to see their world in a fresh way.

How does that happen in the galleries? First off, your docents will welcome you to the Museum and learn a little bit about your group and what you have been studying. They’ll discuss the guidelines for a Museum visit, and also present a theme for your tour. At each stop, they will ask your students to look closely at the work of art. They might use open-ended questions to ask the group what they see, and they’ll hopefully ask them to share visual evidence for their ideas. We use questions and conversations to encourage closely looking, rather than a lecture-based teaching method.

A docent helps students look for clues that tell us about Tlaloc

We also know that everyone learns in different ways, and docents are encouraged to think about addressing multiple learning styles over the course of their tour. Your students might be asked to write a short poem, act out a pose or gesture, or even sketch in the galleries. Each of these activities focuses their attention and allows them to look closely to make sense of the works of art in the Museum.

Students move their bodies like the lines in a painting

We want students to begin to experience a sense of wonder while they are at the Museum, and that can happen in many ways on a docent-guided tour. Some students experience wonder the minute they step through the door and see the Barrel Vault space for the first time. Others ask questions about works of art, make connections between works of art, or say things like “I never knew that.” One way that docents can help facilitate that sense of wonder is by giving students time to look and reflect on their own. And of course, listening and responding positively to your students’ ideas is a great way to promote that sense of wonder, as well!

Students are asked to arrange colors in response to an abstract painting.

The final element of a docent-guided tour at the DMA is helping students see that works of art–whether they were made 2,000 years ago or two years ago–are relevant to their lives today. How is a bed made in 1844 similar to the beds we sleep in? What is different about it? What type of bed would you love to have in your house? These are just some of the questions docents might ask students when discussing this work of art in our galleries. We want students to make a personal connection while they are at the Museum, and it is our hope that these connections will turn your students into lifelong Museum goers.

We end all of our tours by inviting students to come back to the DMA often. I hope that this gives you a sense of what happens on a typical docent-guided tours, and that you’ll bring your students to visit us soon!

Shannon Karol
Manager of Docent Programs and Gallery Teaching

Kicking off our Super Bowl weekend

Published February 3, 2012 Behind-the-Scenes 1 Comment
Tags: Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Museum of Art, NBC 5, Super Bowl, Texas Rangers

This week we were pleased to host Gene Jones, Ruth Ryan, and Tiffany Cuban at the DMA for an interview with NBC 5’s Meredith Land. The discussion took place near Henry Moore’s Reclining Mother and Child, located next to the Arts of the Ancient Mediterranean galleries on Level 2. The piece will air this Sunday after the Super Bowl. Below are a few images we captured throughout the day.