Archive for January, 2013



Friday Photos: A Birthday Adventure

Today is my BIRTHDAY!

Untitled (Sam!)

Untitled (Sam!)

To celebrate, I will be FLYING

Model for Flying Colors

Model for Flying Colors

to LOS ANGELES

The Endeavor (Los Angeles)

The Endeavor (Los Angeles)

where I will get to see my SISTER

Siblings (Geschwister)

Siblings (Geschwister)

and visit California BEACHES.

Bull Heads III

Bull Heads III

We will also be RUNNING a half-marathon

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Untitled

through DisneyLand—the happiest place on EARTH!

Study for "Worlds Collide"

Study for “Worlds Collide”

I can’t wait to ride all of the ROLLER COASTERS

Egyptian Triptych

Egyptian Triptych

and see my favorite characters from the LION King

Sword ornament in the form of a lion

Sword ornament in the form of a lion

and CINDERELLA!

Cinderella at the Kitchen Fire

Cinderella at the Kitchen Fire

Artworks Shown:

  • Nic Nicosia, Untitled (Sam!), 1986, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Meisel Photochrome Corporation
  • Alexander Calder, Model for Flying Colors, 1973, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Braniff International in memory of Eugene McDermott
  • Sarah Morris, The Endeavor (Los Angeles), 2005, Dallas Museum of Art, DMA/amfAR Benefit Auction Fund
  • Erich Heckel, Siblings (Geschwister), 1929, Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred L. Bromberg
  • Roy Lichtenstein, Bull Heads III, 1973, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of The 500, Inc.
  • Joel Shapiro, Untitled, 1991, Dallas Museum of Art, fractional gift of The Rachofsky Collection
  • Vernon Fisher, Study for “Worlds Collide”, 1988, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Dorace Fichtenbaum
  • Alan Davie, Egyptian Triptych, 1965, Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, anonymous gift
  • Sword ornament in the form of a lion, mid-20th century, Dallas Museum of Art, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc.
  • Thomas Sully, Cinderella at the Kitchen Fire, 1843, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Pauline Allen Gill Foundation

Pilar Wong
McDermott Intern for Community Teaching

Tiny Thumbs at the Dallas Museum of Art

According to the Tiny Thumbs Facebook page, “Tiny Thumbs is a new organization looking to build up awareness for the indie game scene and showcase some of the best talent out there through pop-up arcades/art shows.”  In anticipation of their upcoming pop-up arcade at the DMA’s Late Night tomorrow night, I virtually sat down with Robert Frye, UT Dallas Ph.D. candidate and co-founder/co-curator of Tiny Thumbs.  As is probably most fitting, our interview took place over a series of emails:

image from "Tiny Thumbs: Breaking Out"photo credit: EbonSoul Photos

image from “Tiny Thumbs: Breaking Out”
photo credit: EbonSoul Photos

I found this great description of Tiny Thumbs on your Facebook account and I think that sums up “what” Tiny Thumbs is really nicely, but my next thought is, how did Tiny Thumbs come to fruition?

The idea of Tiny Thumbs came about as[co-founder] Kyle [Kondas] was teaching a class I was involved in called “Games and Gallery Art” where we really sought to tackle the idea of how to show games in an artistic space and what is gained from doing so. We were both inspired by the work of similar shows like Baby Castles – and the idea that we really had a desire to get people off of their computers for a bit and really connect with people, and not just gamers, but we really felt like independent designers could learn so much from talking with people outside of their current circles.

In your Tiny Thumbs description, it specifically mentions the “indie game scene.” Why are indie games important?

I’ve always seen indie games as the ‘art house’ of videogames, it’s the place where people can push the boundaries of interesting design and art and help to get to the core of what makes a game a game. Of course, not all indie games have such a lofty goal, but they still give the reigns of creation to a greater variety of people and that can only lend a larger amount of voices to the field. I think it’s the ability for ANYONE to make a game, for interesting ideas and experience to show up and change how I feel and view games on a weekly basis that makes me love indie games so much. It’s people, making games because there is a spirit inside them that drives them to do it. People who HAVE to create games, made for a community that is passionate to play them.

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image from “Tiny Thumbs: Breaking Out”
photo credit: EbonSoul Photos

Other than being under the “indie game” umbrella, is there anything else that connects the content that you choose for your shows?

Not really! For our first few shows we wanted to take games of exceptional quality and bring them out of the “one person, one computer” context that they were sitting in. Our goal was to help spread the word in Dallas that there was a place for games of quality to be shown. Now in the future we would love to do themed shows, but for now we are picking games of interest and quality to start a dialogue and really find out what Dallas needs from our show.

Recently there have been a surge of articles asking whether video games are art. MoMA has added video games to their permanent collection, and the Smithsonian has created an exhibition about the evolution of video games as an art form, which is scheduled for a two and a half year tour around the United States. Assuming that you are on the “yes” side of the debate, can you tell me more about why you feel this way?

Are games art? Haha, this is a deceptively difficult question, as you really have to nail down why the question is being asked, what kind of information is trying to be achieved – do I think that games have the potential to have strong artistic statement? Yes. Do I think that games can have aesthetic properties that can inspire and enthrall? Very much so. Often when the question is asked, it seems to me that the real question that is trying to be asked is “can we take games seriously” and for that question I would say emphatically yes. We’ve only just begun to understand how interaction can change the stories and experience that we craft, and what games really mean to people. Video games have only been around for about 50 years (give or take) but in that time we have gone for dots moving along a screen to games like Journey which have breath taking vistas. So are games art? Perhaps, but more importantly – games NEED artists and art viewers to help them become the fullest experiences they can be.

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image from “Tiny Thumbs: Breaking Out”
photo credit: EbonSoul Photos

Looking forward, what’s next for Tiny Thumbs?

So many things! We are currently in talks for at least two more future shows this year and are excited to have many more events in the future. If everything goes right, we would love to have a monthly show – traveling around venues in Dallas, sampling the flavors of this city and hopefully making the show something that the city can be proud of!

Stop by tomorrow night for Late Night at the DMA.  Kyle Kondas and Robert Frye’s Tiny Thumbs video arcade will be available for you to play and observe from 8pm – 11pm in the Center for Creative Connections’ Tech Lab.

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Jessica Fuentes
C3 Gallery Coordinator

Countdown to DMA Friends & Partners on January 21

We have been preparing for months for the launch of DMA Friends & Partners and our return to free general admission. The DMA Friend kiosks are in place, the badges have been uploaded, and we are ready to welcome everyone to the DMA on Monday, January 21.

Join us on this very special day. Explore the Museum and start earning credit as you enjoy performances in the galleries, tours, art making, and more! Download the full schedule of activities here and check out a few shots of the installation process below.

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Theater, Play, and Creativity

Thursday evening the Center for Creative Connections was filled with thirty playful, divergent thinkers who were asked to have fun and break rules. These adults were attending a once a month program called Think Creatively taught by Dr. Magdalena Grohman and guest performer Harold Steward from the South Dallas Cultural Center.  During one portion of the evening, visitors engaged in playful theatrical activities that were developed from Steward’s theatrical background and knowledge of the practice known as Theater of the Oppressed.

During the 1970’s, Brazilian activist and actor Augusto Boal was the driving force for the creation of this theatrical practice. The goal of Boal was to use theater as a way to promote social change. Boal took inspiration from educator and theorist Paulo Freire, who is well known for his work Pedagogy of the Oppressed. In this revolutionary text, Freire argues that education should allow those who are oppressed to recapture their sense of humanity and overcome their sense of oppression. However, that oppressed person must play an active role in their own freedom. Inspired by the critical pedagogy of Freire, Boal believed that through the dialogue and interaction between actor and audience, people could free themselves; the actors and audience become active explorers and transformers of their own realities with the help of a facilitator. Theater of the Oppressed is about dialogue, playing and learning with one another to create change.

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As I watched Steward act as the facilitator, I was encouraged by the freedom that the participants seemed to gain with each passing moment. He had the visitors stand back to back; he then called out directions for each of them to follow. Placing one’s head to another’s hip, or positioning a knee to an elbow was really a sight to see.

After this warm-up, Steward and I demonstrated an activity together. I was directed to make a movement and was not allowed to stop moving until Harold said, “What are you doing, Amanda?” I was not allowed to respond with what my action was, but instead I had to say what I wanted him to act out. I called out the action, “Running a marathon,” and he pretended he was running the race of a lifetime. After, the visitors were roaring in laughter and running around the room, engaging in this activity. Steward had them stop and then broke all the rules that he just taught them. The pairs had to create their own guidelines and interpretations to the last activity. One pair decided that they were only allowed to sing to each other, another group determined that all of their activities to act out had to be represented in mime.

The visitors responded to the process and indicated that participating in these Theater of the Oppressed exercises was difficult for them at first because they had to overcome their initial hesitations to move, play, and be free without fear—but once they let go of all that was holding them back (or oppressing them), they were able to experience liberation and freedom from restraint.

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Here is another Theater of the Oppressed activity created by Augusto Boal that you can try with your friends!

The Name and Gesture Game:
The group will stand in a circle. The facilitator introduces themselves and creates a physical gesture. The whole group repeats the name and gesture. The process occurs until everyone has said their own name and preformed a gesture. Then, this process is repeated but without the name. Anyone who wishes takes a step forward and the rest of the group must say the name and preform the gesture.

I hope you’ll join us in C3 soon!

Amanda Batson
C3 Program Coordinator

Five, Six, Seven, Eight

Chagall: Beyond Color opens on Sunday, February 17, and the highlight of the exhibition is sure to be the costumes designed by Chagall in 1942 for the production of the ballet Aleko. The ballet’s première took place in September 1942 in Mexico City, followed by the Ballet Theatre of New York production, and the costumes have not been seen in the U.S. since. Recently, DMA staff whipped out their jazz hands and did their best mannequin impersonations to assist in the installation of the Aleko costumes.

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Studio Art, Art History, and Music Theory! Oh My!–2013 Young Masters

The 2013 Young Masters exhibition opened at the end of December and will be on view through February 17 in the DMA’s Concourse. The exhibition features work created by Advanced Placement Studio Art, Art History, and Music Theory students from area high schools. Stop by the DMA’s Concourse and visit Young Masters for free. You can access works by the Music Theory and Art History students on your smartphone.

This year’s exhibition features the work of students from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Coppell High School, Creekview High School, J. J. Pearce High School, Lake Highlands High School, Lovejoy High School, McKinney Boyd High School, Newman Smith High School, Plano East Senior High School, Plano Senior High School, Plano West Senior High School, and Richardson High School.

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Friday Photos: Leading Ladies

On this day in 1935, Amelia Earhart left Honolulu for a 2,400 mile trans-Pacific flight to Oakland, CA. She was the first person to complete that flight solo. To celebrate the anniversary of this flight, I wanted to highlight some female ground-breakers in our collection:

  • Georgia O’Keeffe’s artistic career began with a series of abstract charcoal drawings, which were some of the most radical artworks of their time.
  • Lee Krasner is one of the only female artists associated with Abstract Expressionism, despite constant overshadow by her fellow artist husband Jackson Pollock.
  • Berthe Morisot was the first woman to exhibit with the Impressionists.
  • The innovative photography of Cindy Sherman, who serves as both the photographer and model, challenges and questions the role of women in society and art.
  • The first work by a 20th century Mexican artist to be purchased by the Louvre Museum in Paris was a self-portrait painted by Frida Kahlo.

Artworks shown:

  • Georgia O’Keeffe, Bare Tree Trunks with Snow, 1946, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Art Association Purchase
  • Lee Krasner, Pollination, 1968, Dallas Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Algur H. Meadows and the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated
  • Berthe Morisot, Winter (Woman with a Muff), 1880, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Meadows Foundation Incorporated
  • Cindy Sherman, Untitled, 1981, Dallas Museum of Art, General Acquisitions Fund
  • Frida Kahlo, Itzicuintli Dog with Me, c. 1938, Lent by private collection

Andrea V. Severin
Interpretation Specialist

New on the Bookshelves

This week’s rainy weather is the “perfect storm” to send me to my sofa snuggled up with a stack of good books. I’m a self-proclaimed bookworm, and have blogged before {here and here} about how learning to read is similar to learning to look at art. Both involve making meaning through understanding context as well as visual cues, and the desire to communicate ideas. For many young children, picture books are their first introduction to art and illustration, and thus one of my favorite teaching tools. Here is my latest round-up of books to tuck in your bag on your next visit to the Museum. Or, simply enjoy them at home!

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Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Green is exactly what the title proclaims it to be—a beautiful, engaging concept book about the color green. Each two-page spread features a different type of green with a clever cut-out that reveals a peek into the next page. There’s “lime green,” “forest green,” “jungle green,” and “glow green,” to name a few. I used this book with preschoolers to talk about how there’s not just one green, but many, and the illustrations and simple text offered a concrete way for the kids to think of how to describe different shades of a single color by connecting to real-world objects.

  • Gallery connection: Read Green in the American painting and sculpture galleries on Level 4 and go on a scavenger hunt to see how many different types of green you can discover in the art.

dreaming up

Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building by Christy Hale

For every young block-loving builder out there, this book is a dream come true! Illustrations of busy children building structures out of blocks, constructing houses out of playing cards, and finagling a fort out of blankets and pillows are paired with photographs of actual buildings that closely resemble the children’s creations. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum, Tokyo’s Yoyogi National Stadium, and Frank Gehry’s Bilbao Guggenheim are just a few of the architectural marvels highlighted. Concrete poems for each structure mimic the shapes of the buildings and show-off the beauty language can create.

  • Gallery connection: Bring Dreaming Up and a sketch pad along for a visit to the Formed/Unformed exhibit. Read the book, look at the wonderful variety of chairs on display, and then draw your own design for a new chair!

mice

Mice by Rose Fyleman, illustrated by Lois Ehlert

Two sneaky mice are out in the night getting into all kinds of things! But these “mice are nice,” and their adventures nibbling on treats, climbing into things, and even making art are sure to delight. Ehlert’s signature collage illustration style is built around the use of several simple shapes—triangles, circles, and rectangles and begs to be imitated by young artists.

  • Gallery connection: Use Mice as your artistic inspiration and make your own collage characters at the art-making space in the Center for Creative Connections. We provide the paper, tape, and pencils—you provide the imagination!

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Chuck Close: Face Book by Chuck Close

What if you could sit down one afternoon with artist Chuck Close and just ask him anything you wanted to? That scenario actually happened for a group of fifth graders in Brooklyn. Armed with questions like “What made you start to draw?” and “Why are your paintings so big?,” these children helped start the conversation that became the basis for this autobiography. A flip-book feature allows readers to mix and match foreheads, eyes/nose, and chins from several of Close’s own self-portraits and offers an up-close look at the small squares that compose each work of art—squares of paint, fingerprints, and leftover bits of paper.

  • Gallery connection: The DMA’s piece by Chuck Close isn’t currently on view, but you can discover another artist’s fingerprints hiding in the art by exploring the installations by Karla Black. Or, spend some time in our European galleries sketching the faces you find in the portraits on display.

Happy reading!

Leah Hanson
Manager of Early Learning Programs

Exciting Things in Store for 2013!

2013 is only two weeks old, but it is already looking to be a fantastic year!  This is a groundbreaking year for the Museum, and as always our goal is to invite everyone to have an unforgettable experience with the DMA.  This is just a sneak peak into the many exciting activities and engaging programs that will take place at the DMA this coming year.

dma_friends_partners[1]Free General Admission!! Perhaps the most exciting news of the year: the DMA will offer free general admission to everyone beginning January 21st.  We are in the midst of planning some fun opening-day activities, including tours of the collection, performances in the galleries, art-making activities and much more!  In addition to free general admission the Museum is also offering free membership which we are calling DMA Friends.  Everyone who comes to the Museum can join the DMA Friends program free of charge.  This unique approach to membership values participation and engagement, and DMA Friends will gain expanded access to Museum programming and will be rewarded for their activity within the Museum and in the local cultural community.  Stay tuned for more information about this exciting program or learn more from our Director, Maxwell L. Anderson.

Events and Programs

  • Late Nights at the DMA Every third Friday of the month the Museum stays open until midnight and offers a multitude of experiences for visitors of all ages. Join us Friday, January 18th as we celebrate the DMA’s 110th birthday! Dance the night away to the music of Brave Combo, join in on a special workshop with guest artist John Hernandez, whose work Hi-C Avenger is currently on view in the Center for Creative Connections (C3), explore our special exhibitions, compete against other teams in a Creativity Challenge, go on personal tours, and more! Check our Late Night page for a complete schedule of upcoming events.
  • Autism Awareness Family Celebration February 2nd The DMA is a leader in providing inclusive experiences for a diverse set of audiences. The Autism Awareness Family Celebration provides a safe, comfortable way to introduce the Museum to families of children with autism and show them how they can have a successful visit to the DMA with their child on the Autism Spectrum.  The Center for Creative Connections will be open and available before the Museum opens, from 9am – 11am, for parents and children to play and enjoy art together in a fun environment. Participate in staff-led gallery experiences, enjoy an interactive musical performance, and create a work of art in the studio. Pre-registration is required as space is limited.
  • First Tuesdays at the DMA The Museum arranges special, thematic programming on the first Tuesday of every month that is specifically designed for children ages five and under, but of course all ages are welcome! We invite families to enjoy thematic art-making activities, story times, performances, and gallery activities. Activities are focused on a different theme each month. February 5th: Materials Mania; March 5th: Over the Rainbow. Check our family page regularly for event updates and a complete list of activities.

Upcoming Exhibitions

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Marc Chagall, Entre Chien et Loup (Between Darkness and Night), 1943, oil on canvas, private collection

Chagall: Beyond Color February 17 – May 26, 2013 This beautiful exhibition places the prolific artist’s beloved paintings alongside his works in sculpture, ceramics, and collage to explore his relationship with space and volume. The centerpiece of the exhibition will be a display of costumes made by Marc Chagall in 1942 for the production of the ballet Aleko, choreographed by Léonide Massine with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The ballet’s première took place in September 1942 in Mexico City, followed by the Ballet Theatre of New York production, and the costumes have not been seen in the U.S. since. Dallas is the only US city to secure access to this exhibition, what a treat!

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Loren Mozley, Winter Fields, 1948, oil on canvas, collection of Susan and Claude Albritton III

Loren Mozley: Structural Integrity February 17 – June 30, 2013 Within the realm of Texas art, Mozley played a key role in shaping generations of young artists who received instruction from him during his tenure of thirty-seven years (1938-1975) in the art department at the University of Texas, Austin. The exhibition is the first retrospective of the artist’s work since 1978 and will bring together choice works by Mozley (1905-1989) dating from the late 1930s through the 1970s with the aim of re-visiting Loren Mozley’s bodu of work and revealing his debt to forerunners such as Cézanne, and his responses to modernist trends.

Cindy Sherman, Untitled, 1981, Type C print, Dallas Museum of Art

Cindy Sherman, Untitled, 1981, Type C print, Dallas Museum of Art

Cindy Sherman March 17 – June 9, 2013 Cindy Sherman is widely recognized as one of the most important contemporary artists of the last forty years, and is arguably the most influential artist working exclusively with photography. This traveling retrospective exhibition traces the groundbreaking artist’s career from the mid-1970s to the present and brings together more than 170 key photographs from a variety of the artist’s acclaimed bodies of work, for which she created numerous constructed characters and tableaus. This is the first comprehensive museum survey of Sherman’s career in the United States since 1997, the exhibition draws widely from public and private collections, including the DMA.

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Marble statue of a discus thrower (diskobolos), Roman period, second century A.D., © The Trustees of the British Museum (2012).

The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece May 5 – October 6, 2013 This internationally touring exhibition of more than 120 objects explores the human form through exquisite artworks exclusively from the British Museum’s famed collection of Greek and Roman sculpture. Iconic marble and bronze sculptures, vessels, funerary objects, and jewelry are among the treasures that explore the human form, some dating back to the second millennium B.C.

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Gene Gordon , John F. Kennedy reaching out to crowd in Fort Worth, November 22, 1963, 1963, gelatin silver print, Amon Carter Museum of American Art

Hotel Texas: An Art Exhibition for the President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy May 26 – September 15, 2013 In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the DMA will bring together the works of art installed in the president’s suite at the Hotel Texas during his fateful trip in 1963. The original installation, orchestrated by a small group of Fort Worth art collectors, was created especially for the president and first lady in celebration of their overnight visit to the city and included paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Thomas Eakins, Lyonel Feininger, Franz Kline, and Marsden Hartley, and sculptures by Pablo Picasso and Henry Moore, among others.

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Jim Hodges, With the Wind, 1997, Scarves and thread, Fuhrman, Amanda and Glenn, photo by Alan Zindman

Jim Hodges: sometimes beauty October 6, 2013 – January 12, 2014 This October, Dallas will premiere a major traveling exhibition and the first comprehensive survey to be organized in the United States on the work of contemporary American artist Jim Hodges. Co-organized by the Dallas Museum of Art and the Walker Art Center, this exhibition explores the trajectory of the artist’s twenty-five-year career, highlighting the major themes that unify his multilayered and varied practice. Comprising approximately seventy-five works produced from 1987 through the present, this exhibition examines how Hodges transforms both everyday and precious materials into poignant meditations on themes including time, loss, identity, and love.

We hope to see you soon!

Danielle Schulz
McDermott Intern for Family Experiences

Bid Adieu to Posters of Paris

There are less than two weeks left to visit Posters of Paris: Toulouse-Lautrec and His Contemporaries. The exhibition’s last day at the DMA is on Sunday, January 20. Join Dr. Amy Freund, Assistant Professor of Art History at Texas Christian University, on Wednesday, January 9, for our 12:15 p.m. lunchtime gallery talk and learn about the posters on display. You can also find out more about the works on your smartphone during your next visit to Posters of Paris.

Jules Chéret, Pastilles Géraudel, 1890, color lithograph, overall: 48 13/16 x 34 5/8 in. (124 x 88 cm), Private Collection, photo: John Glembin

Jules Chéret, Pastilles Géraudel, 1890, color lithograph, Private Collection


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