Don’t visit the International Popexhibition on an empty stomach! With paintings of luscious cakes and pies, installations of tempting produce stands, and giant French fries spilling over your head, you just might find yourself suddenly craving a snack. For the December Homeschool Class for Families, we are exploring food-inspired works in the exhibition, and then turning our snack attack into inspiration for art-making. Using recycled food packaging and labels, children experiment with the idea of mixing advertising and art in their own crazy consumer collages.
Visit DMA.org for a fill list of upcoming classes and workshops offered for kids of all ages.
Leah Hanson is the Manager of Early Learning Programs at the DMA
Inspired by Wayne Thiebaud’s scrumptious pie paintings, I whipped up a little DIY activity for young art lovers to make their own pumpkin pie art (no baking required!).
Materials needed:
One paper plate
Orange tissue paper
Cotton balls
Glue stick (Elmer’s glue also works, but is a bit messier!)
Scissors
Step 1:
Cut your plate into 6 pie slices.
Step 2:
Cut tissue paper into small squares.
Step 3:
Glue tissue paper pieces down to paper plate slice. Overlap your tissue paper pieces until the flat part of the plate is covered, leaving the edge of the “crust” white.
Step 4:
Glue a cotton ball to the center of your pie slice for a dollop of whipped cream.
Tah-Dah! Experiment with using different colors of tissue paper to create other flavors of pie.
You can see some of Wayne Thiebaud’s delicious artwork in the exhibition International Pop, on view at the DMA until January 17, 2016.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Emily Wiskera
McDermott Graduate Intern for Family and Access Teaching
Many visitors, especially those coming with families, often start their visit to the DMA in the Center for Creative Connections (C3), a great starting point because it is located on the first floor, in the heart of the museum, and displays works of art from across the Museum’s diverse collection. However, after starting in C3, visitors tend to ask, “What else should we see while we’re here?” Of course, there could be a multitude of answers to that question, but I think I’ve laid out a nice action plan, using one of my favorite artworks currently on view in C3 as a starting point.
In the main C3 Gallery, notice the similarities between The Minotaur by Marcel Dzama and Ram Mask with Feather Cape created by the Kom people of Cameroon. They both depict features of two beings, The Minotaur with the head of a bull and the body of a human, and Ram Mask with Feather Cape with a stylized mask representative of a ram and a cape made of chicken feathers. Taking this idea as a starting point for works to see throughout the Museum, exit C3 and turn right down the main concourse. Headdown the concourse and take the Red Elevator up to the 4th Floor. Upon exiting, turn left and walk through the Native American Art gallery, taking a left into American Art. Then stay to the right and walk to the back corner where the American Silver Gallery is located. In a small case in the center of this gallery you will encounter the beautifully intricate silver Vase (for the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, New York.
Notice the serpentine handles culminating in bird heads and the etched patterns of scrolls and masks. Next, continue to walk around and through the American Gallery and take the small staircase that leads to the African Gallery. At the bottom of the staircase, walk to the far end of the gallery and take a right to find the Helmet mask (kifwebe) and costume.
Kifwebe masks are “composite beings,” compiled of human and animal elements. The striated designs on them derive from the markings and patterns of wild or dangerous animals such as antelopes, zebras, and okapi. The central crest may represent that of an ape or rooster. When you view this work of art in the galleries, it is accompanied by a short video which shows the mask in use, truly bringing it to life. Finally, continue through the African Gallery and take a left into the Egyptian section. To your immediate left you will find a collection of small works including a slate remnants depicting Thoth, God of Learning and Patron of Scribes a human figure with the head of an ibis.
Visit all of these works, for free, during your Thanksgiving break.
Jessica Fuentes is The Center for Creative Connections Gallery Manager at the DMA
It is well known in my family that the only foods I need on my plate for Thanksgiving dinner are turkey, corn, and mashed potatoes. No other food needs to pass my way at the table.
In honor of my favorite holiday meal, I share with you images of turkeys and corn from our collection. And while we don’t have any works of art featuring mashed potatoes, Matthew Barney’s The Cloud Club does feature whole potatoes…and a piano.
Untitled (mola: turkey with two monkeys), Latin America, 20th Century, cotton, applique, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of The Dozier Foundation, DS.1990.300
Despite harsh weather conditions this past Monday evening, Educators Night Out saw great success! Teachers were invited to enjoy International Pop and Jackson Pollock: Blind Spotsfor free, along with snacks, drinks, tours, and a photo booth. The “Poptinis” and tiny cake pops were delicious, and the Pop-themed photo booth was a hit!
We made some new friends, and caught up with a few old ones too. We loved seeing all the awesome teachers in our galleries, and can’t wait to see you again soon!
Educators enjoying a preview of Jackson Pollock: Blind Spots
Jim Coddington at work on Jackson Pollock’s One: Number 31, 1950 in the Conservation Studio at MoMA
I’ll be talking with Jim Coddington, the Chief Conservator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, this Friday evening, November 20, at 9:00 p.m. about his extensive experience with the work of Jackson Pollock. We’ll be discussing the materials and techniques Pollock used in his paintings, the ways in which those materials have aged and changed over the years, and how conservators approach the preservation challenges that Pollock’s works present.
For a preview of some of the topics that we’ll touch upon, you can have a look at the “Jackson Pollock Conservation Project” blog posts that Jim has been making over the past few years.
MoMA has generously lent Echo: Number 25, 1951 to the Dallas Museum of Art for the Jackson Pollock: Blind Spotsexhibition, opening Friday, November 20:
Jim carried out technical studies and conservation treatment on Echo, and we will be discussing some of the details of that work during our Late Night conversation. Here is a photo of the reverse of Echo during its treatment, with the stretcher removed, which reveals darkening of the canvas where it had been in direct contact with the wood stretcher support:
In addition to a behind-the-scenes look at the conservation treatments that Jim has undertaken, we’ll also examine Pollock’s working methods. Jim and his colleagues at MoMA have done pioneering analytical studies of Pollock’s materials and techniques, lending new insight into our understanding of this extraordinary artist’s work. Join us this Friday at the DMA!
Head of Community Engagement Maria Teresa Garcia-Pedroche and I spent a Saturday afternoon with the So SMAART girls, a group of motivated young ladies aged 9-12 who are “Set on Science, Math, Aviation, Art, Reading, and Technology.” Since its beginning in 2000, the So SMAART program has impacted more than 900 girls from Dallas public schools through various mentorship and after-school activities, all of which prepare the students for careers in STEAM fields including science, math, and the arts. Serving as the girls’ mentors are members of the Trinity Chapter of the Links, Incorporated, a volunteer service organization led by women of color from the DFW area who founded So SMAART to address the lack of minority female students pursuing STEAM careers.
Trinity Links and the DMA’s Community Engagement team
Throughout their visit, the So SMAART girls and their mentors explored the Center for Creative Connections, toured the African and Ancient American galleries, and created their own masterpieces in the Art Studio. These ladies demonstrated some of the ways the arts can impact and empower the next generation of scientists, engineers, curators, and everything in between:
Connect with Communities
The students and mentors contributed to an ongoing basket-weaving project, a response wall discussing personal traditions, and a larger-than-life drawing at the Interactive Gallery and Community at Large installation.
See Things Differently
Are those ordinary scraps of cardboard and twist ties, or are they the makings of the next Oldenburg? How does our presence change the way a space feels, functions, or sounds? Our visitors experimented with these and other queries at the Art Spot and the Young Learners Gallery.
Blast into the Past
Museum educator extraordinaire Amy Copeland and various DMA volunteers led the So SMAART girls through the African and Ancient American galleries, where they discussed the ways that past cultures and communities influence our current beliefs, traditions, and practices.
Make Your Voice Heard
As part of a national competition sponsored by The Links, Incorporated, the students channeled their creativity in the Art Studio to create posters raising awareness about nutrition and healthy habits. Isn’t it a bit easier to forgo the leftover Halloween candy when you’re looking at a solar system made of fruit?
Keep an eye out for these young ladies—we can’t wait to see where the arts will take them!
Paulina Lopez
McDermott Graduate Intern for Visitor Engagement
You may have heard about an exhibition that we are just a little bit excited about here at the DMA. Since we cannot wait for you to experience Jackson Pollock: Blind Spots, which opens this Friday during Late Night, we thought we would share the homecoming of the DMA’s Portrait and a Dream, which was recently installed inside the exhibition. Jackson Pollock: Blind Spots will be on view November 20, 2015, through March 20, 2016.
Kimberly Daniell is the Manager of Communications and Public Affairs at the DMA.
Do drip paintings make your heart go pitter-splatter!?
Do you really, really love Pop Art and/or Jackson Pollock?!!
This Monday, November 16th from 5:00PM-8:00PM, the Museum is hosting an Educators Night Out. Spend an evening at the DMA with free admission to both International Pop and Jackson Pollock: Blind Spots during this exclusive event for teachers. Explore the exhibitions during guided tours and enjoy complimentary light bites, a cash bar, half-price parking in the DMA garage, and more!
Artifacts, the DMA Member magazine, invited Jackson Pollock’s nephew Jason McCoy to share his thoughts on his uncle’s work on the eve of the DMA’s exclusive presentation of Jackson Pollock: Blind Spots, which opens on Friday, November 20. We hope you are as delighted by his article as we were to publish it.
Breakthrough: Pollock’s Black Paintings By Jason McCoy
Original publish date: Artifacts Fall 2015
When DMA curator Gavin Delahunty first talked to me about his dream of organizing an exhibition of Jackson Pollock’s so-called Black and White paintings, I was of course intrigued but thought to myself “good luck.” It is notoriously difficult to organize any Pollock show, and I knew the paintings were scattered all over the world. But the good luck seems now to be ours—Gavin has pulled it all off and we have been given the great good fortune to be able to view the largest assemblage of these works together, ever. Jackson Pollock is one of the most recognizable names in modern art, but we generally associate the name not with a single image of a specific painting but rather with the idea of paintings that consist of masses of fine lines, skeined across the picture’s surface in seeming confusion.
I appreciate that the Blind Spots exhibition will present an additional view of Pollock’s oeuvre, the paintings that followed the so-called pourings. These paintings were yet another breakthrough for Jackson Pollock, because here he was able to convey the certainty and discipline of works that, for the most part, were made in one session. There is a clarity to the paintings, a minimalism and a simplicity that make it all look so easy and pre-ordained. Not so, of course, but what is revealed is a master’s ability to get it right the first time, and so let the paintings stand for themselves. They are a powerful, fascinating lot, crowned with one of my personal favorite paintings of all, Portrait and a Dream, a longtime resident of Dallas.
Blind Spots will enable all of us to reevaluate the breadth and depth of Pollock’s accomplishments. It will illuminate that there was most often a figurative element in all of Pollock’s paintings, as images of man or beast are easy to recognize in Pollock’s first gestures on the plane. We can recall a comment he made to this effect, that in these paintings the “figure is coming through.” Such recognizable forms in fact caused consternation with certain modernist critics at the time, who did not care to acknowledge less than fully abstract painting as being modern.
Blind Spots will also include examples of Pollock’s interest in scale. In 1951, with the help of his brother, Sanford McCoy, he chose six paintings not at all similar in size to be used in a suite of serigraphs, a selection of which are exhibited in this exhibition. With a computer today, this type of curiosity might seem obvious, but this was not the case sixty-five years ago.
Had Pollock stopped after his “drip paintings” of the late 1940s he would certainly still have his place in history. Rather, his creative drive was such that it continued to evolve in unexpected ways and cover new ground, as Blind Spots reveals, accentuating that Pollock’s gift was much more than one-dimensional.
