Dallas Museum of Art

Archive Page 44

Artfully Green

Reduce, reuse, and recycle. As Earth Day rolls around, we’re reminded of our impact on the environment. But what are we doing at the Dallas Museum of Art to be green? Uncrated went on a search to find out.

Each year, over half a million visitors step through the Museum’s doors, and our large building is 500,000 square feet, taking up two city blocks in downtown Dallas. Our global collections span over 24,000 works of art, and we produce an average of eighteen exhibitions each year. We have an underground parking garage, a cafe, a store, and over two hundred employees.

With this large footprint, we were excited to find out about some long-standing practices and a few new ones that the DMA is using to reduce its impact on the environment:

Three years ago, The City of Dallas and the DMA retrofitted the building’s entire energy management systems in order enhance energy efficiency. Efforts included replacing our boiler and chillers, adding eco-friendly light bulbs, low flow toilets and water fixtures throughout the museum. As a result, utility consumption has been reduced over 50%.
The Museum has a water management system throughout the building. It is a smart system with rain sensors for our hardscape and landscaping.
We added healthier, more drought-tolerant trees along the Museum bordering St. Paul Street.
All chemicals and cleaning agents used at the DMA are eco-friendly.
DMA employees are offered a discount to ride the DART system to work. There is a bicycle rack located on Ross Avenue Plaza.
When layouts of our galleries are changed for new exhibitions, we reuse studs and building materials. All crates and art packing materials are reused and/or recycled.
The DMA participates in a recycling program with the City of Dallas. The profits the City makes are sent into the general fund for City programs such as Park and Recreation projects and Fire Department equipment.
All copy paper used at the Museum has a minimum of 30% post-consumer waste content.
All of the printed materials produced by our Creative Services team are printed on Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified paper, using an FSC-certified paper distributor, and 95% of the commercial printing (100% local) that the Museum does uses an FSC-certified printer.
The admission tags that visitors receive when they visit the DMA are collected and reused. Look for boxes at the Visitor Services Desk to recycle your tag when leaving.
The Museum Store features products from many local artists and craftsman and also has a wide variety of eco-friendly products.
Our cafe uses compostable or biodegradable disposable containers and recycles all plastic, glass bottles, paper, cardboard, wine corks, and cooking oils. This summer, we will begin working with a food composting company.
The cafe menu consists of locally purchased organic produce, sourcing through local vendors within a two hundred-mile radius. Soon, the cafe will implement new infused water stations and glass-bottled waters, phasing out plastic-bottled water.

The DMA is working with the U.S. Green Building Council to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for these efforts. We hope to have our designation by August 2011.

For a selection of works on view at the Museum that incorporate recycled materials, visit our sister blog, We Art Family, for their Earth Day post. And for eco-friendly activities, emerging green technology, and thought-provoking ways to think, work, and live green in Dallas, join us today and tomorrow in the downtown Dallas Arts District for the free Earth Day Dallas Festival (the DMA will have FREE admission on Saturday, April 23, 2011!). To reduce your carbon footprint, ride DART to Pearl Station and walk to the Arts District.

Happy EARTH Day!

Mandy Engleman is the Director of Creative Services at the Dallas Museum of Art

Designing Stickley

Published April 20, 2011 Behind-the-Scenes , Decorative Art and Design , Exhibitions , Installation Closed
Tags: Gustav Stickley, Gustav Stickley and the American Arts & Crafts Movement, The Craftsman

Hello, everyone! DMA resident exhibition designer Jessica Harden here to give you a short and sweet behind-the-scenes snapshot of where some of our inspiration for exhibition design comes from. The Gustav Stickley exhibition was fun to work on because I had lots of great resources, including original photographs and The Craftsman catalogues, which Stickley published with drawings of many of his architectural and interior designs and finishes . . .

as well as records of popular colors of the time. We chose paint colors for the exhibition based on the Sherwin-Williams Arts & Crafts palette. BTW, drawing up plans for the exhibition is also part of my job . . .

as is producing construction drawings.

But back to inspiration and resources—this is a photograph of a model dining room created to show Stickley’s furniture in 1903.

. . . and this is our gallery at the DMA that we designed and built to replicate the original.

In fact, if you look around the Gustav Stickley exhibition galleries, you might notice a number of details that were inspired by Stickley’s original designs. Here, we were inspired by how Stickley used interior cut-outs to define spaces and create interesting thresholds to transition from one room to the next.

We also took inspiration from Stickley’s use of simple trim work on walls to help us define spaces and create a more residential environment for the exhibition. This included using a cap rail to imply a lower ceiling height in our 14-foot-high exhibition galleries.

And just to have a little fun, we took a few chances to let visitors discover glimpses of upcoming galleries and objects along the way.

Even some of the smallest details of the exhibition were inspired by Stickley. Here you can see that the mount for this lamp was modeled after drawings from Stickley interiors and was fabricated by our extremely talented preparators and carpentry staff. They even made new heads for the screws to match the originals!

Gustav Stickley and the American Arts & Crafts Movement is on view at the Dallas Museum of Art until May 8, when it will travel to San Diego to open on June 18.

Jessica Harden is Exhibition Design Coordinator at the Dallas Museum of Art.

C3’s Interactive Space Takes Center Stage

Published April 2, 2011 Center for Creative Connections 1 Comment
Tags: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Texas, interactive space, Jacques Lipchitz

Our Center for Creative Connections (C3) is an interactive space and innovative learning environment at the heart of the Museum’s galleries where museum-goers can explore their own creativity and discover new ways of experiencing and connecting with art from the Museum’s collections. C3 especially encourages active learning for people of all ages and learning styles through exhibitions and programs. You may have left (literally) your mark on C3 by measuring your height against Jacques Lipchitz’s 6 and ½ foot tall bronze sculpture of The Bather or by submitting your photos of varied spaces to our monitor wall. The theme for it changes every 6 months so you can continue to contribute to it throughout the run of our current exhibition Encountering Space.

C3 is easy to find: centrally located on the Museum’s first level it includes an exhibition gallery and several distinct learning areas, including an Art Studio, an interactive learning space for children under the age of four called Arturo’s Nest, a Young Learners Gallery for children 5–8 and their families, a theater, and a digital studio called the Tech Lab. There are always activities happening in one or more area of C3 for all of the Museum’s visitors, and hands-on experiences at the Museum aren’t just for kids.

Museum visitors can literally grow-up with C3 by participating in exploratory programs as early as 2 years old in Arturo’s Nest during Toddler Art through an Artist Encounter for grown-ups to celebrate creativity and the artistic process.

Here is what some of you, our visitors, have said about your experiences in C3:

“A visit to the Center for Creative Connections is like visiting Alice in Wonderland because magic happens here.” – Kelaine, 50

“[C3 is] a fun place with a lot of imagination, where the imagination flies.” – Victor, 17

“[C3 is] a place where art actually comes alive, where it’s more than just something pretty to look at but never touch.” – Caitlin, 18

“A visit to the Center for Creative Connections is like going back to preschool because you are looking at things through new eyes.” – Rob, 38

“I don’t want to leave. Can I live here?” – C3 visitor, 4

All the Single Ladies

Published April 1, 2011 Collections Closed
Tags: Auguste Rodin, Beyonce, Dallas Museum of Art, Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)

Did you know that the Dallas Museum of Art’s sculpture The Shade by Auguste Rodin served as inspiration for Beyonce’s famous “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” dance?

April Fools!

Growing Pains

Published March 31, 2011 Behind-the-Scenes 1 Comment
Tags: Dallas Museum of Art, National Endowment for the Humanities, Solomon & Bauer, Works on Paper

Since our art storage area is not available to the general public, we thought we’d give you a behind-the-sceneslook at our new and improved space.

In 2008, the Museum was awarded an important grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Through the grant, the DMA has increased the square footage of several art storage spaces, expanded storage capacity, and modernized the spaces with new lighting, HVAC, and furniture fixtures. Each storage space was renovated to the highest preservation and green-building standards in coordination with the architecture firm Solomon & Bauer of Watertown, Ma., the City of Dallas, and contractors.

The building of the new Works on Paper (WOP) facilities was the final building stage of this multi-year project. Three new rooms were constructed within the museum’s existing storage space to specifically hold the museum’s roughly 6,000 works. With the construction complete and the new cabinets installed, we have started the process of moving art from our old storage to the new.

Space was one of the biggest concerns in our previous WOP storage. This was especially true for our storage of framed works, where our cabinets were full the point of overflow. We often needed to remove five or six pieces in order to access the one object we needed. Since the goal is to move the work as little as possible, the “overflow” constituted a threat to the care of our objects.

Speaking in strictly numbers, we previously had 18 cabinets with a total of 126 bins, each bin being 10 inches wide and 42 inches deep. As you can see in the picture below, the height of each bin was set. While this created an aesthetically pleasing consistency, it left significant gaps and wasted precious space.

In our new space, conversely, we have 142 bins, each 11 inch wide by 42 inches deep. Not only do we have a greater number of overall bins, our new cabinets are completely modular. Depending upon the need of the collection, we can add or subtract shelves. The photo below shows the new cabinets in process of being loaded with objects. Already you can see the increased functionality of this style unit.

The new framed work storage units are attached to rolling racks, which allows us to maximize our space by removing the need for aisles. While the use of rolling racks has been relatively common in library stacks for years, it is only now becoming the standard in collections care. With the addition of the rolling racks in the area, we have now updated all of our storage spaces to these compacting racks. The photo below shows the new flat storage units on a rolling rack.

Always a problem in our old space, we specifically designed an area of the new storage space to view works on paper. Shelves built in to the slanted wooden backing fold out to support objects without having to bother with hanging. The shelves are large enough to support almost any framed work in the collection, but are also designed in such a way where many smaller pieces could also be shown all at once. The flexibility of the unit is vital to curators as they arrange and rearrange objects in preparation for gallery installations. The overall size of the viewing space is an extra plus as we can now accommodate more students or scholars visiting on research trips.

The changes in how we store our works on paper will greatly improve the overall level of care we are able to maintain. Thanks to the NEH and the Hoblitzelle Foundation, these improvements, along with the updates to our library and archives, the collections file storage space, and small objects—shown in last fall’s Small Objects Collection is Movin’ on Up!—have made a profound impact on the way the collections staff cares for our museum’s collection.

Anne Lenhart is an Assistant Registrar at the Dallas Museum of Art

Longtime Curator “Travels” DMA’s Silk Road

Published March 23, 2011 Asian Art , Behind-the-Scenes , Collections , Curatorial , Installation 3 Comments
Tags: Ancient Art, Art History, Asian Art, Beginning of the World, Brancusi, Bust of a Man from Palmyra, China, Dallas Museum of Art, Highland Park High School, Japan, Javanese Ganesha, Shiva Nataraja, Silk Road

Following her new installation in the third-floor galleries of objects that reflect transport along Eurasia’s Silk Road, “seasoned” curator Dr. Anne Bromberg sat down with us to discuss her fascinating career. A lifelong Dallasite—except for her years at Harvard getting her B.A. in anthropology and M.A. and Ph.D. in classical art and archaeology—Dr. Bromberg has been on the staff of the Dallas Museum of Art for more than forty years, first as a lecturer and docent trainer beginning in 1962, then as head of the education department, and currently as The Cecil and Ida Green Curator of Ancient and Asian Art. What’s more, she has led an inspired life, traveling extensively to little-known locales, researching and experiencing the cultures within her discipline.

Q: How would you describe your job at the DMA?

AB: Most curatorial jobs involve trying to acquire art for the museum, organizing exhibitions and/or working on exhibitions that come to us from elsewhere, publishing, lecturing, working with volunteers, [and] cultivating donors. In terms of legwork, it’s going around and seeing dealers and other collections, visiting other museums, going to conferences, and giving lectures outside the museum.

Q: You are in charge of a very diverse area of the Museum’s collections. What is your particular area of expertise?

AB: Classical art, meaning the art of ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and all Asian art, but I’m mainly working with South Asian art.

Q: How did you become interested in Asian art?

AB: One of the really outstanding teachers I had taught evolution in her biology courses, including historical geology, and I was really fascinated with historical geology and that got me into reading about archaeology. And I thought, this is what I want to do. A good teacher makes a difference. I’ve actually been interested in Asia for a long, long time. When I was an undergraduate, I was reading books on Zen Buddhism and haiku, the Ramayana, and things like that. Books stimulate your passion to go see these things in reality.

Q: What are some of your favorite places you’ve traveled to?

AB: I think both my husband, Alan, and I would say the single favorite place we’ve been is Isfahan in Persia. Italy, of all the European countries, is easily the most seductive, and everybody I know who has been to India is dying to get back. We’ve been there so many times, and you feel like you’ve just scratched the surface.”

Q: What is your favorite object within the ancient and Asian collections at the DMA? Within another collection?

AB: The Shiva Nataraja, because that image is the single most important iconic image in Hinduism generally, and many Hindus would agree with that. It is exceptionally beautiful both aesthetically and because it represents the loving quality of the god Shiva. South Indian Hindu poems describe worship as falling in love with the god, and our Shiva Nataraja is the embodiment of that Chola period poetry.

Brancusi’s Beginning of the World. because of my background, I personally have a strong response to pure geometric forms and classical idealism, and I’m certainly not alone in believing that the ancient Greeks would appreciate that classical, pure, and geometric vision of the beginning of the world.

Q: Do you personally collect art? What types of objects are you most drawn to?

AB: Primarily we’ve collected what I would call third-world contemporary art—things that at the time were being made wherever—New Guinea, India, South America, Mexico, etc.

Q: Why do you think it is important for people to study non-Western art?

AB: If you study non-Western art, you’ll learn what human beings create and why. If you stick only to your own civilization, you are much less likely to think about why these things are being made . . . or about a much more serious question to me, why do we call it art?

Q: Describe your current project, an installation of objects from the DMA’s collections focusing on the Silk Road.

AB: The Silk Road installation is something that has interested me for a long time. We do have a lot of artwork that really displays the meaning of the Silk Road, which tied Eurasia together for millennia. So I was delighted when I got a space where I could show the ties between the Mediterranean world and Asia.

The Silk Road is an ancient transcontinental network of trade routes that spread across Eurasia from the Mediterranean to China and Japan. The phenomenon of the Silk Road is constantly studied and has recently been featured in museum exhibitions around the world. The new installation, organized by Dr. Bromberg, addresses six themes related to the Silk Road, including the development of cities and trade, the importance of animals to early societies, and the spread of religions. The installation presents well-known DMA favorites, such as the Javanese Ganesha and the bust of a man from Palmyra, and new works from several local private collections. Opening this weekend, come see the new installation on Level 3 the next time you visit the DMA.

Ashley Bruckbauer is the McDermott Intern for Programs and Resources for Teachers at the Dallas Museum of Art and Madelyn Strubelt is the McDermott Curatorial Intern of Ancient and Asian Art at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Ask @MoRocca

Published March 21, 2011 Arts & Letters Live , Behind-the-Scenes 2 Comments
Tags: Charles W. Eisemann Center, Dallas Museum of Art, Mo Rocca

Last week we asked you to tweet us your questions for Mo Rocca. We picked three at random and below are his answers. Mo Rocca will appear at the Charles W. Eisemann Center tonight at 7:30 p.m. as part of Arts & Letters Live’s 20th season. Purchase Mo Rocca tickets from the Eisemann Center online or call 972-744-4650. Don’t forget that university students, faculty, and staff receive a 40% discount off any price level by entering the code “student” at checkout.

@llkays What is your dream meal —where, with whom (from any time or place), and what would you eat?

I’d like to eat Chinese food with Barbra Streisand. She used to work at a Chinese restaurant. Plus she’s Jewish. She could explain to me why Jewish people love Chinese food—in song.

@smallcapsitalic You make me laugh, so what makes YOU crack up?

Gene Wilder and Madeline Kahn in Young Frankenstein. The Marx Brothers and Margaret Dumont. David Sedaris.

@kimbaway What is your favorite type of art?

Modigliani. I like long necks.

Dallas Activities Get a Splash of Color with Late Nights

Published March 17, 2011 Behind-the-Scenes , Late Nights , Social Media Closed
Tags: children's activities, Dallas, Dallas activities, Dallas Museum of Art, exhibitions, Late Nights, live music, Music, Nightlife in Dallas, Performances, Social Media, Texas

As you know, our Late Nights are a staple for Dallas activities in the Metroplex. For our second YouTube video, we chose to feature what makes this program so special. If you know anyone who has not experienced Late Nights, share the video with them and plan your visit!

Breaking in Spring

Published March 10, 2011 Education Closed
Tags: Claude-Joseph Vernet, Dallas Museum of Art, European Painting, Mountain Landscape with Approaching Storm, spring break, WFAA, WFAA Family First Day

This just in – today’s weather is going to be cloudy with a chance of . . . art?! When we think about visiting an art museum with our families, we may not think about the weather (except museums often have what feels like arctic air flowing through the galleries to keep the art “comfortable” – so bring a sweater!). We have some exciting plans for family fun on the horizon, and there is a 100% chance of WFAA’s meteorologist Greg Fields in the forecast!

Don’t miss our free WFAA Family First Day on Saturday, March 12, that will kick off a week-long fiesta of fun family-friendly activities for spring break.

Join us in the galleries as Greg Fields forecasts the weather in works of art. You will even have the chance to search for rough spots, popping storms, and gray skies in paintings to create a weather forecast of your own.

One work of art we think may be on Greg’s radar is Claude-Joseph Vernet’s painting Mountain Landscape with Approaching Storm, on view in the European Galleries. Skirt alert! Definitely umbrella weather – the atmosphere in this landscape is overcast, with strong whipping winds coming in from the west. Place your bets, because it looks like a drencher. Mother Nature is on the war path! The figures in this scene look like they are facing a giant blow dryer! Look closely as they scurry for cover before it begins to rain cats and dogs. Talk about atmospheric indigestion!

Claude-Joseph Vernet, Mountain Landscape with Approaching Storm, 1775

Greg may forecast flash flood warnings, wind advisories, or even a tornado watch! Visitors will be invited to make a sound symphony of the weather in this scene, pose like the people fleeing for cover, and talk about their own scary storm experiences. It will be a rip-roaring good time!

Extend your Museum fun throughout the week of spring break. From March 13 through March 18 at 5:00 p.m., the DMA is offering $5 admission and $5 parking. Check out the spring break schedule on our website for more information.

Amanda Blake is the Manager of Family Experiences and Access Programs at the Dallas Museum of Art

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Dallas Museum of Art Uncrated

Archive Page 44

Artfully Green

Designing Stickley

C3’s Interactive Space Takes Center Stage

All the Single Ladies

Growing Pains

Longtime Curator “Travels” DMA’s Silk Road

Ask @MoRocca

Breaking in Spring

Search Uncrated

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