Official behind-the-scenes blog of the Dallas Museum of Art
Stop by the DMA Store to stock up on supplies! Pick a postcard of your favorite work of art from the DMA’s collection and send it to a friend with a thoughtful message.
Jessica Fuentes is the Center for Creative Connections Gallery Manager at the DMA.
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.
Helen Altman, Turkey, 1995, scorch on paper, Dallas Museum of Art, The Texas Artists Fund and gift of Karol Howard and George Morton, © Helen Altman, 1997.152.4
Otis Dozier, Wild Turkey, 1987, lithograph, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of The Dozier Foundation, ©Denni Davis Washburn, William Robert Miegel Jr, and Elizabeth Marie Miegel, 1990.63
Untitled (mola: turkey with two monkeys), Latin America, 20th Century, cotton, applique, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of The Dozier Foundation, DS.1990.300
Otis Dozier, Indian Corn, 1965, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of The Dozier Foundation, ©Denni Davis Washburn, William Robert Miegel Jr, and Elizabeth Marie Miegel, 1990.47
Otis Dozier, Maize and Windmill, 1937, oil on Masonite, Dallas Museum of Art, The Barrett Collection, Dallas, Texas, ©Denni Davis Washburn, William Robert Miegel Jr, and Elizabeth Marie Miegel, 2007.15.20
Otis Dozier, Maize and Farmhouse, 1939, oil on Masonite, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of The Dozier Foundation, ©Denni Davis Washburn, William Robert Miegel Jr, and Elizabeth Marie Miegel, 1990.40
Corn Cob Effigy, Pre-Columbian, 900-1500 A.D.?, ceramic, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Mrs. Nancy G. Sayles, 1987.377
Matthew Barney, The Cloud Club, 2002, mixed media, Dallas Museum of Art, Contemporary Art Fund: Gift of Arlene and John Dayton, Mr. and Mrs. Vernon E. Faulconer, Mr. and Mrs. Bryant M. Hanley, Jr., Marguerite and Robert K. Hoffman, Cindy and Howard Rachofsky, Deedie and Rusty Rose, Gayle and Paul Stoffel, and three anonymous donors; DMA/amfAR Benefit Auction Fund; and Roberta Coke Camp Fund, © 2002 Matthew Barney, courtesy Barbara Gladstone, 2003.24.1.A-D
Happy Thanksgiving!
Stacey Lizotte is Head of Adult Programming and Multimedia Services
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.
One of the many things I’ve enjoyed since joining the DMA Intern Class of 2016 is working with Booker T. Washington seniors to develop their own projects for community engagement at the DMA. A few times a week, the students walk down the street to visit the Museum. We’ve been discussing different learning styles and how to appeal to all the diverse learners that visit museums. While assisting students with their projects is my main focus during their visits to the DMA, I cannot help but also pay special attention to their fashion choices. From week to week, each student’s individual style has inspired me.
So for today’s post, I wanted to highlight some pieces in the DMA’s collection that feature elements of these students’ style. Maybe they will inspire you too!
From the stage to the runway, septum rings have moved beyond counterculture to mainstream fashion.
Find these nose rings at the DMA on Level 4 in the Ancient American galleries.
Carefully taut buns, messy half-up top knots, and lots of little Bantu knots—this unisex hair trend can be styled in so many different ways. Like it or knot, buns are here to stay.
For top knot inspiration, look to Bodhisattva in the South Asian gallery and Monju (Manjusri) in the Japanese gallery, both on Level 3.
One-piece swimsuits and leotards have been back for a few years now. But with some of the Booker T. girls, I’ve noticed them as daily wear with skirts and sweaters or even cut-off shorts and a flannel shirt wrapped around the waist.
This Bather in a one-piece carries off the look with some attitude. She’s a music video waiting to happen. Catch her on Level 4 in the American galleries.
Men’s patterned shirts mirror many of the patterns in our permanent collection. Some of the young men at Booker T. have been seen sporting stripes and floral prints on their button downs. The DMA is home to many intricate textiles as well as paintings that feature patterns that may inspire your own style.
You can see these three men in patterned shirts in the folding backgammon board in the Level 3 South Asian galleries; the shirt for the figure of a saint is found on the Level 4 outside the Ancient American galleries; and Leon Polk Smith’s asymmetrical work Homage to Victory Boogie Woogie #1 is in the American galleries on Level 4. The paisley pattern is a detail of Alfred Stevens’ The Visit, found on Level 2 in the European galleries.
Stop by the DMA soon for your next style inspiration.
Whitney Sirois is the McDermott Graduate Intern for Gallery and Community Teaching at the DMA.
In order to celebrate the birthday of Sesame Street’s iconic Cookie Monster, Uncrated decided to go a little further with our imagination.
What would it be like if Cookie Monster stopped by the Museum? Would he try and serve up his tasty confections to guests at the Cafe? Or would he blend in and wait for the rest of the Sesame Street gang in the atrium?
Here’s how we think Cookie Monster would spend a day at the DMA.
Gregory Castillo is the Multimedia Producer at the DMA
This past weekend the annual TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art benefit dinner and contemporary art auction raised a record $8.3 million! In commemoration of the event, which supports the DMA’s contemporary art acquisitions fund and amfAR’s AIDS research efforts, and in recognition of Ellsworth Kelly, this year’s honored artist, we installed the artist’s work Red Panel, which entered the DMA’s collection in 1985. You can view this work in the Museum’s Concourse on your next visit, and then stop by Untitled , which was commissioned for the Museum’s Sculpture Garden.
In September, a group of DMA Friends joined us for an exclusive and new DMA Friends rewards event: Tea Time, Deep in the Heart of Texas. We began our afternoon getting to know each other over Texas-inspired light refreshments which included sweet tea and lemonade paired with mini jalapeño cornbread muffins and mini buttermilk biscuits, baked fresh especially for us by the wonderful staff of the DMA Cafe.
We learned interesting tidbits about each other, such as what artwork from the DMA collection Friends wanted to take home. The Icebergs was the clear winner, yet another Friend wanted to jump into The Ocean’s Bounty: Undersea Windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany!
Next, we ventured up to the Dozier study room, a meeting space named after and honoring Texas artists Velma and Otis Dozier. Rae Pleasant, the Museum’s Research Associate for Early Texas Art, showed us objects in the collection that we might not ordinarily see as they are displayed in cases inside the DMA offices.
The “Tea Time, Deep in the Heart of Texas” reward gives DMA Friends a fun social interaction combined with a new way to engage with art. We heard interesting facts, perused archival material and shared personal reactions to the artworks in Dozier as well as in the Museum galleries. Best of all, we deepened and expanded our circle of art Friends!
Start saving your points now and be on the look out for a new tea time with a new theme at the beginning of the new year.
Tanya Miller is the Friends Community Manager at the DMA
The design of the DMA provides several places for visitors to observe disparate forms of art within adjacent spaces. I find these vantage points to be the Museum’s most unexpected assets and my recommended route passes three of them.
Take the mid-Concourse stairs to the third-floor balcony. From this elevated perspective you’re able to recognize the curious pairing of sculptures on the ground level and left wall. William Wetmore Story’s Semiramis follows the familiar tradition of depicting legendary figures in white marble. She reclines near the base of a 1930s Ceremonial pole (mbis) created by the Asmat people in the southwestern region of present-day New Guinea. These works arguably have little in common, and yet at the DMA they are neighbors, ripe for comparison and appreciation.
Next, proceed through the Japanese gallery on the Museum’s third level to the balcony that looks back onto your previous position. The expanse of artistic styles, periods, materials, and intentions gains a level of complexity with the presence of a cast bronze sculpture from the Meji period, Takenouchi no Sukune Meets the Dragon King of the Sea.
Emily Schiller is the Digital Collections Content Coordinator at the DMA.
Tomorrow Spirit and Matter: Masterpieces from the Keir Collection of Islamic Art opens during our September fall block party Late Night. Huffington Post ranked it at #1 among “need to see” art shows this fall and it is a “Critic’s Pick” in The Dallas Morning News. This morning, exhibition curator and DMA Senior Advisor for Islamic Art Dr. Sabiha Al Khemir shared a sneak peek of the exhibition with national press.
Be among the first to see these intricately decorated objects spanning numerous centuries and continents tomorrow night and join Dr. Al Khemir for a talk on the works of art at 7:00 p.m.
