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LGBTQ+ Equity in the Arts

Published November 26, 2018 Community Connection , Dallas , DFW , Guest Blog Post , People , Special Events , works of art Closed
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On November 29 we are partnering with KERA’s Art & Seek for a night of performances and conversation with local arts leaders Erica Fellicella, Olivia Grace Murphy, and Jerome Larez (see their full bios here). The topic: how equitable and inclusive is the Dallas arts landscape for LGBTQ+ communities?

The night will kick off with each panelist sharing a selection of past work and then Art & Seek‘s Senior Arts Reporter-Producer Jerome Weeks will moderate a conversation. After the program, stick around for a meet and greet with the panelists to keep the conversation going.

I reached out to each panelist with a few questions about their lives, work, and what we can expect on November 29. Here’s what they had to say:

Erica Felicella, artist, consultant, organizer 

If you could take one work of art from the DMA home what would it be?

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Cindy Sherman, Untitled, 1981, Chromogenic color print, Dallas Museum of Art, General Acquisitions Fund, 1982.21, © Cindy Sherman, courtesy of Metro Pictures, New York

Any advice for young artists out there?
It may be hard but don’t let that stop you.

What is something you are looking forward to?
The advancement of and changes in the art scene in the Dallas community.

You’ve lived in Dallas for about 20 years—how has the city changed in your perspective?
Growth across the board.

What are some words that you live by?
If you are not scared then you are not doing it right.

What is the last thing you Googled?
Performance art.

Is there a medium that you are interested in trying?
A bigger dive into New Media-based works with stronger technology components.

How do you recommend getting started with advocacy work?
Show up, listen, and go.

What is your hope for the LGBTQ+ communities of Dallas?
More opportunity given to shine and growth as a community.

Can you give us a sneak peek of what you will present at State of the Arts?
Think a community speaking through the voice of one.

Olivia Grace Murphy, Flexible Grey Theatre Company

If you could take one work of art from the DMA home what would it be?

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Dorothea Margaret Tanning, Jeux d’Enfants, 1942, lent by private collection

What is something you have to do before each show?
As an artist, I put a lot of importance on collaboration. I have to talk to and check in with every actor I share the stage with that night, whether it’s one other person or 100 other people.

What is something you are looking forward to?
Artistically, I am looking forward to announcing our next season for Flexible Grey Theatre Company. Personally, I am looking forward to the holidays because I make (in my humble opinion) the absolute greatest pumpkin pie.

Last play you read?
CHURCH by Young Jean Lee

What do you find most challenging or rewarding about theater as an artistic medium?
The most rewarding part is getting together with a group of fellow artists who you adore and trust completely to create something wonderful. I just recently had a profound experience working on STRAIGHT at Uptown Players. The people involved and the environment were so filled with trust and love. It was an unforgettable experience as an artist.

What are some words that you live by?
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” –Oscar Wilde

What is the last thing you Googled?
“Cute snake pictures.”

How do you recommend getting started with advocacy work?
Find something you’re passionate about. Find work that needs to be done that speaks to you. And then don’t lose that spark.

What is your hope for the LGBTQ+ communities of Dallas?
I want to continue to normalize queer culture, queer art, queer people, and make our community part of the fabric of why Dallas is so great. Acceptance and visibility are key, and I feel like we’re making great strides.

Can you give us a sneak peek of what you will present at State of the Arts?
One of my passion projects with Flexible Grey Theatre Company has been the continued work on our original piece, BRIDGES: LGBTQ+ THEN & NOW, in which interviews from the older LGBTQ+ generation are told by queer millennial performers. The audience on November 29 will have a sneak peek of this show performed by some of my favorite actors in DFW.

Jerome Larez, Co-Founder and Board Chair, Arttitude

If you could take one work of art from the DMA home what would it be?

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Terry Falke, Remnant of the Original Route 66, Arizona, 1995, Fujiflex print, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of The Afterimage Gallery, 1997.137, © Terry Falke

What drives new projects for you?
I hope to bring people together to share a profound experience and instill pride, belonging, interaction, and human connection.

What do you love most about teaching?
I love interacting with the students and watching them develop their art-making process.

What is something you are looking forward to?
I look forward to meeting new artists and listening to their artistic processes. I especially look forward to knowing their personal stories and why they make art.

What are some words that you live by?
Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

What is the last thing you Googled?
The Raising of Lazarus by Duccio

How do you recommend getting started with advocacy work?
Find a cause whose mission aligns with your beliefs and join. The biggest hurdle is getting involved.

What is your hope for the LGBTQ+ communities of Dallas?
My hope for the LGBTQIA community of Dallas is to build greater solidarity in our voices. Too many of us are fighting the battle for equality with little support. I want to see organizations and individuals of multiple backgrounds working together.

What, if anything, is missing from the arts in Dallas?
For the most part, diversity, access, and inclusivity are missing. Dallas has many creative people and art should not be an afterthought because it is who we are. Art has an extraordinary power to transform attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions, especially when art is in places that are accessible to everyone.

Can you give us a sneak peek of what you will present at State of the Arts?
We will have a Day of the Dead fashion show with artwork that we presented in past shows from our MariconX program.

Jessie Carillo is Manager of Adult Programs at the DMA.

Get to Know C3 Visiting Artist Lauren Cross

Published October 26, 2018 Center for Creative Connections , Community Connection , Creativity , Dallas , DFW 1 Comment
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The Center for Creative Connections (C3) is thrilled to host Lauren Cross as our final artist in the 2018 Visiting Artist Project. Through her practice, Cross brings her passion and knowledge for engaging communities across the DFW Metroplex to the DMA. Her project created for C3 is no different: Assembly invites visitors to independently contribute drawings of useful and meaningful objects in their lives on 4 x 4-inch cardboard squares. Every few weeks, a selection of drawings will be installed with the goal of creating a collaborative quilt. Read this interview with the artist to learn more about her project—and stop by C3 to contribute your own drawing for the quilt!

Lauren Portrait

Tell us about yourself.
I am an artist, curator, and scholar; I am a wife, and also a mother to a beautiful, vibrant 15 month old. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and also spent a lot of time in both North Texas and East Texas as a child, visiting my uncles, aunts, cousins, and grandparents. Like many artists, I find that my work is both visually and contextually autobiographical.

Growing up within African American families with a strong impulse for oral history and cultural tradition had an important impact on my thinking as an artist. As a result, my pull within art history and cultural discourses has often looked intently at narratives that vividly describe my personal history and influences. I am the descendant of African American quilters, carpenters, builders, creatives, and culture bearers whose legacies are often reclaimed in my work.

Tell us a little about past projects that led you to apply to the C3 Visiting Artist Project.
I have always been a teaching artist who has engaged community within my work. One of my first projects after graduating was to design an arts curriculum for a local church in Dallas. Most recently, I helped develop community art projects for my nonprofit organization, WoCA Projects. This involved a partnership with ACT United, which created a photography education and exhibition project called My Fort Worth and a commission from the City of Fort Worth that collected over 2,000 visitor responses across the city about public art.

In applying for the C3 Visiting Artist Project, I saw an opportunity to connect my interest in community with my interdisciplinary studio practice using brown paper bags, digital imaging, and installation. With that, I thought of my Everyday Use installation projects, which I felt connected well with the DMA’s permanent collection. I felt that those works in particular gave me an aesthetic and material language that would allow me to create a project that could speak to DMA visitors.

Tell us about the installation you’ve created in the Center for Creative Connections.
The installation I created, called Assembly, is a project that allows me to speak to my practice, which has often referenced the cultural narratives surrounding both brown paper bags and quilts and their relationship to African American culture. I thought a lot about C3’s emphasis on objects as they relate to identity as inspiration. It seemed like a great opportunity for me to address the objects that I use and reference in my work and the narratives about identity that are connected to them: skin color, hierarchy, cultural heritage, and history. I was happy to have the opportunity to probe visitors to think about everyday objects that mean something to them in hopes that there could be wider conversations about the things that have meaning in our lives.

Do you have any favorite visitor contributions you’d like to share?

visitor contributions

What have you enjoyed most about this experience so far?

I have enjoyed seeing the sheer volume of thoughtful responses from visitors to the project. It has been empowering to pose a question and to get such great feedback. As an educator, it’s like teaching a subject that your students get excited about. I have also enjoyed having the opportunity to work with various museum educators throughout the project to find ways to connect visitors to the wider themes we are dealing with.

What upcoming projects are you working on or excited about?

I have an exciting exhibition coming up at the Cliff Gallery at Mountain View College (DCCD) from November 19 to December 14. This includes a Kitchen Table Talk with African American women artists and creatives in North Texas on Thursday, November 29, from noon to 2:00 p.m. and an artist reception on Friday, December 7, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. I will also have an exhibition at the Carillon Gallery at Tarrant County College South Campus in March 2019 as a result of my artist residency there this fall.

Join C3 Visiting Artist Lauren Cross for a Gallery Talk on Wednesday, December 19, from 12:15 to 1:00 p.m. Gallery talks are included in free admission.

Kerry Butcher is the Center for Creative Connections Education Coordinator at the DMA.

Friday Photos: Sending a Message

Published June 30, 2017 Community Connection , Friday Photos Closed
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For the past several years, the DMA has collaborated with the South Dallas Cultural Center during Summer at the Center, a multi-week summer camp where students learn about African history through the arts. The teens at the center visited the DMA twice this summer. Together, we traced the Middle Passage and the Atlantic Slave Trade through art in Visions of America: Three Centuries of Prints from the National Gallery of Art, unpacking responses to this period of cruelty and injustice with artists like Kara Walker, Charles White, and Elizabeth Catlett. We also explored our Arts of Africa collection, where we investigated cultures that had a visible impact on American culture.

Because artists, and print-makers especially, use their work to spread ideas and messages through their art, we made prints about things that are important to us that we would like to share with the world. Here are a few highlights from the prints we made today, representing everything from music to community!

Our summer partnership with the South Dallas Cultural Center is one of the highlights of our year. As an educator, it’s amazing to work with a group of students that are so knowledgeable about history – especially parts of the world that I’m still learning new things about. I think they end up teaching me a lot more than I teach them!

See all of you next summer!

Jessica Thompson
Manager of Teen Programs

Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month!

Published May 16, 2017 Community Connection Closed
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May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

In celebration, the greater Dallas community came together this past Saturday to enjoy Asian Festival 2017 in Fair Park. We hosted our very own art-making booth, where kids could craft their own paper scroll inspired by Enomoto Kikaku’s “Mushrooms,” a haiku poem. Check out the video below to see what we were up to!

This free, family-friendly festival showcased cultural performances, arts and crafts, cuisine, and more from the many, many cultures of Asia and the Pacific Islands. Thank you to the Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce for allowing the DMA to participate!

Angela Medrano
McDermott Intern for Gallery and Community Teaching

The Adventure Starts Here

Published January 3, 2017 Community Connection Closed
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Happy New Year! 2017 marks the fifth consecutive year that we’ll be partnering with DART on their annual DART Student Art Contest. This year’s theme is “The adventure starts here,” and what better place for students to be inspired on their own artful adventure than at the DMA!

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Teachers, be sure to share the news with your budding student artists–finalists will have their artwork shown at the DMA this spring! And be on the look out for our upcoming guest posts on the DART Daily blog for some around the world art inspiration!

Sarah Coffey
Education Coordinator

Friday Photos: A Better World Is…

Published October 28, 2016 Community Connection , Friday Photos Closed
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Claire Nilson’s vision for a better world.

What does a better world look like to you? Yesterday I joined my friends from The Stewpot Art Program for an afternoon of music, art, and fun at The Stewpot’s annual talent show in beautiful Encore Park Dallas. And to top it all, my mom is visiting from Charleston and had the opportunity to meet some of the amazing artists who participate in our Stewpot partnership here at the DMA.

The theme of this year’s talent show was “A Better World Is…” Members of the Stewpot community used their outstanding talents to explore their vision for a better world – categories encompassed fine art, spoken word, essays and poetry, voice, and instrumentals. We certainly did not envy the judges! The afternoon included original compositions, powerful meditations on the role each of us plays in creating a better world, and a rocking version of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.”

Suffice to say, we have some amazingly talented members of our North Texas community at The Stewpot! Please be sure to mark your calendar for The Stewpot Art Program’s upcoming show at the Dallas Public Library and check out other opportunities to support this wonderful community outreach program. As one participant observed, “A better world starts when we realize we’re here to learn to be better and make the world a better place.”

Lindsay O’Connor
Manager of Docent and Teacher Programs

Friday Photos: The Stewpot Art Program

Published July 22, 2016 Art & Teaching , Community Connection , Friday Photos , People 2 Comments
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One of the many perks of being a museum educator here at the DMA is having the opportunity to connect with amazing people in our North Texas community and beyond. Thanks to Tanya Krueger, one of our superstar volunteer docents, I’ve learned about the important work being done by The Stewpot, a community outreach program dedicated to serving homeless and at-risk populations here in Dallas.

Tanya volunteers for the Stewpot Art Program, a special program that provides class time and art supplies for individuals looking to express themselves creatively, grow as artists, and support themselves through the sale of their work (be sure to check out opportunities to support the program by donating supplies or purchasing artwork – the artist receives 90% of the sale and the remainder goes back into the program for art supplies and field trips for the artists.) The Stewpot artists themselves are a remarkable group of people. Plan a visit to the studio and you’ll be struck by each artist’s individual style, creative drive, and kind spirit.

Together with Cynthia Brannum, Stewpot Art Program Director, we’ve launched a monthly program for the Stewpot artists here at the DMA that includes a gallery discussion and lots of art-making activities. Speaking for myself, working with the Stewpot artists has been one of the highlights of my summer. Take a look at our first two visits!

Lindsay O’Connor
Manager of Docent and Teacher Programs

A Golden Summertime

Published July 1, 2016 Art & Teaching , Community Connection 1 Comment
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Last night, we wrapped up our annual summer partnership with the South Dallas Cultural Center’s six-week Summer Arts at the Center program, where students learn about African history through writing, photography, art-making, and performance. This summer, students learned about post-colonial West Africa, with a focus on Ghana.

Some of our favorite works of art at the DMA come from Ghana – like the Sword ornament in the shape of a lion! After a field trip to the Museum to learn more about Asante gold, teens illustrated and gilded proverbs from their lives with gold leaf, then brought them into three dimensions with clay.

After their projects were finished, we invited families from the Center to visit us for a family night! Roslyn Walker, the DMA’s Senior Curator of the Arts of Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific, lead tours for families in the galleries. Students and their loved ones also made thumb pianos in the studio and explored the Center for Creative Connections during their visit.

Big thanks to the South Dallas Cultural Center for another summer of awesome art making and fun. We look forward to seeing you at the museum again soon!

Jessica Thompson
Manager of Teen and Gallery Programs

Playful Learning with SPARK!

Published April 26, 2016 Community Connection , Teaching for Creativity Closed
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Why teach the creative process? Last week, my amazing colleague Amy Copeland and I drove the Go van Gogh van (say that three times fast!) to the historic South Side on Lamar building to take part in the 2016 Creativity Confab hosted by SPARK!. We arrived excited to hear some of the city’s most creative minds participate in a panel discussion on the importance of creativity in a child’s education, and were greeted with an inviting maze of slides, “slinky” tubes, catwalks, and creative play stations, including a giant Lite-Brite and a recording studio. Needless to say, not even our inappropriate choice of shoes could keep us from joining in on the fun and exploring!

Inspired by the City Museum in St. Louis, SPARK! was founded in 2010 to teach the creative process and empower children through playful learning. Student visitors are invited to first fully immerse themselves in the space and loosen up by playing. Fred Peña of Booziotis and Company Architects, the space’s designer, says that his favorite part of the project is watching a cautious student finally work up the nerve to tackle the floor to ceiling slide, and then repeat the adventure again and again. After playing, the students move on to an art activity geared to teach the creative process and encourage collaborative problem solving.

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While the facility has only been open since June 2015, preliminary research reflects that students are more likely to describe themselves as creative and more likely to believe they’re capable of coming up with a valuable new idea after a visit to SPARK!. Significantly, about 57 percent of the children served by SPARK! come from low-income communities, reflecting the organization’s commitment to offering creative learning programs to underserved groups.

The panel’s consensus? Access to creative learning programs help children develop self-reliance, confidence, and resilience. They’re more like to perform better academically and in their future careers. As with sports, the arts teach children teamwork and help them develop confidence in their own abilities. Moreover, children learn not to fear failure and discover that problems often have more than one solution.

As a museum educator, my visit to SPARK! served as an inspiring reminder of how playful learning can help students make meaningful connections to the arts and tap into their own creativity. I look forward to my next visit, sans the wedge sandals.

tengo

Lindsay O’Connor
Manager of Docent and Teacher Programs

Interviews with Young Masters

Published April 5, 2016 Community Connection Closed
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It isn’t every day that we’re able to peek into the minds behind the artworks on view at the DMA. Earlier this month, KERA announcer Shelley Kenneavy interviewed some of the teens whose work is currently on display in the concourse as part of the 2016 Young Masters exhibition. The students gave us a bit of insight into their sources of inspiration—ranging from the Star Wars musical score to insecurities about personal appearances—and shared their hopes as future artists, engineers, art historians, and musicians.

This year’s exhibition features sixty works selected from 858 submissions by AP Fine Arts students from ten local area high schools. Sponsored by the O’Donnell Foundation and on view through April 17, the exhibit includes forty-nine 2D and 3D works of art created by AP Studio Art students, five essays analyzing works of art in the DMA’s permanent collections by AP Art History students, and six original compositions by AP Music Theory students. The essays and compositions can be heard through the DMA’s mobile site here.

One of this year’s participating students is Allison Li, whose piece is titled Passing Tranquility. I first met Allison when she began volunteering at the Center for Creative Connections earlier this year, and was thrilled to see her digital photography installed as part of the Young Masters exhibition. To learn a bit more about the exhibition from the student’s perspective, I asked Allison a few questions about her influences, challenges, and takeaways as a 2016 Young Master.

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Allison Li, Passing Tranquility, Coppell High School

Who are some of the artists you admire? What draws you to their work?

I admire many artists, some include Monet, Nguan, Sachin Teng, and many more. Many of the artists I like, I found online through their various social media accounts. I’m mainly drawn to artist’s works because of the color they use in their pieces, especially Monet and Nguan; I really like the pastel and light colors they use for their pieces. Also, the subject matter of what artists portray in their pieces is a big factor.

How would you describe your creative process? What is most challenging about creating work? What is most rewarding? 

My creative process usually starts with a vague idea or concept in which I try to define it more in detail in my own head before I put anything on paper. Drawing ideas or sketches sometimes helps me better visualize what I want in a piece. After coming up with an idea, I will usually figure out what materials I need and how I want to create the artwork. I think the most challenging and most important part of creating art is coming up with the idea. It usually takes me a very long time to come up with ideas that I like and exactly how I want to execute the idea. I think the most rewarding part of this process is either having an idea you feel confident in or the final piece; both feel rewarding depending on the outcome.

What motivated you to submit your artwork for consideration in the Young Masters exhibition?

My art teacher at school informed us of this opportunity and gave us class time to create a piece to submit to the exhibition. My mom also really encouraged me to pursue my passion for art and thought it would be great and an honor if I was in the Young Masters exhibition.

Your work in the exhibition, Passing Tranquility, invites viewers to consider moments of peace in otherwise hectic environments. Where do you find tranquility in today’s fast-paced atmosphere?

I find the most peace when I am at home and don’t have homework to do. Those times are the most relaxing as I don’t have any lingering tasks that need to be done right away, and instead I get to enjoy my free time.

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How does participating in Young Masters change the way you approach other art exhibitions as a visitor?

After going to the DMA and seeing my artwork hung up on the Museum’s walls with other great pieces, I felt very humbled and amazed that my piece was up there. Now seeing other artworks in the Museum makes me have much more respect for all the artists that are in museums.

 

Do you see yourself continuing to make artwork like Passing Tranquility in the future?

I am actually making similar pieces to Passing Tranquility as it is part of my concentration that I am doing for my AP 2D Design class right now. This piece was actually the first piece in a series of twelve works that I am creating for my portfolio.

What advice do you have for other young artists?

I think that the best thing to do as a young artist is to keep practicing and try not to get too discouraged if things don’t always go as planned. I believe practicing will definitely pay off in the future and seeing the improvement you have made over the years will be very rewarding. I also think that seeing other artists and artwork besides your own is important; I look at many artworks online created by various artists that post their work on social media, such as Instagram or Twitter.

If you’re curious about what some of the other Young Masters have to say about their experience, don’t miss the second round of interviews with the teens at the upcoming Late Night on April 15. For a blast from the past, check out the video recordings of previous Young Masters interviews.

We can’t wait to see what Allison and the other Young Masters create next! Cast your ballot in the People’s Choice Award at the April Late Night to vote for your favorite studio art, art history, and music theory work in the Young Masters exhibition.

Paulina Lopez
McDermott Graduate Intern for Visitor Engagement

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