Archive for the 'Museum Insight' Category



Never Say Goodbye…

Today I bid a fond farewell to the DMA. Saying goodbye has never been easy for me, and each time I do, I find J.M. Barrie’s quote from Peter Pan echoing in my head: “Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.” However, although my time as a McDermott Intern has flown by,  I feel lucky to be taking so many unforgettable memories into my next adventure.

At the top of my list, I will fondly remember sharing my love of art with children and adults as part of the DMA’s many Family and Access programs.  I will also treasure the time I spent collaborating and teaching with the talented members of this team, which we affectionately refer to as FAST. Thank you, ladies, for your guidance and inspiration!

I will cherish my memories of trips to our neighboring DFW museums, cultural institutions, and Mrs. McDermott’s beautiful ranch, as well as the opportunity to participate in the NY Museums in Action STEM to STEAM conference this spring.

I will miss answering the letters children write to Arturo, including my past students in Western MA, who participated in my Arturo’s Magical Mail exchange.

Last but not least, I will miss seeing my fellow interns each day. Together, we have grown as educators and professionals, and I am thankful to have shared this experience with you.

And so, I head off into my next chapter. Although I am going away, I won’t say goodbye, because something tells me I’ll be back. In the meantime, I look forward to hearing about the wonderful things the DMA continues to share with the world. Onwards and upwards!

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Amelia Wood
McDermott Intern for Family Access and Teaching

McDermott Interns: Beyond DMA Walls

You may have heard about our McDermott Internship Program, a nine-month paid internship for those interested in gaining experience within our Education or Curatorial Departments. As this year’s application deadline of March 7 is fast approaching–only 4 days left to submit your materials!–I thought it would be nice to share some other aspects of the Internship that aren’t listed on our flyer. Of course our McDermott Interns get to experience the full operations of the Museum–exhibitions and programming, research and writing, and interacting with our staff and the public. But thanks to the generosity of the McDermott Foundation, we are also able to provide them with additional experiences beyond the walls of the DMA.

Each of our eight interns is eligible to apply for special funding that can be used toward their professional development, like attending a conference or pursuing classes in continuing education. After being approved for these funds, the interns take part in the experience and then have the opportunity to reflect and summarize it into a report for us. Several interns from year’s class have already taken advantage of this excellent opportunity by attending the annual CAA Conference in Chicago. Not only were they able to attend informative sessions in their areas of art historical interest, they were also given the chance to network with colleagues and gain further advice on transitioning into their future careers.

A conference session at CAA

A conference session at CAA

In addition to a focus on professional development, we also place an emphasis on the myriad cultural opportunities available here in DFW. Not only do we visit our museum neighbors in both Dallas and Fort Worth, we also provide tickets to performances here in the Dallas Arts District. So far, our interns have enjoyed attending the ballet and seeing Philip Glass at the Winspear Opera House.

So if you know any interested individuals who would like to experience all this and more, encourage them to finish their applications! We look forward to what next year’s class will bring!

Sarah Coffey
Assistant to the Chair of Learning Initiatives

Getting Schooled at the DMA

Over the next couple of months, as you’re wandering down the concourse of the DMA, you may notice an eclectic mixture of vibrantly colorful paintings, intricate sculptures, detailed music compositions, and even essays on display just outside the Center for Creative Connections. That’s because our 16th annual Young Masters exhibition is underway!

The Young Masters exhibition is the product of a collaboration between the Dallas Museum of Art, AP Arts Strategies and the O’Donnell Foundation, in which Dallas area high school students who are completing AP Art History, Music Theory or Studio Art courses are invited to submit work to be chosen for display. A whopping 732 works were submitted for this year’s exhibition and from those, 60 final works of art were chosen.

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Tuesday night marked the DMA’s annual Young Masters Reception and Award Ceremony in which members of the Dallas community came together to recognize and celebrate the talent of this year’s selected students. The night began with family, friends, students, and teachers crowding into the concourse to take photographs with the selected works of art.

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The celebratory photographs and mingling were followed by everyone making their way into Horchow Auditorium to recognize each individual student and reveal a selected nineteen students who received top honors in the exhibition. Ceremony attendees heard a reading of the top selected essay, listened to a beautiful performance of the top selected music composition, and learned more about the artistic process and inspiration behind the top selected works of studio art.

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Though most awards have been announced, there are still ways that you can get involved with the exhibition. During March and April Late Nights, be on the look out for staff or volunteers who will be handing out People’s Choice Award fliers for you to cast your vote in any of the three exhibition categories. You can also learn more about selected works from the exhibition at the March and April Late Nights when students are interviewed here at the DMA.

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Amy Elms
McDermott Intern for Visitor Engagement

Arturo’s Magical Mail

As a child, I loved receiving letters. Each time I heard the mailman walk up my front steps, I would anxiously wait for my parents to empty the mailbox. As they rifled through bills, I prayed that there would be something with my name on it, whether it be a postcard, magazine, or even a piece of junk mail. Mail was magical to me, and I enjoyed thinking about it traveling from a foreign place to my doorstop with my name on it.

Later in life, I revisited mail as an early childhood educator. Through several mail based projects in my toddler classroom, I found that mail was indeed ‘magical’ for children in the way that it connects home, school, and other landmarks in a child’s world, promotes self expression, and creates links to people and places in other parts of the world.

It isn’t surprising that one of the highlights of my internship at the DMA has been responding to letters children write to Arturo, the DMA’s loveable toucan mascot. When children visit Arturo’s Nest, our hands-on early learning space located in C3, they are invited to write a letter and leave it in Arturo’s mailbox. Over the past six months, I have thoroughly enjoyed receiving these letters, which feature drawings and share excitement about art and experiences at the DMA. Many children are also very curious about Arturo and his nest and ask questions that require me to come up with some creative responses. I’ve included a few of my favorite questions to Arturo below.

Dear Arturo,

Who made this place? Wut are you doing this week?

Dear Arturo,

I love art Where is your bathroom and how do you go?

Dear Arturo,

I play in your nest a lot and your babies don’t come out of your eggs. Are the babies coming?

As I responded to these letters, I loved imagining the excitement as children discovered a response from Arturo in their mailbox. I decided to share this excitement with children back at home and created a mail exchange between Arturo and the children’s center where I used to work in Massachusetts. As an introduction, I sent my past students (now big preschoolers!) a letter introducing my new friend Arturo. I also included pictures from my trip to Texas, the DMA, and some silly shots of Arturo and I playing in the nest.

I was delighted to hear back from the children’s center last week and enjoyed reading the children’s questions. I look forward to continuing the mail exchange with my past students and also visiting with them during my trip home this spring.

Stay tuned for more updates about Arturo’s magical mail!

Amelia Wood
McDermott Intern for Family and Access Teaching

DMA Education Staff Braves ‘Icemageddon’

This past weekend brought freezing temperatures and several inches of ice to North Texas. As the outside world turned into a scene similar to Church’s The Icebergs, the DMA shut down, leaving us with an unexpected four day weekend. When we returned to work on Tuesday, I had fun polling members of the DMA Education team on how they spent their ‘Icemageddon.’

Frederic Edwin Church, The Icebergs, 1861, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Norma and Lamar Hunt

Frederic Edwin Church, The Icebergs, 1861, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Norma and Lamar Hunt

Home Time:

After getting over a bad case of the canceled Dallas Marathon blues, I hunkered down for a lazy weekend with my roommates complete with pajamas, a roaring fire, several baking experiments, cat snuggling, and season 1 of Doctor Who.

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Leah Hanson also enjoyed nesting at home and spent her time off “warming up next to the fireplace, eating cookies and watching the movie Elf with friends.”

The crafty Danielle Shulz also spent her Icemageddon watching movies (making it through all five Harry Potter flicks!), and sewing some fabulous curtains. She was quite content to come back to work and find that her loving work pal, Stacy Lizotte, had made her delicious cookies during her time off.

Quality Kid Time:

The long weekend gave parents a chance to spend some quality time with their little ones. Melissa Gonzales spent her Icemageddon watching movies, making soup, and playing with her son, Eli.  She also completed a few craft projects during Eli’s naptime. Kudos to you, Melissa!

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Jessica Fuentes also kept busy with her daughter, Julia. “Being stuck inside with a 7 year old ball of energy for 4 days was fun and problematic.  We had to get outside, so my daughter opted to go sledding… she thought I should try it out, but I preferred to watch her. Julia also built a shelter to camp out in while we watched old Disney movies and I Love Lucy.”

Amanda Batson was able to get out of the Big D to spend an epic weekend in Austin caring for three little girls. “We had an incredible time staying safe and warm away from all the ice! We watched the new Disney movie Frozen, drank pink hot cocoa, played board games and had tasty s ’mores. On my way back to Dallas I stopped by the University of Texas at Austin campus where I completed my MA in Museum Studies to soak in some memories and then decided to get a new tattoo! But this trip would not have been complete without a visit to the nationally acclaimed Round Rock Donuts! At least I had delicious glazed bites to keep me calm through the scary, icy drive home.”

Outdoor Adventures:

Amy Elms, an Austin native, enjoyed exploring and taking photos of the the snow outside of her apartment. “I’ve mostly lived in cities that very rarely get snow or ice, so it’s always exciting when the area I live in is transformed into a winter wonderland! As soon as I woke up on Friday, I went and explored the park near my apartment complex. It was fun to crunch around in the ice and see all the icicles hanging from the trees. It was a little tricky to walk around without slipping and falling though!”

Amy Elms Icemageddon

Amy’s neighbor, Hayley Prihoda, also took photos of Dallas’ unexpected winter wonderland. She also spent time at Half Price Books where she kept warm and entertained.

A bit further up north, Madeleine Fitzgerald and a fellow Dentonian ventured out for chips and salsa to survive to Icemageddon. They soon discovered that they weren’t the only ones who had that idea…

Madeleine Fitzgerald Icemageddon

Although it was a bit foggy coming back to work after Icemageddon finally defrosted, it was fun to hear about how the DMA Education staff braved the storm. How did you spend your time off?

Amelia Wood
McDermott Intern for Family and Access Teaching

Work Pals with Wendell

When we were assigned work pals, Amy and I were both intrigued and excited about being matched up with Wendell Sneed. Although we had seen him around the Museum, we didn’t know a lot about him or the work he did at the DMA. Following the meeting, several coworkers also shared their excitement about our partnership with Wendell- sending links that revealed his role in the Dallas jazz and funk scene in the 1960’s and 70s. Although black musicians in Dallas at that time struggled with segregation, Wendell, a drummer, and Roger Boykin, a guitarist, organized the first and only South Dallas Pop Festival and founded Soultex Records.

Wendell with Soul Seven, who performed at the South Dallas Pop Festival.

Wendell with Soul Seven, who performed at the South Dallas Pop Festival.

Today, Wendell, who has worked at the DMA for over twenty years, is the Program Coordinator for Jazz in the Atrium, a free event every Thursday night during which visitors enjoy food, drinks, and live jazz performances. Before we became work pals, we were unfamiliar with the process of how Jazz in the Atrium is organized, but after getting to know Wendell a bit more and enjoying our own night of jazz, we were able to better understand all the hard work that goes into organizing such a lively Museum event.

Jazz in the Atrium brings in large crowds to the Museum every Thursday and as Wendell explained to us, many families and couples have been attending for years. He also revealed that prospective artists often approach him at the event about their interest in performing. Wendell welcomes this interest and invites artists to send him a press pack and a demo. He then does research to find out if the artist is performing in the Dallas area. If they are, he makes an effort to listen to them live. He sometimes he doesn’t let the artists know that he is planning on attending and stands somewhere in the venue where they can’t see him. This helps Wendell to get a good feel for the artists’ ‘true sound.’

Wendell’s favorite part of organizing Jazz in the Atrium is when his chosen artists finally perform. The night that we attended, we had the privilege of listening to jazz artist Breggett Rideau. A 2009 Grammy Nominee for Best Jazz Vocal Album, Breggett is a New Orleans native who now resides in the Dallas area and performs at the DMA multiple times a year.

Wendell welcomes jazz lovers and introduces Breggett Rideau.

Wendell welcomes jazz lovers and introduces Breggett Rideau.

Breggett Rideau impresses the crowd last Thursday night.

Breggett Rideau impresses the crowd last Thursday night.

Throughout the past two months, we have truly enjoyed the time we’ve spent with Wendell. His passion for music is contagious and he enjoys sharing it with everyone he meets. We look forward to learning more from him during the rest of our internship at the DMA and encourage everyone to check out a night of Jazz in the Atrium this holiday season!

Amy and Amelia

Amelia Wood
McDermott Intern for Family and Access Teaching

Amy Elms
McDermott Intern for Visitor Engagement

Friday Photos: Insta Interns

This week marks the completion of the first month of the McDermott Internship Program–and quite an exciting month it has been! For most of us, this month has involved moving, exploring a new city, meeting new friends and, most importantly, starting a new job. With the first month drawing to a close, I thought it was only appropriate to look back at this amazing, whirlwind month and share some of our fun “behind-the-scenes” photos. So, let’s begin the Insta Intern Tour: Our First 30 days as McDermott Interns as seen via Instagram.

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Our first day at the DMA was September 3, which primarily served as an orientation day. We enjoyed coffee and bagels as we filled out our employment paperwork, took photographs for our employee badges and learned the basics of navigating our way around the building. The highlight of the day, however, was the trip to the so-called Intern Pit. Most of the interns have a desk in this office area and we were excited to discover that our official plaques had already found their home!

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Later that week, we took the DMA’s Artist Personality Quiz to discover our DMA Art Doppelganger. The quiz provided a fun introduction to the DMA’s collection and we all found that it was extremely accurate in it’s suggestions! Personally, I was very happy to identify myself as a Claude Monet 🙂

 Nature or Abundance

As McDermott Interns, we have had the privilege of touring the collections with our wonderful curators. These tours have helped us learn more about the different collection areas, the history of collecting at the DMA, and the curator’s considerations when they are designing the layouts for the galleries. Nature or Abundance by Leon Frederic immediately caught my eye during our tour of the European Galleries on Level 2.

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On September 10th, we took our first off-site intern tour to the Sixth Floor Museum. The collection was very informative and engaging and helped to provide contextual information for Hotel Texas: An Art Exhibition for the President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy. As many of us are from out-of-state, it was interesting to learn about this piece of Dallas’ history and the continuing impact of President John F. Kennedy’s legacy today.

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One of our favorite lunch spots is the DMA’s Sculpture Garden. Its light shade, beautiful sculptures and soothing waterfalls provide the perfect break from the office.

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A few weeks in, my desk was finally beginning to look lived-in! It is now decorated with exhibition catalogues, postcards from my travels, an homage to my alma mater, plenty of coffee mugs, and a welcome poster from the FAST Education Team.

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Recently, we received a behind-the-scenes tour of the DMA’s enormous art storage. Registrar Anne Lenhart guided us through the various spaces and pulled out a few of our favorite pieces so we could take a closer look! Here we are viewing Arkadia’s Last Resort by Jess.

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Many of the interns have been very active in the DMA Friends program, earning credit for attending Gallery Talks, Lectures, Late Nights, and other events around the Museum. We recently traded-in our Friends points for DMA catalogues!

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As the McDermott Intern for Gallery and Community teaching, I am responsible for driving the swanky Go Van Gogh van to participant elementary schools throughout Northwest Texas. The Go Van Gogh program brings the DMA collections out into the community and allows children to learn about and create their own art! See you on the road!

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The three photographs above document our off-site field trip to The Warehouse. This amazing gallery space houses a stunning collection of contemporary art, approximately 1/3 of which is co-owned by the DMA! The current exhibition is titled Parallel View: Italian and Japanese Art from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.

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And this is what happens when interns receive baked treats. Thank you to all DMA employees for making us feel welcome!

Artworks Shown:

  • Léon Frédéric, Nature or Abundance (detail), 1897, Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, Mrs. John B. O’Hara Fund
  • Jess, Arkadia’s Last Resort; or, Fête Champêtre Up Mnemosyne Creek (detail), 1976, Dallas Museum of Art, General Acquisitions Fund

Hayley Prihoda
McDermott Intern for Gallery and Community Teaching

Over and Out

Today is the last day at the Dallas Museum of Art for the 2012-2013 McDermott Interns. Pilar and I have had a great time working together for the Family, Access, and School Experiences team and writing for Canvas. We will miss the DMA and wanted to reflect on our time here.

Pilar celebrates her birthday at the DMA!

Pilar celebrates her birthday at the DMA!

3 things I learned at the DMA:

  1. I have learned that elementary school girls are obsessed with One Direction! In spending lots of time teaching our Go van Gogh outreach programs, I’ve gained quite an insight as to what’s cool these days (hint, it’s not me).
  2. While I am a McDermott education intern, there are also four McDermott curatorial interns with whom we share office space. I have learned so much about the curatorial side of the museum field through daily interactions with these awesome future curators!
  3. I have had the amazing opportunity to learn how to teach in a formal classroom setting through Go van Gogh. This experience has allowed me to understand the differences in practice between formal and informal instruction styles.

Favorite part of the internship:

I was able to develop a new Go van Gogh curriculum that is based on American History as told by DMA artworks. I not only learned a ton about the editing and review process that takes place at a large institution, but I also had a great refresher course on American history!

Post-internship plans:

I will be doing lots of travelling this summer: Colorado, New Mexico, Amsterdam, the south of France, and Spain! After which, I’ll end up in Vancouver where I will be starting in the Master of Museum Education program at the University of British Columbia.

Pilar Wong
McDermott Intern for Community Teaching

Alex bids farewell from Emery Reves' study

Alex bids farewell from Emery Reves’ study

3 things I learned at the DMA:

  1. I’ve really enjoyed working with our docent corps of about 100 volunteers. They are an enthusiastic, intelligent, generous bunch. I’ve learned a great deal from the DMA docents, and I will miss working with them.
  2. As the Gallery Teaching Intern, I toured mainly with elementary school students. That age group consistently offered refreshing interpretations of works of art, and their enthusiasm and frankness is something to which more adults, myself included, should aspire.
  3. I’ve definitely learned the importance of flexibility and openness. Some of the best experiences I’ve had have resulted from spontaneous changes – whether filling in last-minute for a docent or allowing visitors to choose what they want to see and discuss.

Favorite part of the internship:

I loved writing docent guides. These guides help introduce the docents to special exhibitions and the DMA’s permanent collection. They offer art historical and contextual information, as well as ways to interpret these shows for a variety of audiences. It combines my interest in research and art history with my passion for education.

Post-internship plans:

I’ll be sticking around Dallas for June and July. Then I will embark on my version of The Great American Roadtrip as I head back to the east coast. In the fall I will begin the Arts in Education master’s program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Alex Vargo
McDermott Intern for Gallery Teaching

Thank you to everyone who has helped make this experience so fulfilling. Have a great summer!

Sincerely,
2012-2013 McDermott Interns

The Spot for Art

Over the last few years, DMA visitors may have come to know the drop-in art making area in the Center for Creative Connections as the Space Bar, a name that corresponded with our Encountering Space exhibition. If you’ve come into C3 lately, you probably noticed that we like to make strong connections and keep things fresh. When it was known as the Space Bar, this area offered materials loosely based on works of art in the C3 Gallery. Every month we changed the materials to focus on a new theme related to the concept of space.

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Martin Delabano, Family Portrait 1963, 2001, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Bryant M. Hanley, Jr., Lorine and David H. Gibson, and Sonny Burt and Bob Butler

Now known as the Art Spot, this area still offers art-making for anyone, anytime, but the focus is now on a specific artwork. Since November 2012, Martin Delabano’s Family Portrait 1963 has provided inspiration for our visitors. The complexity of this piece allows us to explore various themes over an extended period of time.

In November and December, we encouraged visitors to better understand the characters within the sculpture and consider the clues the artist has given us by the items associated with each family member. Visitors could use the materials provided to create their own 3D Family Portrait.

During January and February, we focused on the sculptural aspect of this piece and the assortment of materials the artist used.  Our visitors used materials ranging from buttons to wood scraps to create Found Object Sculptures.

In March and April we took a closer look at the four-legged family member, Crackers, and asked visitors to make their own pet or an imaginary Pet Pal for the Delabano family pet.

Next month our theme changes once again. This time we are taking the perspective of the artist, who in 2001 portrayed his family and himself as they were in 1963. Martin Delabano isn’t the artist at the easel, rather he’s the young boy posing like our beloved “Big Tex” from the State Fair of Texas. Come by C3 in May and June to see Family Portrait 1963 and make a Past or Future Self-Portrait of your own.

Jessica Fuentes
C3 Gallery Coordinator

What I Learned from the Stark Museum

Last week, I traveled to Beaumont with Jessica Harden, the DMA’s Director of Exhibition Design, to present at the Texas Association of Museums Annual Conference.  Together, we presented on the topic of Building an Interactive Art Exhibition with two colleagues from the Stark Museum of Art: Allison Evans, Registrar, and Elena Ivanova, Chief Educator.

Hands-on spaces and interactive art exhibitions have been on the rise in art museums. In 2008, we launched the Center for Creative Connections (C3), a permanent space dedicated to providing interactive learning experiences for visitors of all ages. Our portion of the presentation addressed the changing nature of the C3.  Over the years, the space has evolved and transformed, bringing in new works of art and offering a variety of experiences. The Stark’s portion of the presentation spoke to their experience of developing a temporary interactive exhibition called Explore Art: Materials and Methods Revealed. From July-September 2012, this exhibition enabled visitors to “discover the techniques and tools artists use and have the opportunity to create their own art in hands-on areas.”

When gauging the success of these types of exhibitions, art museum educators are hoping visitors will slow down, spend time looking, and have a meaningful experience with works of art. On average, visitors to the Stark spent thirty minutes in the exhibition. 57% of visitors stopped and looked at works of art for a significant amount of time and 48% of visitors were able to mention a specific work of art that they remembered from the exhibition.

Being a smaller institution, the Stark cannot dedicate a permanent space like C3 within their museum. However, they have been able to implement some of these interactive aspects into their new exhibitions. Take a look at some of the recent interactives they have integrated below.

Many museums look to us at the DMA as an example of how to achieve this type of exhibition. We are fortunate to have supportive staff and donors who believe in the mission of C3, and enable us to continually offer these types of experiences to our visitors. What I learned from the Stark Museum was that small institutions are also prime places for similar initiatives, on a smaller scale.

Jessica Fuentes
C3 Gallery Coordinator


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