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Archive Page 47

Friday Photos: Summer Lovin’

The Education team works very hard to make your summer vacation fun and exciting for families and kids of all ages. So it only makes sense that we play just as hard! Some of us had some big art-related vacations, exciting camping adventures, and we had a lot of fun working in between (with or without our pups!). Check out some of our summer highlights!

: Madeleine visited Mykonos, an island in Greece known for it’s bright blue skies, windmills and clear water.

: Madeleine and her friends at the Basilica of the Annunciation with the US’s mosaic. Each country has one!

: Madeleine stayed with her friend’s family in Israel. This is the view of the Mediterranean from her house!

: Madeleine finally visited the Acropolis! A dream she’s had since her first art history class in high school.

: Emily led a touch tour in the Sculpture Garden for students from DISD with vision impairment.

: After Emily’s touch tour, everyone made a Minimalist sculpture inspired by Richard Serra using cookies!

: George and his Uncle Cosmo celebrated the Fourth of July in style!

: George also prepared a dog-themed nursery for his future BFF. Crib skirt and dog pillow by Leah.

: Sarah stayed close to home and visited the Fort Worth Zoo with her son Rhys.

: Rhys enjoyed watching the playful penguins and his favorite animal, zebra!

: Leah hiking in Utah with her sister.

: Leah and her sisters about to do a ropes course at the Olympic Park in Park City, Utah.

: Amanda taught at MoMA as part of The Art of Examination forum.

: While in New York, Amanda and her mom saw the Broadway musical Matilda.

: Amanda saw the Martin Creed installation at the Park Avenue Armory while in New York.

: Lindsay took a selfie with this Renaissance-inspired mirror while at an antique store on King Street.

: Lindsay visited her parents in Charleston, South Carolina.

: Lindsay captured a Gone With the Wind sunset while in the Lowcountry Region of South Carolina.

: Lindsay’s pup Hattie celebrated Independence Day (with a bandana from Whitney Sirois)!

: Andi visited Epcot and Disney World in June.

: Andi went on a safari at Disney World and hung out with giraffes!

: Jessica’s family hit the open road this summer!

: Jessica’s family camped out, ate s’mores, and hiked through the Badlands.

: Jessica’s daughter Julia loved seeing Mount Rushmore up close and personal!

Madeleine Fitzgerald
Audience Relations Coordinator

But Wait There’s More!

Published August 17, 2016 Arts & Letters Live 1 Comment
Tags: Arts & Letters Live, Candice Millard, Dallas Museum of Art, DMA, Hannah Rothschild, Margo Jefferson, Patricia Cornwell, Robert Hoge, Ross King, Yaa Gyasi

DMA Arts & Letters Live, the Museum’s acclaimed literary and performing arts series, announced a “but wait there’s more!” extension of its 25th anniversary season this week with six author events for the fall.

I’m particularly excited that each of these carefully selected programs dovetails with the DMA’s collection, and we’re offering pre-event tours so that people can explore connections between the featured books and art currently on view.

Here’s the scoop and a few tidbits on why we selected them.

September 11: Robert Hoge

Australian author Robert Hoge wowed us with his TEDx talk, sharing his own poignant and personal story of being born with a tumor on his face and disfigured legs. His memoir for adults and now middle grade students, Ugly addresses life, love, beauty, imperfection, and pain, so his story will resonate with a wide variety of ages. Hoge says, “We all have scars only we can own.” Our pre-event tour will focus on Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait Very Ugly and stir discussion about self-perception and ideas of beauty.

September 15: Ross King

Claude Monet, Water Lilies, 1908, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated, 1981.128

Ross King returns to the DMA by popular demand with his new book, Mad Enchantment, about the beloved artist Claude Monet and the creation of his famous water lily paintings. He argues that there is more than meets the eye with these serene images of beauty, examining the complexity behind them and the frustrations and challenges that Monet overcame to create them. A docent will discuss the DMA’s iconic painting of water lilies and other Impressionist highlights before the event.

September 28: Candice Millard

Candice Millard’s brilliant new biography, Hero of the Empire, pinpoints the little-known story of young Winston Churchill’s Indiana Jones–like adventures, including a bold escape from prison camp during the Boer War. Millard offers keen insights on how the lessons Churchill learned in the midst of these challenges related to his achievements and legacy as prime minister later in his life. Before the event, enjoy a gallery talk about Winston Churchill’s friendship with Wendy and Emery Reves and see his paintings and belongings on view in the Reves Collection.

October 26: Yaa Gyasi and Margo Jefferson

One of the most buzzworthy books this summer, garnering more than 250 stellar reviews on Amazon, Yaa Gyasi’s epic debut novel, Homegoing, begins with two half-sisters in 18th-century Ghana—one married off to a wealthy Englishman, the other sold into slavery—and traces the lives of their descendants to 20th-century America. (FYI: Knopf acquired the novel for more than $1 million from the then 25-year-old author!). Pulitzer Prize–winning critic Margo Jefferson adored Gyasi’s novel and will discuss it with her as well as her own National Book Critics Circle Award–winning memoir, Negroland. Before the event, join curator Dr. Roslyn Walker in the galleries to explore works of art from Ghana.

November 15: Hannah Rothschild

British author Hannah Rothschild knows the art world—she comes from a prominent art-collecting family and is the first woman chair of the National Gallery in London. Rothschild is coming to the DMA in her only US appearance for the paperback release of her debut novel, The Improbability of Love. The New York Times hailed it as “a frolicsome art-world caper,” and Elizabeth Gilbert called it “an inspired feast of clever delights.” In it, Annie McDee stumbles upon a grimy painting in a secondhand shop that turns out to be a lost masterpiece by one of the most important French artists of the 18th century. While searching for the painting’s identity, Annie will unwittingly uncover some of the darkest secrets of European history as well as the possibility of falling in love again. Before the event, don’t miss the chance to hear Dr. Nicole Myers, The Lillian and James H. Clark Curator of European Painting and Sculpture, highlight 18th–century French paintings in the DMA’s collection.

November 17: Patricia Cornwell

We’ve had several requests to bring in the #1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell on audience surveys, so we are excited to cap off our 25th anniversary season with twenty-five years of Cornwell’s popular high-stakes series starring medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Cornwell will share insights about her new novel, Chaos, involving a cyberbully; her creative process in researching and writing her books; and her theory that artist Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper. Fans can purchase VIP experience tickets that include a wine and cheese reception with the author, a hardcover copy of Chaos, reserved premium seating, and a book signing fast-track pass.

You can make DMA Arts & Letters Live your own book club—invite your friends to join you for these unique and inspiring evenings combining books and art!

Carolyn Bess is the Director of Arts & Letters Live at the DMA.

Go van Gogh on a Volunteer Excursion!

Published August 16, 2016 Art & Teaching 2 Comments
Tags: Community, Creativity, Go van Gogh, Volunteer

As another fantastic summer comes to an end, it’s time to start looking forward to a fall season full of fun. To get involved in the excitement, consider becoming a volunteer!

Go van Gogh is currently recruiting outreach volunteers for the 2016-2017 school year to help us lead classroom programs across Dallas! We’re seeking volunteers who love working with children, have a passion for art, and want to give back to the community.

Go van Gogh volunteers help facilitate and teach programs in elementary classrooms that encourage students to look closely at works of art in the Museum’s collection and express their creativity through art making activities.

Interested volunteers must attend bi-monthly training sessions held Tuesday mornings from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Additionally, volunteers are asked to teach two programs per month from early October to mid-May. Programs are scheduled on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning.

All applications are due by Thursday, September 8, so hurry and submit your application here. If you’d like additional information, feel free to send an email to volunteers@DMA.org. We hope you’ll Go van Gogh around Dallas with us this year!

Andi Orkin
Volunteer Coordinator for Programming

Friday Photos: A-B-C-D-Edie!

Published August 12, 2016 Friday Photos Closed
Tags: baby, baby shower, books, crafting, DIY projects

On Tuesday, we celebrated Amanda with a book-themed baby shower for her upcoming addition, Edie. Being the artistic bunch we are, the creativity abounded with children’s book inspired bites (green eggs and ham quiche, anyone?), Westie George bookplates (great work Emily!), and other book-centric decor. Our very talented Jennifer even created a DIY alphabet book for attendees to illustrate! Check out our pics and this post to find inspiration for your own artful book-themed gathering!

Sarah Coffey
Education Coordinator

Freeze Frame

Published August 10, 2016 Artifacts , Exhibitions , Guest Blog Post Closed
Tags: Artifacts magazine, Dallas Museum of Art, DMA, DMA Members, Irving Penn, Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty, photography

It’s hard to believe, but we’re in the final week of the celebrated exhibition Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty. Prior to the show’s opening in April of this year, Allison V. Smith, photographer and granddaughter of Stanley Marcus, shared with the DMA Member magazine, Artifacts, her first encounter with the work of Irving Penn and the impact of his legacy. Read about her experience below, and discover the work of Irving Penn for the first time or for the hundredth time through Sunday with buy one get on free exhibition tickets offered every day.

One of the Real Greats
By Allison V. Smith
Original publish date: Artifacts Spring–Summer 2016

Irving Penn’s name is synonymous with beauty in fashion photography. So it’s no surprise that in 1990 my grandfather Stanley Marcus gave me, a young, passionate photographer, a signed copy of Issey Miyake’s catalogue photographed by Irving Penn. An enclosed handwritten Post-it note read:

“Dear Allie— Penn, in my opinion, is the greatest of the fashion photographers and perhaps one of the real greats of the 20th century. Are you friends with him?”

I wasn’t, but I quickly took the time to educate myself.

Penn’s prolific photographic career spanned seventy years, and in this time he managed to merge the lines between fashion and fine art. His first cover for Vogue magazine was published in 1943, and he would shoot at least 150 more.

Irving Penn, Salvador Dali, New York, 1947, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist. Copyright © The Irving Penn Foundation

Irving Penn, Salvador Dali, New York, 1947, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, © The Irving Penn Foundation

Penn’s assignments ranged from shooting striking models in designer dresses on location in Paris, to contemporary still lifes of familiar objects, to the simple “corner portraits” of artists that included Salvador Dalí and Truman Capote. These portraits were made sometime in 1948 in a constructed corner in his studio. The sitter embraced the corner, demonstrating his or her own personality and making the static background Penn chose into a private stage. Dalí fills the frame in a confident pose, with both arms placed firmly on his knees. Capote kneels on a chair, wearing an oversized tweed jacket and looking directly at the photographer. It’s hard to tell whether he’s feeling vulnerable or safe.

Irving Penn, Truman Capote, New York, 1979, printed 1983, silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation. Copyright © The Irving Penn Foundation

Irving Penn, Truman Capote, New York, 1979, printed 1983, silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation, © The Irving Penn Foundation

Penn wrote in Passage: A Work Record about this process: “This confinement, surprisingly, seemed to comfort people, soothing them. The walls were a surface to lean on or push against. For me the picture possibilities were interesting; limiting the subjects’ movement seemed to relieve me of part of the problem of holding on to them.”

Working for Vogue, Penn had the dream job of traveling the world photographing portraits of everyday people—artisans and blue-collar workers in Paris and London, a gypsy community in Spain, and the tribes of New Guinea. Penn approached all of his portraits with the same respect and elegance as he did in posing a model in Paris or an Issey Miyake design.

Irving Penn, Issey Miyake Fashion: White and Black, New York, 1990, printed 1992, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation, © The Irving Penn Foundation

Penn’s photographs are subtle and sophisticated, often finding his subjects against a blank backdrop. His meticulous flowers are a study of visual rhythm. His nudes, whom he shot on countless rolls of film on his Rolleiflex camera between 1949 and 1950, went largely unseen until 1980. He closely examined the shapes of models of all sizes. The results were about form and less about nakedness.

A prolific photographer and a technical master, he made personal work throughout his life, including his early photographs of shop window displays, and later cigarette butts, smashed cups, and chewing gum. These simple photos of litter experimented with different photographic processes, such as platinum and palladium, giving them a rich quality—and also leaving an indelible mark on me.

Allison V. Smith is an editorial and fine art photographer based in Dallas. In 2008, the DMA presented “Reflection of a Man: The Photography of Stanley Marcus,” a retrospective of photographs taken by the department store magnate and produced by Smith and her mother, Jerrie Smith.

2016 Museum Forum for Teachers

Published August 9, 2016 Art & Teaching , Creativity 2 Comments
Tags: Dallas Museum of Art, Kimbell Art Museum, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Museum Forum, Nasher Sculpture Center, teacher workshop, The Warehouse

This summer I had the opportunity to participate in my first Museum Forum for Teachers, a week-long teacher workshop coordinated by The Warehouse, Nasher Sculpture Center, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, and the Dallas Museum of Art. Each day, twenty-four dedicated North Texas educators braved traffic across the DFW metroplex to participate in a full day of museum experiences, discussions, and projects for CPE credit centered around modern and contemporary art. Part of the fun of Museum Forum is that each institution hosts one day of the week, so we rotate and spend time exploring different collections. What could be better than the chance to catch up on current exhibitions and collaborate with a fabulous group of teachers and museum educators!

This year marked the ten-year anniversary of Museum Forum. To celebrate, we tried out a daily “Educator Exchange” and led a session at one of the other institutions (we also consumed many, many cupcakes). I shared A Work in Progress: Plaster in the Nasher Collection, and we practiced an exercise called Drawers and Describers in pairs.

Discussing the Joel Shapiro exhibition at the Nasher Sculpture Center before creating stop-motion video shorts.

: Joshua Berry-Jones, Mayor’s Intern Fellow, leads a camera obscura studio project at the DMA.

: Educator Exchange at the Nasher Sculpture Center.

: Checking out a Shapiro in the Nasher’s sculpture garden.

: Studio time at the Kimbell.

: Even teachers get homework at Museum Forum!

: Joshua keeping everyone on track.

: Everyone was thrilled to try out their new camera obscura!

: Group discussion at the Nasher.

: Checking out memories from previous year on the ten year anniversary.

: Teamwork during studio time at the DMA.

Here at the DMA, we tried out a collaborative poetry exercise in Passages in Modern Art: 1946 – 1996. We divided into groups of five, and each group was assigned a work of art in the exhibition. After taking some time to quietly sketch and make notes, each participant wrote down one sentence on a slip of paper from the point of view of the work of art. From there, each group worked together to arrange their responses together into a narrative. Check out their outstanding work!

: Jasper Johns, Device, 1961-1962, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of The Art Museum League, Margaret J. and George V. Charlton, Mr. and Mrs. James B. Francis, Dr. and Mrs. Ralph Greenlee, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. James H. W. Jacks, Mr. and Mrs. Irvin L. Levy, Mrs. John W. O’Boyle, and Dr. Joanne Stroud in honor of Mrs. Eugene McDermott

: Collaborative poem inspired by Jasper Johns.

: Dorothea Rockburne, Locus Series #6, 1972, Dallas Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. Jake L. Hamon Fund.

: Collaborative poem inspired by Dorothea Rockburne.

: Tracy Hicks, Clear Cut, 1985–1986, Dallas Museum of Art, Museum League Purchase Fund.

: Collaborative poem inspired by Tracy Hicks.

: Jim Dine, Self-Portrait Next to A Colored Window, 1964, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Art Association Purchase, Contemporary Arts Council Fund.

: Collaborative poem inspired by Jim Dine.

: Yayoi Kusama, Accumulation,1962–1964, The Rachofsky Collection and the Dallas Museum of Art through the DMA/amfAR Benefit Auction Fund.

: Collaborative poem inspired by Yayoi Kusama.

Speaking for myself, the week was inspiring, immersive, and left me excited to revisit some of the exercises and ideas we explored in upcoming Teacher Programs. Our participants enjoyed Museum Forum almost as much as museum staff!

I love the forum, all of the museum staff involved, and everything you guys do. Thank you so much! I’ll be back next year.

I was impressed with EVERY aspect of this. It was the most rewarding (personally & professionally) training I have attended in…forever!!!

This is by far the most fun and most challenging teacher conference I have ever attended!! The level of critical thinking necessary blows away anything I’ve done as a teacher in a very long time. Thank you so much!!!

Interested in joining us for Museum Forum for Teachers next summer? Sign up to receive our emails and check the box for Information for Teachers, so you can stay connected to exciting professional development opportunities here at the DMA!

Lindsay O’Connor
Manager of Docent and Teacher Programs

Going for the Green

Published August 5, 2016 Collections Closed
Tags: Dallas Museum of Art, DMA. Olympics, Greece, Hercules, Rio 2016

Have you ever wondered why Olympians are crowned with a wreath of leaves when receiving a medal? Well, you see, it was not always about going for the gold: in ancient times, victors were adorned with a crown of wild olive leaves (kotinos). Legend has it that Hercules (also known in Greek as Heracles or Herakles) was the creator of the Olympic Games, which at its inception solely consisted of a single tournament of foot racing. He dedicated the contest to the gods, and ornamented the winners with a wreath from an olive tree that grew behind the temple of Zeus in Olympia. Ever since, the wreath has been a symbol of the Olympic Games. After all, who needs a piece of precious metal when the pride of Olympus—and Greece’s divine hero—has given you some sacred flora to show off?

: Bust of Herakles, Lambert Sigisbert Adam, Roman, 1st-2nd century C.E., marble, Dallas Museum of Art, Cecil and Ida Green Acquisition Fund, gift of David T. Owsley via the Alvin and Lucy Owsley Foundations, and Wendover Fund, 2015.31

: Scarab with intaglio of Herakles stringing his bow, Greek, c. 600 B.C.E., rock crystal, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Jerry L. Abramson in memory of Max and Celia Abramson, 2006.68.3

: Wreath, Greek, 4th century B.C.E., gold, Dallas Museum of Art, Museum League Purchase Funds, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., and Cecil H. and Ida M. Green in honor of Virginia Lucas Nick, 1991.75.55

Best of luck to all the athletes competing in Rio. May you be faster, higher, and stronger!

Julie Henley is the Communications and Marketing Coordinator at the DMA.

On your mark, get set, Go van Gogh!

Published August 5, 2016 Art & Teaching , works of art 2 Comments
Tags: 2016 Olympics, Friday Photos, Go for the Gold, Go van Gogh summer library program, Hampton Illinois Library, Mixed Doubles, North Oak Cliff Library

The Rio Olympics may just be getting started, but some of us here at the DMA have been going for the gold all summer long. Former Graduate McDermott Intern for Gallery and Community Teaching, Whitney Sirois, wrote this year’s Go van Gogh summer outreach program,”Go for Gold: Art and the Olympic Games.” The program brings together DMA artworks that celebrate everything we love about the games (gleaming prizes for the victorious!, scenes of athletes in action!, an array of incredible uniforms!), and it has definitely gotten us in the Olympic spirit.

We trained for this moment by looking closely at artworks from Ancient Greece. We crowned ourselves victors with golden pipe cleaner wreaths. We tried a toga on for size. We even got our wiggles out in Olympic fashion–stretching and doing some jumping-jacks, just like athletes! (And then we decided it was a good thing that Olympians don’t wear togas anymore–they make jumping-jacks tricky!).

: getting a closer look

: toga time!

: stretching like athletes

The DMA’s Mixed Doubles painting inspired our art projects. We had to look very closely to determine which Olympic sport artist George L. K. Morris painted. Can you find the athlete’s arms and legs, and their sports equipment in the painting below? Using only triangles of construction paper and black markers, we then created our own similarly abstracted collages of a favorite sport. Many of our abstracted masterpieces were about the very Olympic sports we’ll be watching over the next few weeks.

: George L. K. Morris, Mixed Doubles, 1948, American, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of David T. Owsley via the Alvin and Lucy Owsley and Alconda-Owsley Foundations

: sporty arms

: Hampton-Illinois library

Now it’s your turn to look closely at some artworks! Can you pair the Go for Gold collages below to the matching Rio sport pictograms for equestrian, soccer (football, in Olympic-speak!), and archery? What other sports do you see?

: swimming

Amy Copeland
Manager of Go van Gogh and Community Teaching Programs

I’m Never Saying Goodbye!

Published August 3, 2016 People 1 Comment
Tags: internship, mayor's intern, teens

Hey everyone, my name is Joshua Berry-Jones. I’m a summer intern here at the Dallas Museum of Art through the Mayor’s Intern Fellows Program. I was chosen out of hundreds of students to come work for the DMA. In total, I interviewed at six different potential jobs. To be honest, I could have landed anywhere, but by fate I ended up here. I have to say, I couldn’t be happier–working at the DMA is the best!

What I’ve experienced at the DMA has exceeded all of my expectations. I’ve done more things than I can count on my fingers AND toes. I mainly worked with the Go van Gogh program, under my supervisor Amy Copeland. This year’s theme was “Go for the Gold.” We would educate children about Ancient Greece and how art tied into the Olympics. When I was not running around in the Go van Gogh van, I was shadowing many programs here at the DMA. One memorable moment would be when I was dressed up as a mummy for the DISD touch tour for children with visual impairment. Another would be when I choreographed a few dance moves with the Dance for PD program.

: 2016 Mayor’s Intern Fellow Joshua Berry-Jones

: ?

I’ve also been given plenty of opportunities to learn and build upon many valuable traits desired in today’s workforce. I was even allowed to completely coordinate a new program for the DMA in partnership with CitySquare, during which we created art with over 100 kids. I was the point of contact for volunteers, DMA staff, and CitySquare employees. I even came up with the art project the kids made. I am so thankful to Amy for giving me the chance to do that.

Out of the few jobs that I’ve had, and the many I will have in the future, the DMA will have a special place in my heart. Every day when I walk in, I feel a welcoming presence. Every person here has a personality that I cannot forget. These eight weeks have flown by so fast, I feel like it’s still my first day. I will never forget the wisdom and guidance that I gained at the DMA, and in the future, I plan to volunteer and/or work here. For me, this was not a job. This was an amusement park with so many different rides to try. To sum it all up, I really don’t want to leave–I’m never saying goodbye!

Joshua Berry-Jones
2016 Mayor’s Intern Fellow

State Pride

Published August 1, 2016 DMA Store Closed
Tags: Dallas Museum of Art, DMA, DMA Store, Shop DMA, Texas

Everyone can admit there is just a certain draw to Texas. We aren’t sure if it’s the Art, Bar-B-Que, or the Cowboys, but we love Texas and we’ve picked our favorite back to school gifts for you to show off your state pride. All are available online and on-site at the DMA Store.

Pegasus Snow Globe – Decorate your desk with this red Pegasus that has come to represent the city since it first flew over the Magnolia Oil Company building in 1934.

Gold Texas Necklace – This custom gold necklace is a delicate way to show your state pride.

This Is Texas by Miroslav Sasek – The stylish, charming illustrations, coupled with Sasek’s witty, playful narrative, make this book a perfect souvenir that will delight both children and adults.

Dallas Home Glass Set – Cheers to loving Dallas! This glass set makes a great addition to any home.

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