Art | Dallas Museum of Art Uncrated

Posts Tagged 'Art'

Pablo Picasso said…

Published March 30, 2010 Creativity , People , works of art 1 Comment
Tags: Advanced Placement, AP Strategies, Art, Artists, exhibition, high school artists, O'Donnell, students

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.

Best in Show - Looking Glass Self by Katy Wood

The halls and galleries of the DMA fill up this spring with two installations of creative work by young artists in the community. Earlier this month, the Young Masters exhibition opened in the Dallas Museum of Art’s Concourse. The exhibition features a selection of artworks created by Advanced Placement Art students from Dallas area high schools who participate in the O’Donnell Foundation AP Studio Arts Incentive Program. The Incentive Program focuses on making Texas the strongest state in AP arts education and preparing students for life in the 21st century as critical thinkers with global perspectives. A total 280 works were submitted for the juried exhibition, which included two rounds of judging. The DMA’s own Jeffrey Grove, Senior Hoffman Family Curator of Contemporary Art, selected the final winners. Katy Wood from Booker T. Washington High School took away top honors with her self-portrait Looking Glass Self, a color digital photograph. In her statement Katy says. “Psychology greatly influences my artwork. In this piece, I explored a psychological theory called ‘looking-glass self’, in which one’s self can be reflected by the society and environment’s perceptions.” Images by additional award winners are featured on the AP Arts Web site.

In April, the work of young artists from fourteen elementary, middle, and high schools in the Dallas area will be on display in conjunction with the exhibition Coastlines. These artists are part of the Young Artist’s Program, an education-based initiative presented with the Museum’s annual fundraising event the Art Ball. Each year the Art Ball provides essential funding for the DMA’s exhibitions programs and gives students throughout Dallas an opportunity to make art in response to a unique theme derived from a DMA exhibition. Inspired by images of coastal landscapes and the sea, many of the schools participating in the Young Artist’s Program this year are creating large-scale collaborative works that will fill gallery spaces on the first floor. Works in all media will be on view to the public from April 15 to April 24, 2010, and the exhibition will be accompanied by a video documentation of students working.

Nicole Stutzman
Director of Teaching Programs and Partnerships

Students at the Dallas International School apply encaustic to their mixed media artwork about the Moroccan coast.

Eduardo Mata Elementary artists create mixed media nautical collages.

The Tip of the Iceberg

Published March 23, 2010 works of art 2 Comments
Tags: Art, interdisciplinary, resources

One of the most popular works of art in the Dallas Museum of Art’s collection is Frederic Edwin Church’s The Icebergs. Although there are many reasons to treasure this painting, I love the connections with science and history.

Frederic Edwin Church (American, 1826 - 1900), The Icebergs, 1861, Oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, Gift of Norma and Lamar Hunt, 1979.28

With an interest in the 1845 Franklin Expedition to find the Northwest Passage, Frederic Church and his friend Reverend Louis Noble set sail during the summer of 1859 on a month-long journey to Newfoundland and Labrador. Church’s romantic notion of exploring new frontiers and recording the untamed natural world resulted in multiple sketches of icebergs. Reverend Noble documented their experiences and published the book After Icebergs with a Painter: A Summer Voyage to Labrador and Around Newfoundland in 1861.

Two things are evident to the observer: an iceberg is as solid as ivory or marble, and cold apparently as any substance on the earth. This compact and perfectly frozen body, in the warm seas of summer, finds its entire outside exposed to the July sun. The expanding power of heat becomes at length an explosive force, and throws off, with all the violence and suddenness of gunpowder, portions of the surface. If you hear thunders, come to the iceberg then. – Reverend Louis Noble, 1861

I can understand and appreciate their fascination with icebergs. Here are a few facts about these fresh water formations in the North Atlantic:

Approximately 40,000 medium-to-large sized icebergs annually calve, or break, off glaciers in Greenland; 400-800 icebergs make it as far south as Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
The age of the ice may be more than 10,000 years old.
The average size is between three and 250 feet above sea level with an approximate weight of 100,000 to 200,000 tons (the weight of 20,000 school buses).
About 7/8 of the iceberg’s mass is below the water.
The bluish streaks in the ice are from the refreezing of melted water without air bubbles.
Icebergs often tip over and roll as the ice unevenly melts.
Depending on the size, icebergs can “ground” or contact the seabed and get stuck.

When you come to the Museum, I encourage you to wander up to the 4^th floor to see this work of art. Consider the awe and wonder of these natural formations that were observed on the North Atlantic waters. You might want to bring a jacket or sweater in case you need to keep warm on your adventure!

Until next time….

Jenny Marvel
Manager of Learning Partnerships with Schools

For more information about The Icebergs and its history, read The Voyage of the Icebergs: Frederic Church’s Arctic Masterpiece written by past DMA curator, Eleanor Jones Harvey.

Community Connection: Using Art to Get at Life

Published March 18, 2010 Art & Teaching , People 1 Comment
Tags: Art, Community Connection, Contemporary Art, painting, teacher, teacher workshop, University of North Texas, works of art

As museum professionals, we attend conferences regularly to share the exciting work we are doing at the DMA and to learn from our national and international colleages. I attended the annual National Art Education Assocation Convention for the first time in 2004, and I had the pleasure of participating in a session led by Dr. Terry Barrett. Since then, I scan each year’s schedule to make sure I don’t miss an opportunity to learn from Dr. Barrett. Last year, I was delighted to hear that he had joined the Art Education faculty at the University of North Texas. I recently had a chance to talk with Dr. Barrett before UNT adjourned for Spring Break.

Dr. Terry Barrett

What sparked your interest in art education?

I’ve been in the field a long time and I got into it by default. When I graduated from college, I was eligible for the Vietnam War draft. I was opposed to the war, and one way to avoid the draft was to teach. I began teaching in an inner-city, all-black high school in St. Louis; I was there the year Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot. I fell in love with the kids and decided I liked teaching. I’ve been teaching ever since.

How would you describe your theory to a person with no experience in art education?

My mission is to help people appreciate art and to appreciate life through art, because I think art gives us different ways of thinking about the world.

Did you ever have a great idea that didn’t work? What did you learn from that experience?

No, I don’t think I ever had a great idea that didn’t work. Thinking of “great ideas” is intimidating in itself. Other people come to me with great ideas – I have said yes to many offers throughout my career, and that’s led me to different directions that have been very interesting.

For example, one big change in my career occurred when a former student asked if I would be an art critic in education for the Ohio Arts Council and I said, “Yeah, why not?” Being an art critic in the schools enlivened me; my research, my teaching and my community service came together like a circle – a productive circle.

I was a cancer patient about 5 years ago. I went through chemotherapy and private counseling and during that time I figured out I wasn’t afraid to die, but I was afraid of becoming old and inactive. My counselor told me I have to get over that fear and suggested I go to an assisted living community and work with the elderly. I said “Why not?”. I also started doing contemporary art interpretation with people with cancer, and we started seeing how those images related to our lives. They really enjoyed the process and produced some beautiful writings. That’s when I started thinking about life issues more than art issues and using art to get at life.

I had enough years at Ohio State to retire, but there was an opening at University of North Texas and I thought “Why not?”. I wasn’t ready to retire; I wanted to stay active and keep working, writing, and teaching.

I love your artist statement about choices you’ve made related to making art, your creative process, and the materials you choose. Can you tell me more about how you came to these decisions – was it a learning experience of trial and error, or did you approach artmaking this way from the beginning?

When I was young, I made art instinctively and intuitively. As I got older and was writing more, I didn’t have time to make art and do it well, so I stopped. I realized I missed it, and that’s when I began painting. Sandy Skoglund told me I needed something to fit my lifestyle. As an example, she told me about a friend who frequently traveled on an airplane and made small collages because they didn’t require a lot of space or materials. The small paintings I make really satisfy me. They’re fun to make and I don’t exhibit them; I just do them for my own enjoyment.

It seems like much of your life and work has been in the Midwest, specifically Ohio. What is your impression/experience of living and working in north Texas?

I miss the trees, but I like the sunshine a lot. The people here are friendlier than they are in the Midwest. There’s a degree of politeness that I like; the Midwest has a reputation for being a friendly place, but people here smile and make eye contact and open doors more than I’m used to. I love wide open skies, and I love living in horse country. I wish some rich ranch owner would give me a little plot of land to live on a horse farm, where I would build a small green house with a small ecological footprint.

Dr. Barrett will lead part of an upcoming Teacher Workshop titled Exploring Photography: The Lens of Impressionism, along with photographer and educator Frank Lopez. Visit the website to learn more and register.

Melissa Nelson
Manager of Learning Partnerships with the Community

Community Connection: Art in Motion

Published February 23, 2010 Art & Teaching , People , works of art Closed
Tags: Art, Community, Community Connection, performance

Last week, I had the chance to speak with Nancy Schaeffer, Education Director at the Dallas Children’s Theater. She generously set aside time for our interview; as you will see, this is one busy lady.

Tell us about your work at the Dallas Children’s Theater.

Nancy Schaeffer, Education Director at the Dallas Children's Theater

My primary responsibility is overseeing our academy. We serve children ages 3 ½ to 18 with acting classes and our teen conservatory. During the school year, as many as 300 children come to single programs during a week, and close to 1,000 children attend programs per week during the summer. We also have mini-sessions where students have multiple experiences over four weeks. It is my job to hire teachers, oversee curriculum and performances, and talk to parents. I also oversee a residency program in schools during the school day. In the summer we have musical theater, video classes, improv classes for teens, and storytelling for the little ones. All of our programs end with a production of some sort.

I also read scripts and sit on a committee that puts together the season for the year. I sit on various committees for outreach, and we work closely with the nearby Vickery Meadow neighborhood.

How did you come to be Education Director at the Dallas Children’s Theater?

I have been with the Theater since its first day. My husband was the first official full-time employee. I started as an actress in the first production: Babes in Toyland. I’m now in my 26^th season with the DCT. There was no education staff in the beginning; I eventually moved into this position over time and created my job.

What is your most memorable moment from your time with the DCT?

Moving into this building seven years ago, on Valentine’s Day. When we moved in, it was really hard, but it was really exciting. It was hard because the building was not completed when we moved in. We received a certificate of occupancy at 4:30 in the afternoon and had a show at 7:30 that night. We also had a site visit that weekend from the National Endowment for the Arts. And we were doing a show at El Centro that weekend. We had no heat in most of the building, and all of our stuff from the old building was packed onto a truck that was not unloaded for two weeks. The whole process was really something to be a part of.

Which production are you most looking forward to, and why?

I direct main stage shows – usually three a year – which is not a part of my responsibilities as Education Director. It’s a lot of work and a lot of extra time, but I love whatever project I get involved in. I’m currently directing How I Became a Pirate. It has huge scenery components, and those are always exciting for the audience but are very challenging for the director. We do nine shows a week with professional actors, and so far everything has worked out.

One of the shows I’m directing next season is titled Don’t You Love Me? It is for teens and is about dating violence. We’ve done this production once before, and we don’t back off when we do a play like this for teens. We lead discussions afterwards, and I saw the impact this show had on the audience. I realized how prevalent this problem is and how important it is to do this work. It does take a chunk out of you, but I did enjoy it.

In the past, you’ve led trainings for our docents based on your expertise in movement and performance. How do you connect your work with looking at works of art?

Theater as an art form uses more than one type of art, with scenery, dance, music, sound, and the visual. The visual is critical in a play. While I’m looking deeply at works of art in the museum, I absorb these wonderful images and feelings and emotions which can’t help but inform my work. Working with docents, who are so smart and engaged and want to expand, made me want to find ways to connect more visually in my art and my way of working with children. I love doing it, and I feel like I’ve gotten so much out of the trainings.

We are so busy; taking a minute to stop and look, then think and connect and realize what kind of emotions you’re feeling is good for your soul. I have also made such a nice connection over the years with Gail Davitt, the Director of Education at the Dallas Museum of Art, through certain projects and meetings that we both attend. I’m so glad the Museum is in our community for children to visit and explore and know it’s for them.

Melissa Nelson
Manager of Learning Partnerships with the Community

Finding Inspiration

Published February 12, 2010 Friday Photos 1 Comment
Tags: Art, inspiration

When I am in need of inspiration, I often wander through the Museum galleries and look at works of art. Admittedly, I am most drawn to artworks and spaces that focus on nature, have brilliant colors, or encourage moments of self reflection. Below are a few of my favorite galleries.

Southeast Asian Art Gallery

19th Century European Art Gallery

Sculpture Garden

Decorative Arts Gallery

Continue reading ‘Finding Inspiration’

Here Come the Withers Wildcats!

Published February 4, 2010 Art & Teaching , Community Connection , works of art 1 Comment
Tags: Art, Art of Looking, interdisciplinary, Leo African art, partnership, students, teacher

If you were to wander through the African galleries today or tomorrow, you might encounter a studious group of 5^th graders and their teachers from Harry C. Withers elementary. Clustered around works of art, the students will be sketching and talking about what they see, think, and feel in response to the art. When looking at the Stool supported by kneeling female figure from the Luba peoples of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the discussion may range in topic from the geometry and patterns they see to ideas about beauty and the significant role of women in the Luba culture to the king who sat on this stool.

Math teacher Debbie Hurley will likely be leading this discussion. With a team of teachers, Debbie and the Withers 5^th grade students have visited the DMA every year for the last 15 years! I’ve seen her teach with the Stool many times in the galleries and learned much from her passionate approach to teaching and her ability to help students make connections between the art and their lives. In 1995, Debbie was among a group of Dallas ISD teachers and DMA education staff who collaborated to create a teacher-led curriculum called “African Traditions” for the Museum’s Art of Looking school partnership program. The Art of Looking partnership program is 17 years old this year. A program for 4^th – 6^th grade students and teachers, the Art of Looking champions interdisciplinary approaches to works of art, guides students through deep looking experiences with art that help build creative and critical thinking skills, and fosters a connection between Dallas ISD schools and their hometown Museum.

The Art of Looking partnership program, more so the “African Traditions” experience, is so embedded in the Withers school culture that it defines what it means to be a 5^th grader at Withers, and what it means to be a parent of a 5th grader (who come often as chaperones on Museum visits).

This week the Withers Wildcats make their 15^th annual visit to the Museum and it will be an extra special one. Following their Friday session in the galleries looking at art, students will join African drummer Leo Hassan for a hands-on experience with African drums. I’ll be sure to post pictures late Friday – so come back for a look!

Nicole Stutzman
Director of Learning Partnerships with Schools and the Community

Words are Art!: Concrete Poetry at the DMA

Published January 13, 2010 Art & Teaching , works of art 2 Comments
Tags: Art, language, words in art

The DMA is partnering with Joanna Henry and students from the Exploratory Arts Academy at Greiner Middle School to investigate how words and images can be integrated in works of art. During their visit to the museum on December 15^th, students participated in a ninety-minute tour featuring works of art that involve both images and text. By suggesting that “words are art,” and talking about artists as “visual storytellers,” students realized that the artistic gap between words and images isn’t as wide as they might have imagined. Students created concrete poems (poems in which the words are arranged to produce a composition with visual, as well as poetic, meaning), sketched, wrote captions, and composed written responses in an “accidental,” automatic style. The Greiner students have plans to come back to the museum, but here are some of the works they saw during their first visit, and their own visual/textual responses:

Piet Mondrian, "Place de la Concorde," 1943-1948: After looking at this painting and reading John Grandit's poem "Mondrian," students responded by creating their own concrete poems based on works of art in the museum galleries.

John Grandits' poem "Mondrian," about a teenage girl's visit to a museum with her father.

Piet Mondrian, "Self-Portrait," 1942

Robert Delaunay, "Eiffel Tower," 1924 Rene Magritte, "Persian Letters," 1958

Dorothea Tanning, "Pincushion to Serve as a Fetish," 1979

If you’d like to compose some concrete poetry of your own, Arts and Letters Live will be sponsoring a series of events with John Grandits:

DIY at the DMA: Thursday, March 18th, 6:30-8:30PM in the DMA Tech Lab —“Try your own hand at concrete poetry inspired by works of art”

Late Nights at the Dallas Museum of Art: Friday, March 19^th, 8:30-10:00PM, C3 Theater—“John Grandits will share insights into his creative process and information about the history of concrete poetry from A.D. 800 to the present (including one from Alice and Wonderland). Then you will write and design your own concrete poems inspired by works in the collection!”

Young Writers Workshop: Saturday, March 20^th, 1:00-4:00PM, in the DMA Tech Lab—“Teens 13-18 years old who love to write and design can explore the Museum’s collections with John Grandits and then create their own concrete poems either by hand or in the Tech Lab”

Justin Greenlee

McDermott Intern with the Learning Partnerships Department

Community Connection: Contemporary Art and a Beluga Whale

Published December 15, 2009 Art & Teaching , People , works of art 3 Comments
Tags: Art, Community Connection, Contemporary Art, teacher workshop, The Rachofsky House

Thomas Feulmer is the Director of Educational Programming at The Rachofsky House and is a regular collaborator with the DMA. We always look forward to his fresh ideas and perceptive insights related to works of art and artists.

Describe your work at The Rachofsky House. What is your favorite part of your job?

As Director of Educational Programming, I do anything involving schools or the public having any interaction with the Rachofsky House. My favorite part of my job is being around the works of art and being around original objects. I also like the creative element of having to improvise in front of groups and having to think on your feet.

Thomas talks about a work of art at the 2009 Museum Forum for Teachers.

Tell us about your relationship with the DMA.

I work collaboratively with Molly Kysar on Programs for Teachers based on Contemporary Art. I’ve also worked with Nicole Stutzman on the Travis Academy Program. The UT Southwestern Medical School class “The Art of Observation”, led by DMA docents Margaret Anne Cullum and Joanna Pistenmaa, visit The Rachofsky House once during the semester. I also participate in the development of some programs and exhibitions, in part by talking about artists and artworks that are in both the Rachofsky Collection and the DMA collections or are on loan to the DMA.

If you could take home any work of art from the Rachofsky Collection, what would you choose?

Lucio Fontana, Concetto Spaziale, La Fine di Dio, 1964

One of the first things that comes to mind is the Lucio Fontana piece Concetto Spaziale, La Fine di Dio. It’s one of the works that every time I stand in front of it, I think it’s incredible. When I’m looking at that piece, I feel like I’m looking at a real, sincere thing that is about exploring and is about a rich and deep thinking on the artists’s part.

How would you describe your personal work as an artist?

Most of my work looks at relationships: relationships between people, and more recently, relationships between people and animals. It is also about how intimacy is managed and expressed and how desire and attraction are managed and expressed. One of the big themes in my recent show is about my relationship with a beluga whale. I like the notion that most people have a desire to have a pure relationship with an animal and we project a lot of our purist ideas about love and desire onto animals because they seem so unguarded, I guess. I love that we project all those purist things onto animals, but, to have an experience with a beluga whale it had to happen at Sea World, which is a big place. The whale is trained and follows commands, and ultimately the experience is all controlled – which, in a way, is how all interactions are. See Thomas’s recent work at New Work by Rebecca Carter and Thomas Feulmer, open December 5-20, 2009 at 500X.

Does your job have an impact on your own work as an artist?

Yes, because I can come into contact with so much art and I feel like I get such a great sampling of contemporary ideas and contemporary culture. It’s like constant research for how to create meaning or visual culture in the contemporary world.

Meet Thomas during our two-part January Teacher Workshop on Contemporary Art, which takes place at the Dallas Museum of Art and The Rachofsky House.

Melissa Nelson
Manager of Learning Partnerships with the Community

The Fourth Graders are Coming!

Published October 29, 2009 Art & Teaching , Museum Insight 5 Comments
Tags: A Looking Journey, Art, Dallas ISD, tours

Three years ago, we embarked on a partnership with the Dallas Independent School District and Dallas ArtsPartners to provide every 4^th grader in the district with a docent-guided visit to the Dallas Museum of Art. Over the past two years, we have welcomed over 22,000 DISD 4^th graders to the DMA for “A Looking Journey” tours. This week marks the start of these visits for the 2009-2010 school year.

I had the chance to tour with a group of fifteen 4^th graders from John Reagan Elementary on Tuesday. They were bright, observant, and enthusiastic—and I think every person in my group participated in our dialogue in the galleries. I always set up the idea of taking a journey at the beginning of my tour, and these students really got into it. As we moved from one work of art to the next, they imagined we were on an airplane flying from New York to Africa and Egypt and then on to Europe. At one point, I even heard train noises coming from behind me!

4th Grade Students in the Galleries

I have been looking forward to the start of these visits since July (when I first scheduled these tours), and I was downstairs on Tuesday when the first DISD students arrived at the Museum. It was such fun to hear their wonder and amazement as they walked through the doors and saw our Barrel Vault for the first time. Some of my favorite gallery experiences have happened with DISD 4^th graders, and I can’t wait to see what adventures the next year holds.

Shannon Karol
Tour Coordinator

Welcome Back, Students!

Published September 24, 2009 Art & Teaching Closed
Tags: A Looking Journey, Art, docent, students, tours

This past Tuesday, September 22^nd, was our first day of school tours for the 2009-2010 school year. I always look forward to the first day of tours—it’s my version of the first day of school. Our first visitors were 4^th graders from McKinney ISD, and they braved the rain and cooler temperatures to visit the DMA for an A Looking Journey tour.

Students waiting to enter the DMA

Our A Looking Journey tour allows students to travel the world without ever leaving the Dallas Museum of Art. The teacher who scheduled this tour requested that all students see Frederic Edwin Church’s The Icebergs and Vincent van Gogh’s Sheaves of Wheat, two stars of our American and European collections respectively. I also overheard one student asking her docent if they would have a chance to see the mummy. She was excited to be at the Museum, and the mummy was at the top of her list of things to see while she was here.*

It’s also great to have our docents back at the Museum, ready to tour. I was talking with one of our docents on Tuesday who was giving her first tour after having been away last year. She really missed being with students in the galleries, and couldn’t wait to take those 4^th graders on their Looking Journey. I’m giving an A Looking Journey tour myself today, and I am looking forward to hearing what insights my 4^th graders will bring to our tour. I always learn something new from students in the galleries, and that is why I love my job so much! And yes, I will be including the mummy on my tour…

Shannon Karol Tour Coordinator

*The mummy is on loan and currently on view in Crossroads: Where Cultures Connect. Lent by Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.

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Dallas Museum of Art Uncrated

Posts Tagged 'Art'

Pablo Picasso said…

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.

The Tip of the Iceberg

Community Connection: Using Art to Get at Life

Community Connection: Art in Motion

Finding Inspiration

Here Come the Withers Wildcats!

Words are Art!: Concrete Poetry at the DMA

Community Connection: Contemporary Art and a Beluga Whale

The Fourth Graders are Coming!

Welcome Back, Students!

*The mummy is on loan and currently on view in Crossroads: Where Cultures Connect. Lent by Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.

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