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You’re Invited

Published September 18, 2017 Decorative Art and Design , Special Events Closed
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On September 21, the DMA will host a special Decorative Arts Symposium, and you’re invited! The morning of the symposium will begin with coffee, breakfast bites, and stimulating conversation until attendees sojourn into Horchow Auditorium for a delightful round of renowned speakers.

The Decorative Arts Symposium features garden designer, author, television host, and conservationist P. Allen Smith; John Hays, Deputy Chairman of Christie’s America and specialist in American Furniture and Decorative Arts; and Ann Pailthorp, Farrow & Ball’s leader of the North American Colour Consultancy Program for British craftsmen in paint and paper.
uncrat
At the culmination of all the speaker’s presentations, guests are invited to attend an intimate book signing. Publications by the speakers will be available onsite the day of the symposium in case you don’t own them yet!

It’s not too late to secure you tickets for this enchanting morning – after all, how often do you get to listen to speakers of this caliber in one room together? http://bit.ly/DMADecArtsSymposium 

Falling for Dallas

Published September 13, 2017 McDermott Internship , Staff Closed
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Fall is one of our favorite times of year at the Museum: student tours return to the galleries after summer hiatus, special exhibitions begin to open, and–most exciting of all–a new class of McDermott Interns joins our ranks!

This year’s class is comprised of nine talented women: three native North Texans, three north-easterners, two Southern Californians, and one mid-westerner. We basically have the US represented from sea to shining sea! Some are more familiar with the Metroplex than others, but all are very eager to experience what Dallas and the Museum have in store this year.

Kathleen Alva, McDermott Intern for Adult Programming and Arts & Letters Live, recently graduated as a McDermott Scholar from UTD in Richardson–that makes her McDermott squared! Originally from the LA area, she’s excited to be discovering Dallas proper this year.

Yohanna Tesfai, McDermott Graduate Intern for Gallery and Community Teaching, recently moved back to Dallas after completing her MA in Art History from the University of Texas at Austin. She recommends checking out NorthPark Center for some shopping with a healthy dose of art, which I wholeheartedly support.

Samantha Evans, McDermott Graduate Intern for Family and Access Teaching, has spent her past few years in Denton where she completed her MA in Art Education at UNT. Also from the LA area, she too is looking forward to getting to know Dallas.

Elise Armani, McDermott Intern for Contemporary Art, joins us from the Midwest, having recently completed her BFA from the University of Minnesota. She’s excited to get involved in the Dallas contemporary arts scene.

Lea Stephenson, McDermott Graduate Intern for American Art, completed her Masters in Art History at Williams College in Massachusetts. As a New Englander, shes excited to explore all the unique things Texas has to offer.

Beth CreMeens, Dedo and Barron Kidd McDermott Graduate Intern for European Art, is a native Dallasite who has returned after receiving her Masters in Art History from Tufts University in Massachusetts. Beth loves visiting White Rock Lake, her favorite Dallas spot for strolling and appreciating nature.

Tayana Fincher, McDermott Intern for African Art, also attended Williams College in Massachusetts, where she completed her BA in Art History. She is originally from McKinney, Texas, and is excited to participate in the myriad cultural opportunities available in the Arts District.

Olivia Feal, McDermott Intern for Interpretation, recently completed her BA in Art History at Smith College in Massachusetts. As a public transportation expert hailing from NYC, Olivia is enthusiastic to become acquainted with her new town via DART.

Danielle Gilbert, McDermott Graduate Intern for Arts of the Americas, received her Masters of Philosophy in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage from the University of Cambridge in the UK. Danielle is looking forward to enjoying a performance by the Dallas Symphony.

We look forward to working with them and helping them get to know Dallas better in the months to come!

Sarah Coffey is the Education Coordinator and former McDermott Intern at the DMA.

Reflection

Published September 11, 2017 Collections Closed
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Today marks the 16th anniversary of 9/11, and as we take a moment to remember those who were lost, we reflect on the resilience of our American cities as they are celebrated in our Museum collection.

This work by C. Bertram Hartman celebrates the vibrant energy of New York City almost one hundred years ago. It captures the dynamism of the city and New York’s energetic expansion, which was as palpable then as it is today.

C. Bertram Hartman, New York Skyline, c. 1930, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Elizabeth M. and Duncan E. Boeckman, 2005.89.2

The painting includes a campanile-type tower, shown in the central-upper-left, that is likely the Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower, already a “historic” skyscraper in 1930, when this work was completed. Hartman was a native of small-town Kansas and trained in Chicago, Munich, and Paris. Munich-trained artists are often identifiable based on their muted color palettes, as opposed to the exaggerated colors of the French movements. This energetic landscape of buildings and their harsh shadows is a visual approach that we still associate with the characteristics of New York City. Hartman would have been familiar with Cubism and its numerous Synthetic Cubist inheritors, and in the case of this NYC scene, he uses this type of geometrical arrangement of the buildings. The application of fractured perspectives on an urban view champions that fast pace and spirit of excitement.

Skye Malish-Olson is the Exhibition Designer and Emily Schiller is the Digital Collections Content Coordinator at the DMA.

Fabulous Fall with Bestselling Authors

Published August 30, 2017 Arts & Letters Live Closed
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When publishers vet book tour locations for someone with the caliber of international bestselling author Ken Follett, the well-established reputation of Arts & Letters Live, the DMA’s 27-years strong literary and performing arts series, is a huge benefit. Dallas is one of only three stops on Follett’s US tour, the other two being Boston and New York. Ken Follett will kick off the Fall 2017 season on September 14 at First United Methodist Church with a discussion of A Column of Fire, the third novel in his enthralling Kingsbridge Series. The first two novels in the series, Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, have sold 38 million copies worldwide!

For those who yearn for the seemingly lost art of a well-crafted written letter in lieu of a quick email or text message, Seattle-based Letters Aloud presents an afternoon of real letters by real people, read by great actors with live musical accompaniment, on September 24. Letters Aloud’s mission is to connect audiences to famous (and infamous) historical figures through their intimate correspondence. As one fan said, “It’s like literary crack” and makes history come to life in surprising, inspiring, and hilarious ways. These dramatic readings will chart the course of celebrity through the correspondence of artistic luminaries like Stephen King, Jackson Pollock, Elvis Presley, Emily Dickinson, Frank Lloyd Wright, Vincent van Gogh, and Tom Hanks, to name a few.

Letters Aloud

Want the inside scoop on international bestselling author Dan Brown’s interest in codes, science, religion, and art and his creative process in writing chart-topping books and making blockbuster movies? On October 6 he takes the stage for the first time in Dallas to talk about all that and his newest novel, Origin, which has been hailed as his most brilliant and entertaining work to date. The novel opens with Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, arriving at the ultramodern Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, to attend a major announcement—the unveiling of a discovery that “will change the face of science forever.” When the meticulously orchestrated evening suddenly erupts into chaos, Langdon is forced to escape Bilbao. Navigating the dark corridors of hidden history and extreme religion, Langdon must evade a tormented enemy whose all-knowing power seems to emanate from Spain’s Royal Palace itself. On a trail marked by modern art and enigmatic symbols, Langdon uncovers clues that ultimately illuminate the breathtaking truth that has long eluded us.

Bestselling author and acclaimed journalist Walter Isaacson joins us on October 26 to discuss Leonardo da Vinci, the biography of the famous artist that sets forth little known information about da Vinci’s life, connecting his art and science. Isaacson shows us how Leonardo’s genius stemmed from skills we can hone in ourselves—passionate curiosity, keen observation, a playful imagination, and being bold enough to think differently. Leonardo DiCaprio was recently slated to play the artist in the film adaptation after a heated bidding war between Paramount and Universal.

Legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz landed on the DMA Arts & Letters Live roster after a Texas Book Festival colleague recommended that Arts & Letters Live have lunch with the national marketing director of Phaidon, who was in town for a conference. While chatting with our new Phaidon friends on the DMA’s Socca Cafe patio, we learned about the forthcoming book Annie Leibovitz: Portraits 2005–2016 and knew immediately that DMA audiences would adore hearing about this artist’s creative process and behind-the-scenes stories of all the famous people she has photographed. Leibovitz’s event with DMA Arts & Letters Live on November 14 is one of only five appearances slated worldwide.

To see the complete roster of Arts & Letters Live events and to purchase tickets, visit DMA.org/all. 

 

Carolyn Bess is Director of Arts & Letters Live at the DMA.
Michelle Witcher is the Program Manager of Arts & Letters Live at the DMA.

A Founding Mother

Published August 28, 2017 Archive 1 Comment
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While using the archives for a small research project (more on that in a future post), I was reminded of one of the Dallas Art Association’s (DAA) founding members, Elizabeth Patterson Kiest (Mrs. Edwin J. Kiest). Mrs. Kiest attended the first meeting of the group of art supporters that formed the DAA on January 19, 1903 and she served as DAA Treasurer from its inception to her death in 1917, a century ago this year.

Bronze plaque in honor of Elizabeth Patterson Kiest for her long service as founder and Treasurer of the Dallas Art Association.

The Kiest Memorial Fund was established in her honor, with a plaster cast of Winged Victory as the first purchase. (The piece is no longer in the collection.)

An interior view of the Free Public Art Gallery space in the Textile and Fine Arts Building, with the plaster cast of Winged Victory in the upper left.

Beginning in 1932 the Kiest Memorial Fund was used to fund a purchase prize for the annual Dallas Allied Arts exhibitions, from which works by major Dallas artists were acquired for the collection including Jerry Bywaters, Otis Dozier, De Forrest Judd, Everett Spruce, Charles T. Bowling, Allie Tennant, Perry Nichols, Donald S. Vogel, William Lester, and Octavio Medellin.

In addition to the DAA, Mrs. Kiest was involved in a number of civic and women’s clubs, the foremost being the Dallas Shakespeare Club and the Matheon Club. The Dallas Shakespeare Club would later donate Road to the Hills by Julian Onderdonk to the Museum in memory of Mrs. Kiest.


Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Dallas Shakespeare Club in memory of Elizabeth Patterson Kiest

 

Hillary Bober is the Archivist at the Dallas Museum of Art. 

Artist Interview: Lisa Huffaker

Published August 23, 2017 Behind-the-Scenes , Center for Creative Connections , Guest Blog Post Closed
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This summer the Center for Creative Connections invited C3 Visiting Artist Lisa Huffaker to design an in-gallery activity inspired by a work of art on view in C3. Meet Lisa here and learn more about her musically engaging activities designed for visitors of all ages.

Tell us about yourself. (In 50 words or less)
I am a classical singer by training, but have always created visual art and poetry as well. My latest project is White Rock Zine Machine, which offers tiny handmade books of art and writing through re-purposed vending machines. I am interested in the community we form through creative work.

What motivated you to apply to the C3 Visiting Artist Project?

Nam June Paik, Music Box Based on Piano Piece Composed in Tokyo in 1954, 1994, Vintage TV cabinet, Panasonic 10 TV model 1050R, Panasonic mini video camera, incandescent light bulb and 144-note music box mechanism, Dallas Museum of Art, bequest of Dorace M. Fichtenbaum 2015.48.113

While visiting the Museum, I saw Nam June Paik’s Music Box Based on a Piano Piece Composed in Tokyo in 1954. It’s an old television transformed to show a video of a music box, and it reminded me of my vending machines, which are also “communication boxes” with knobs, whimsically reinvented to give us new content. I loved the idea of exploring the relationship between these two objects, within the interactive space of the C3 Gallery, and inviting visitors to interact with and even contribute to the project.  I’m so grateful to the DMA for embracing my crazy vision!

Tell us about the process of creating your zine machine.

I found a retired baseball card vending machine on Craigslist, and transformed it.  I sanded it down to bare metal,  then used old player piano rolls as stencils to paint a pattern on the sides. I cut a hole in the front panel and covered it with glass, so we could see the zines inside. I attached Victorian-era music box disks to the machine,  including a sort of halo at the top. Then I added other objects — carved wood pieces, various metal oddities, a kalimba, gears and springs taken out of broken alarm clocks, and eight music box mechanisms, including one that plays original music composed by punching holes in a strip of paper.

What did you enjoy most about this experience?
While creating the zine machine, I really enjoyed the contradiction between noisy power tools and delicate, beautiful mechanisms! But most of all I have enjoyed the opportunity to explore certain ideas — the overlap of music, memory, and machine — and invite others to interact with the project. It has been fascinating to see the drawings and writings created by visitors in response to the music I chose for the listening station in my installation.

Visit the Center for Creative Connections through September to contribute drawings to Huffaker’s zines and to receive a zine from the machine.

Join C3 Visiting Artist Lisa Huffaker as she hosts a series of programs in September:

Tuesday, September 5, First Tuesday: Music with Ms. Lisa; 11:30 a.m. – Noon
Friday, September 15, Late Night Tour; 6:30 p.m.
Friday, September 15, Late Night Performance with Piano; 9:00 p.m.
Friday, September 22, Teen Homeschool; 1:00-4:00 p.m.

Jessica Fuentes is the Manager of Gallery Interpretation and the Center for Creative Connections at the DMA

The Two Käthes

Published August 16, 2017 European Art , Late Nights , Uncategorized Closed
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Join us for Late Night this Friday when we will host artist Käthe Kollwitz of the feminist activist art collective the Guerrilla Girls as part of a celebration of women artists featured in Visions of America. For more than thirty years, women artists from across the country have donned gorilla masks and joined the ranks of the Guerrilla Girls to produce public art campaigns that raise awareness about gender and ethnic discrimination in the art world and beyond. Having decided early on that the members of the Guerrilla Girls would remain anonymous, they took this opportunity to shine some limelight on great women artists of the past by assuming the names of pioneers like Käthe Kollwitz, Frida Kahlo, and Zubeida Agha.

Guerrilla Girls at the Abrons Art Center, 2015

In an interview for the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art Oral History Program, Käthe explained the origin of their pseudonyms.

“Eventually we realized that we needed individual names within the Guerrilla Girls.  When we went places in a group or in pairs, we needed to be individuals in some way.  So this idea came up to have dead women artists as pseudonyms, and it was a useful idea because art historians were re-finding and representing the work of a lot of women artists from history.  Most of the pseudonyms that people took were artists they’d never heard of before they started and only discovered when they read up on women artists, looking for a name.”

Käthe’s own namesake, Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945), was a German printmaker and sculptor who also addressed social injustice in her work. She also happens to be well represented in the DMA’s collection

Kollwitz’s work is at times touching and heart-wrenching with intimate portraits of mothers with their children as well as genre scenes depicting the plight of the urban poor. Her subjects are often gaunt figures whose shadowy eyes and pained poses speak volumes about the dire circumstances under which they lived. Having endured multiple personal tragedies and both world wars, she was an artist who did not shy away from showing the realities of war, poverty, and loss.

Käthe Kollwitz, Revolt (Sturm), 1897, Etching, Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts, The Alfred and Juanita Bromberg Collection, bequest of Juanita K. Bromberg, 2000.192.FA

Remarking on how she arrived at the pseudonym Käthe Kollwitz, the artist said, “It’s very personal for everybody.  Käthe Kollwitz is not my all-time favorite artist, but she’s a great role model.  She was an activist as well as an artist.  She didn’t believe in the expensive, fancy art system.  She did a lot of cheap prints that she gave and sold very cheaply.  She did a lot of work about working people, about women and children, even work about sex.  She was a fierce woman artist.”

Over 70 years after Kollwitz’s death the Guerrilla Girls are continuing the practice of using art to raise awareness. Reflecting on their own 30 year legacy, Käthe will speak about favorite projects and how the group has approached activism in their work. For more information about this and other Late Night programs, visit DMA.org.

Jessie Frazier is Manager of Adult Programming at the DMA

How to Install a Robert Smithson

Published August 14, 2017 Behind-the-Scenes , Collections , Contemporary Art Closed
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A new rotation of artworks was recently installed in the Barrel Vault, our main contemporary art space. Included in this new installation are masterpieces by Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, and Hans Hofmann, as well as several newly acquired artworks. One of the highlights of the gallery is Robert Smithson’s Mirrors and Shelly Sand. The work is composed of approximately three tons of sand and 50 mirrors (glued back-to-back in pairs of two) lined up in a row, creating the illusion of infinity when you gaze into them. This engaging piece invites the viewer in and encourages interaction (but just of the mental variety—please remember not to touch!).

The piece becomes even more interesting when you know the process required to install it. It takes a lot of work and skill to transform the 125 buckets of sand and two crates of mirrors into the finished work of art. There are specific instructions from the artist on how the piece should be installed, but there will always be variances due to the nature of the materials. Thankfully for us, one of our Senior Preparators, Mary Nicolett, has installed the Smithson eight times and is a pro.

First our crew constructs a massive tent made of plastic. This keeps all of the sand contained and ensures that other artworks in the area are protected. On installation day, our stellar team of preparators (professional art handlers) put on their protective gear and prepare to get dirty. After the Registrar (me!) completes a condition report on all the mirrors, they are lined up based on the artist’s specifications and a small pile of sand is poured over them to keep them in place. Once all of the mirrors are in place, the real fun begins. Each preparator grabs a bucket of sand and begins pouring. Once all the buckets are empty, Nicolett begins smoothing the sand into the appropriate shape. At the end of the day, the dusty crew exits the tent to let the dust settle. The next day, the tent is removed and the finishing touches to the sand are completed.

Installation works like Mirrors and Shelly Sand allow our prep team to flex their creative muscles. While we do follow the instructions provided by the artist, the preparators are the ones who physically create the artwork as you see it. A good prep team is vital to any art institution as they are the ones who know the intricacies of a piece and how to safely install it. Thankfully for us, we have one of the best!

 

Katie Province is the Assistant Registrar for Collections and Exhibitions at the DMA.

Warhol and Monroe, Inked Immortal

Published August 8, 2017 Exhibitions Closed
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In August 62 I started doing silkscreens. I wanted something stronger that gave more of an assembly line effect. With silkscreening you pick a photograph, blow it up, transfer it in glue onto silk, and then roll ink across it so the ink goes through the silk but not through the glue. That way you get the same image, slightly different each time. It was all so simple quick and chancy. I was thrilled with it. When Marilyn Monroe happened to die that month, I got the idea to make screens of her beautiful face the first Marilyns. – Andy Warhol (1981)

Visions of America

Andy Warhol was always interested in the morbid and he often found artistic inspiration in taboo occurrences such as Marilyn Monroe’s tragic death. He first started producing Marilyns in 1962, bringing the starlet’s likeness back to life. According to MoMA Learning, through these Marilyn works “he (Warhol) reveals her public persona as a carefully structured illusion.”  It wasn’t until 1967 however, 5 years after Monroe’s untimely departure, that the infamous print in Visions of America: Three Centuries of Prints from the National Gallery of Art came about.

Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn)

Warhol based the print on a publicity photograph by Gene Kornman for the 1953 film Niagara, as were his famous Marilyn Monroe silkscreen paintings of 1962. Now the prints are synonymous with the vixen herself, both’s popularity and intrigue as pungent as they were in the sixties.

Marilyn Monroe Photo Portrait

Publicity photograph by Gene Kornman for the 1953 film Niagara. Image from www.moma.org via web link

We invite you to celebrate  the birth week of Warhol by visiting Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn) in Visions of America: Three Centuries of Prints from the National Gallery of Art today. The popular print is one of a set of ten, don’t miss this opportunity to spend some time with this rare beauty.

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

After Hours: Staff Art

Published August 2, 2017 Behind-the-Scenes , Staff Closed
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Ever wanted to know more about the staff at the Dallas Museum of Art? Until November 26, After Hours: Works by DMA Staff will be on view on Level M2. The show features 60 works by 38 staff members and showcases talents from many different mediums, including video and sculpture work. DMA employees whose roles at the Museum range from gallery attendant to librarian participated in the exhibition.


David Caldwell, a Gallery Attendant Supervisor at the DMA for 5 years, created his painting Marie Madeleine En Provence Devant Un Monolithe Kubrick this year based on the story of Mary Magdalene in the South of France and the Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Caldwell has a BFA with an emphasis in Broadcast/Film from SMU. When asked how his position at the DMA inspired his artwork, Caldwell said, “My role at the DMA has inspired my paintings. As a Gallery Attendant, I learned about La Pausa [the home of Wendy and Emery Reves in the South of France], the phrase means ‘the pause.’ I found out that it refers to a French legend that Mary Magdalene fled the Holy Land a few years after the crucifixion. She and her entourage were adrift on a boat in the Mediterranean. They came to shore at what is now the French Riviera in Provence. Legend has it that Mary and her friends, on their journey inland, rested in a grove of olive trees that reminded them of home. That olive grove is said to be located on the property, called La Pausa, of Coco Chanel and then Wendy and Emery Reves. I would have never known this story had I not worked at the DMA.”


Center for Creative Connections Coordinator Kerry Butcher graduated with a BFA in Studio Arts with an emphasis in photography. Butcher entered two photographs she took during a road trip to Montana with friends in 2015. Using a gently used point and shoot film camera, Butcher said, “I had the intent of really working on refocusing my eye on capturing moments that were personal to me, something I felt I had somewhat lost touch with since graduating college.”


Burdette Katzen, a Library Assistant at the DMA for 18 years, created an oil painting titled Morning in Byzantium for the show. When speaking of her work, Katzen stated, “I especially enjoy depicting ordinary women performing typical tasks during their average days. Although there are many impressive paintings of spectacular landscapes, and colorful flowers, I believe there is great beauty to be seen in the simple things of everyday life.”

On your next trip to the DMA, stop by the exhibition and check out the works created by the staff!

Samantha Nemazie is the Exhibition Design Intern at the DMA.

 

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