Posts Tagged 'Friday Photos'

On your mark, get set, Go van Gogh!

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!).

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.

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?

Amy Copeland
Manager of Go van Gogh and Community Teaching Programs

Friday Photos: Summer Art Camp Interns

I’ll be the first to own up to my pretty serious bias, but I think summer camp is the most wonderful time of the year! The DMA offers unique camps throughout the summer which feature different themes, artworks across the Museum’s collection, and new teachers and campers every week. We wouldn’t be able to manage so much change and excitement without our six camp constants: our 2016 Summer Art Camp Interns! It is my pleasure to introduce Kristin Wright, Clare Mills, Annabella Boatwright, Shannon Bentley, Julia Dotter, and Vanessa White.

Each Monday, these all-star interns greet a new group of campers and put their hearts into creating a friendly, fun, and safe environment for our young artists. They support our teachers, plan lunchtime projects, encourage and challenge campers in their art-making, and are the fastest exhibition set-up crew in the west. Take a look at some of the fun they’ve helped make happen!

Jennifer Sheppard
Teaching Specialist

Thanksgiving Still-Lifes

Inspired by the DMA’s newest exhibition, Bouquets: French Still-Life Painting from Chardin to Matisse, I thought it would only be appropriate for my first Canvas blog post to incorporate still-lifes from our collection. So with Thanksgiving just behind us, I wanted to share some my favorite food-related still-lifes in our collection.

This 17th century still-life makes even the most wonderful Thanksgiving leftovers seem bland. Anyone care for some lobster?

Abraham Hendricksz Van Beyeren, Still Life with Landscape, 1650s, Dallas Museum of Art, The Karl and Esther Hoblitzelle Collection, gift of the Hoblitzelle Foundation

Abraham Hendricksz Van Beyeren, Still Life with Landscape, 1650s, Dallas Museum of Art, The Karl and Esther Hoblitzelle Collection, gift of the Hoblitzelle Foundation

After all of the yummy turkey, stuffing, casseroles and potatoes , how about some fruit (and maybe champagne) to lighten your leftover hangover?

Severin Roesen, Fruit Still Life with Champagne, 1848, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Pauline Allen Gill Foundation

Severin Roesen, Fruit Still Life with Champagne, 1848, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Pauline Allen Gill Foundation

The Friday after Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday all on its own. I like to stay in, enjoy my friends’ and families’ company, relax and read the paper, and eat some yummy leftovers (maybe even a turnip or two!). It is the best part of the holiday weekend!

William Michael Harnett, Munich Still Life, 1882, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Art Association Purchase

William Michael Harnett, Munich Still Life, 1882, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Art Association Purchase

I hope you enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday! And if you didn’t finish your Christmas shopping last weekend or you’re looking for a cyber Monday fix, don’t forget to check the Museum Store’s website to find many unique presents and local crafts!

Happy Holidays!

Madeleine Fitzgerald
Audience Relations Coordinator for Programming

Friday Photos: C3 Summer Interns

The Center for Creative Connections (C3) staff was fortunate to receive help from two high school students this summer.  Sophie Anthony, a rising senior at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, spent eight weeks working with us through the Mayor’s Intern Fellows Program.  Chloe Barreau will be a junior at the Chinese International School in Hong Kong.  She worked with C3 during a month-long visit with family.  Below are some of their experiences from this summer.

A good sense of humor is a requirement for interning with C3

Sophie and Chloe served as the first models for a photo backdrop that connects to Nic Nicosia’s photograph titled Vacation, currently on view in C3

Sophie:

Wow.  I did not realize how fast eight weeks would fly by. My internship at the DMA has been amazing — art-filled and action-packed.  Through the Mayor’s Intern Fellows Program, I got a behind-the-scenes peek into the day-to-day running of the biggest (and still expanding) art museum in town.  What a thrill!  As a high school art student, it was exciting just to be in the same building as some of the beautiful and breathtaking masterpieces housed in the Museum, not to mention the opportunity to enhance visitors’ experience with these works.  Working with visitors in C3  and behind the scenes gave me the chance to assist and interact with regular art patrons and newcomers alike, as well as see firsthand the DMA’s commitment to art education and visitor participation.

A lot of my time spent as a C3 intern was, of course, spent in C3!  C3 is a hotspot for most Museum visitors — nearly everyone who enters is excited by the relaxed and hands-on atmosphere, and leaves with their own Art Spot creation.  An extension of the C3 atmosphere is the Pop-up Art Spot, a cart filled with activities that moves through the galleries on a weekly basis.  It allows museum-goers a chance to participate with works of art more closely and see things they might not have noticed before.  Both C3 and the Pop-up Art Spot were a lot of fun because I was able to chat with visitors and learn their thoughts and perceptions on art pieces and the DMA.  I met people who had been going to the DMA for the past twenty years and people who had never visited an art museum before.  But it wasn’t all conversations — there are always plenty of supplies to be prepped!

One of my favorite projects was the July Late Night Creations activity, the “Curious Case of the Mystery Painting.”  Chloe and I made and designed the materials for the activity and wrote (not to mention re-wrote) the instructions for this mystery-themed collaborative art project.  We chose the two “mystery” paintings that would be recreated and then, after much multiplication, we gridded out the artworks into two-inch squares, which would be “clues” that participants would recreate on bigger pieces of cardboard.  Slowly, piece of cardboard by piece of cardboard, the paintings would be revealed.  The hardest part of creating this project was writing the instructions.  Chloe and I quickly learned the value of one word instead of two, realizing that the shorter and more concise, the better.  We wrote and rewrote numerous drafts until we eliminated all extraneous details and arrived at the instructions used during Late Night Creations.  When I came to work the next day and saw the final masterpieces, I was astounded.  The visitors did an amazing job in recreating the mystery paintings!  Below are the activity instructions; scroll down to see the activity in progress and completed.

All too quickly these past eight weeks have sped by.  I can’t believe how much I’ve learned, how much I’ve seen, how much I’ve done here at the DMA.  My experiences have been widely varied—I now know both how to write a set of instructions for a community art project and the most efficient way of cutting cardboard for the Art Spot.  I helped individuals with Alzheimer’s discuss pieces of art in Meaningful Moments and went behind the scenes to see exhibits go up and come down.  I became an old pro at screenprinting T-shirts through assisting with the Design Studio summer art camp and listened as teens made soundscapes based on The Museum is History exhibition during a UA Maker Club workshop.  I am so appreciative and thankful for my internship—the DMA, specifically C3, gave me a wide and varied experience in a field of work I would love to pursue.  I learned so much this summer and I’m looking forward to volunteering in C3 soon!

Chloe:

My internship experience at the DMA this summer has taught me so much about different ways in which we can enhance our appreciation of art.

I first spent two weeks assisting the New World Kids 2 summer art camp.  The classes encouraged children to create art books and stop-motion clips as well as develop back stories behind why their characters lived where they lived and the motivations behind what their characters were doing.  It was exciting for me to see how the program inspired children to construct elaborate plots and plan out each scene as if they were budding directors or playwrights.  I believe that walking children through the process of creating a story is an effective way to introduce them to the appreciation of art.  In thinking about how they would design film sets, direct the acting, and develop the characters and sub-plots, children open their minds to a wider breadth in their interpretation of art.

All great artworks have a background story, a history to the subject matter, and a thought process behind the composition. This was illustrated in the European gallery, where I had the chance to admire the art alongside our visitors, thanks to the new Pop-up Art Spot. There, visitors have fun dressing up in costumes, making gesture drawings and writing dialogues for characters using magnetic words. Each painting presents a narrative, and the visitors participate in this narrative by coordinating their facial expressions, clothing, body pose, and setting with the artwork’s composition. At this Pop-up Art Spot, I saw how these activities enlivened the experience of visitors viewing the art pieces and inspired them to imagine the story behind the art.  I see that art is not only to be admired, but to be experienced in full immersion.  We are not only audiences, but participants.

Speaking of participation in art – at July’s Late Night, Sophie and I were excited to see visitors’ reception to the “Curious Case of the Mysterious Painting” activity we worked on together.  We were thrilled that people enthusiastically lined up for their turn to contribute a clue by taking a section of an artwork poster and enlarging it on a piece of cardboard using paint. The next day I saw the mystery artworks that were recreated with the public’s contribution – the mosaics of the pieces came to life, with a beauty that can only come from a community of “artists” collaborating together for a night!

Razor LNC grid

The grid for one painting with a few squares to get it started

Visitors LNC

Visitors add to the grid

 

Bougival LNC in progress

The other painting grid, in progress

 

I have discovered that telling a story is core to the purpose of art. An artwork is a mode of communication across time, even across dynasties and cultures, and artists create an extension of themselves and share with us a part of their being.

I am really grateful for the opportunity this summer to intern at C3! The department was very welcoming, and the staff took care to educate us while giving us leeway to express ourselves and take initiative.  I loved meeting diverse people, from the speakers to the audience and members of the museum – everyday was a pleasure, and I have fond memories of my interactions and experience to bring home with me back to Hong Kong!

Thank you, Sophie and Chloe, for your very hard work this summer!  We will miss seeing your smiling faces every day.

 C3 Staff

 

Friday Photos: Contemporary Kids

Throughout the month of January, our Early Learning program participants have enjoyed spending time with contemporary art here at the DMA.

January’s Toddler Art class focused on the colors found in Sam Francis’ breathtaking Emblem. The toddlers had a blast pretending to mix and splatter paint onto the giant canvas!

We also celebrated a successful launch of the DMA’s newest class, Art Babies, designed for children 0-24 months and their caregivers.

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Amelia Wood
McDermott Intern for Family and Access Teaching

Artworks shown:

  • Mark Rothko, Orange, Red, and Red, 1962, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Algur H. Meadows and the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated
  • Sam Francis, Emblem, 1959, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated
  • Sam Francis, Untitled (Black Clouds), 1952, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Algur H. Meadows and the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated, by exchange
  • Adolph Gottlieb, Orb, 1964, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Art Association Purchase
  • Ashville Gorky, Untitled, 1943- 1948, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Art Association Purchase, Contemporary Arts Council Fund
  • Clyfford Still, Untitled, 1964,  Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated
  • Richard Diebenkorn, Ocean Park No. 29, 1970, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated

Friday Photos: Summer Programs

Summer is finally here! And there is no better way to spend that free time than to visit the DMA and take advantage of our engaging summer programs. Throughout June and July, visitors can explore works of art in the Museum’s galleries through sketching, family tours, story times, interactive games and more! There is no need to pre-register for these activities–just show up and enjoy them for free!

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summerfamilyfun
 
And if you participate in our free DMA Friends program, you can earn the new Summer Family Fun Badge when you attend one tour, one story time, one sketching in the galleries, and one family game. We’ll see you soon for some summer family fun!
 
 
Danielle Schulz
Teaching Specialist

Friday Photos: Self Found

I was recently wandering around the Art Spot in the Center for Creative Connections, looking at all the wonderful creations visitors share with us, when I saw visitor Chris Jackson doing the same. “Hey, that’s me!” he said, holding a collaged portrait up to his face.

Friday photo 5-17-2013

Chris with his self portrait

“I noticed the glasses, nose, and chin and thought it was me–in the future. Sometimes I don’t have a beard. And maybe in about 20 years, my hair will be that gray.” There was no label, so we weren’t sure who made it. But I loved the enthusiastic way he connected with this anonymous smiling portrait–that’s what C3 is all about!

Susan Diachisin
The Kelli and Allen Questrom Director of the Center for Creative Connections

Culinary Canvas: Almond Crescents

The inspiration for this month’s recipe is a crescent-shaped tobelo, a sacred object from Indonesia used to connect with ancestral spirits. In my family, baking serves as a connector between generations, and at no time is this more true than the holiday season. In that spirit, be sure to bake this crescent-shaped cookie with your family and let everyone explore their artistic side with the decorations!

2008_65

Crescent-shaped ornament (tobelo), 19th Century, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of The Nasher Foundation in honor of Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher

Almond Crescents

Yields about 60 cookies
Level: Easy

Cookies:

1 cup blanched slivered almonds, lightly toasted
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Topping:

2 ounces good quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 ounces good quality white chocolate, coarsely chopped
Decorations: crushed candy cane, chopped toasted almonds, coarse sugar, sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cookies: Place almonds in food processor and process into a fine crumb. In a medium bowl, stir together processed almonds with flour. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar, and vanilla, beating at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add flour mixture to mixer in three batches, mixing on low speed until just combined.

To form cookies, scoop off about a tablespoon of dough then roll between hands to shape into a log about 3 inches long. Place on baking sheet, then pull ends down and pinch to form a crescent shape, leaving about 1 inch between each cookie. When sheet is full, gently press down each cookie to flatten slightly. Bake until golden on bottom, about 13-15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly on baking sheet then transfer to metal rack to cool completely.

Topping: Whisk dark chocolate in a glass bowl set over a small pot of simmering water until mostly melted, then remove from heat and whisk until smooth. Once cookies have cooled, dip one end of each into chocolate then sprinkle with desired decoration. Place on wax paper to dry. Repeat process with white chocolate.

 
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Recipe adapted from Very Merry Cookie Party.

Sarah Coffey
Assistant to the Chair of Learning Initiatives

Culinary Canvas: Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

This month’s recipe is inspired by one of my favorite artworks in the collection, Orange, Red and Red. Like Rothko’s work, these muffins are composed of layers that add to a more complex flavor. And with Thanksgiving only yesterday, they’re the perfect way to utilize that leftover pumpkin for a Black Friday breakfast. Enjoy!

Mark Rothko, Orange, Red and Red, 1962, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Algur H. Meadows and the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Yields 12 regular or 6 large muffins
Level: Easy

Streusel:

¼ cup flour
¼ cup walnuts or pecans, finely chopped
¼ cup packed brown sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

Muffins:

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
3 ounces nonfat vanilla yogurt
2 eggs, beaten
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon fresh ginger, finely grated
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line muffin pan with paper liners or lightly spray muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Streusel: Stir together flour, nuts, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in small bowl. Using a pastry blender or two forks, cut in cold butter until mixture forms into small crumbs. Set aside.

Muffins: In medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, sugar, pumpkin, yogurt, eggs, vanilla and ginger until combined. In another bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder and nutmeg. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture in two batches, stirring with a rubber spatula until just combined.

Divide batter evenly between muffin cups, filling each cup slightly less than ½ full. Spoon an even layer of streusel into each cup. Cover streusel with remaining batter until each cup is ¾ full. Spoon remaining streusel on top of batter, evenly covering each muffin.

Bake 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

 

Recipe adapted from CHEFS Pumpkin Walnut Bread with Streusel.

Sarah Coffey
Assistant to the Chair of Learning Initiatives

Culinary Canvas: Sarah Bernhardt Cookies

For this month’s recipe, we’re taking a trip through Paris with our new exhibition, Posters of Paris: Toulouse-Lautrec and His Contemporaries. Alphonse Mucha created this poster for Sarah Bernhardt, one of the most renowned actresses of the 19th century. She was so loved, in fact, that a Scandinavian baker named a cookie for her. Though somewhat complex, these multilayered confections are sure to dazzle, much like their namesake and her posters.

Alphonse Mucha, Gismonda, 1894-1895, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Kurt J. Wagner, M.D., and C. Kathleen Wagner Collection, M.87.294.1

Sarah Bernhardt Cookies

Yields about 60 cookies
Level: Advanced

Filling:

6 ounces good quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
Scant ½ cup sugar
Scant ½ cup water
3 large egg yolks, room temperature
¼ cup heavy cream, room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Cookies:

3 cups blanched slivered almonds
1 ½ cups sugar
3 large egg whites, room temperature
1 ½ teaspoons almond extract
Splash of water

Coating:

12 ounces good quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

Filling: Whisk chocolate in a glass bowl set over a small pot of simmering water until smooth and melted. Remove chocolate from heat and set aside to cool. Combine sugar and water in small saucepan and simmer until syrup becomes clear, about 5 minutes, then set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer set over a small pot of simmering water, whisk egg yolks until warm, about 2 minutes.

Transfer bowl to stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Add cream and beat mixture on medium until combined. Reduce speed and slowly pour in hot syrup. Return speed to medium and continue beating until cool and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add melted chocolate, scraping down sides of bowl as needed until fully incorporated. Refrigerate filling until firm, about 1 hour (or up to 1 week).

Cookies: Preheat oven to 325° F. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Place almonds in food processor and process for 1 minute. Add sugar and process into a fine crumb, about 3 minutes. Add egg whites and almond extract and process until mixture wads around blade. Scrape bowl with spatula and add splash of water. Process a few more seconds until paste is firm yet smooth enough to pipe.

Transfer paste to pastry bag fitted with coupler only (no tip). Pipe small rounds onto prepared baking sheet, applying pressure to bag for about 4 seconds per cookie and leaving 1 inch between each. Bake until golden around the edges, about 20 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through. Allow to cool slightly on baking sheet then transfer to metal rack to cool completely.

Once cookies are completely cool, transfer filling to pastry bag fitted with coupler only or with #11 tip. Pipe a peaked mound of filling on top of each cookie. Transfer cookies to freezer until filling is very firm, about 1 hour.

Coating: Whisk chocolate in a glass bowl set over a small pot of simmering water until smooth and melted. Remove from heat and stir in shortening. Cool until barely warm.

Remove cookies from freezer and place on cooling rack. Working quickly so filling doesn’t melt, spoon melted chocolate over cookies until filling is completely covered. Refrigerate finished cookies and serve chilled.

 

Sarah with a finished Sarah, dusted in gold like her beautiful posters.

Almond macaroon recipe adapted from Baking Illustrated and used with Sarah Bernhardt cookie recipe, adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cookies.

Sarah Coffey
Assistant to the Chair of Learning Initiatives


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