Posts Tagged 'Nasher Sculpture Center'

Museum Forum for Teachers 2017

Published July 21, 2017 Art & Teaching , Teaching for Creativity Closed
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The art education-extravaganza that is Museum Forum for Teachers holds the distinction of being one of my favorite weeks of the summer. Each year, The Warehouse, Nasher Sculpture Center, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, and the Dallas Museum of Art work together to coordinate a week-long workshop dedicated to helping classroom teachers deepen their understanding of modern and contemporary art and develop strategies to teach, interpret, and use works of art in the classroom and in museum galleries. Best of all, each institution hosts one day of the week giving participants and fellow museum educators the opportunity to explore a variety of special exhibitions, collections, and experience different teaching styles. It’s well worth braving traffic across the Metroplex to experience the richness of DFW’s museum community!

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Discussing Doug Aitken: Electric Earth at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

This year, twenty-three educators embarked on a week of museum experiences, gallery discussions, and studio projects for CPE credit. Not every educator who participated has a background studying art, and the variety of perspectives enriched the quality of our discussions. In the spirit of highlighting different approaches, the museum educators brought back the “Educator Exchange” from last year and each led a session at one of the other institutions. I always find that I come away from the week inspired and energized for the upcoming school year. Check out some of our highlights from this year:

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And what do our participants have to say about their experience at Museum Forum for Teachers?

This week has felt like a vacation. It’s as though I have been on guided tours on location by Rick Steves every day. I’d love to attend next year…Well planned. Well done.

This was my favorite year so far…I don’t know how all of you manage every year to make this event a week of so much learning and fun. I can’t wait to get to each museum each day. Absolutely my favorite thing I do all year! Thank you!

This was my first year and I hope to be back! Art camp for teachers is how I will explain it when I am asked about the highlight of my summer.

I feel inspired, charged up again, and optimistic about the new ideas I’ll bring to my students. Thanks!

Once again, this Forum has completely exceeded my expectations. The content was rich, insightful, and relative, the projects were fun and accessible, and everyone on staff is an absolute joy to work with. This Forum is not only the cornerstone of my upperclassman content, but a week for me to reconnect with art and truly be myself. Thank you all so much for what you do!

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 and join us for Museum Forum for Teachers next year!

Lindsay O’Connor
Manager of Docent and Teacher Programs

2016 Museum Forum for Teachers

Published August 9, 2016 Art & Teaching , Creativity 2 Comments
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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.

Nasher stop motion app

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

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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

Autumn in the Arts District

Published September 25, 2013 Arts District , Dallas , DFW , Guest Blog Post , Late Nights Closed
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This October is going to be one of the most exciting I can recall – from the 15th anniversary of the Crow Collection of Asian Art and 10th anniversary of the Nasher Sculpture Center to the U.S. premiere of Jim Hodges: Give More Than You Take at the DMA, and even (dare I say it?) the unveiling of a new Big Tex at the State Fair. Having spent most of my life in the Dallas Arts District thanks to my mom, Susan (a DMA docent since 1976), I am thrilled to serve my first year as executive director of the Dallas Arts District during the inaugural year of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Klyde Warren Park, and the Dallas City Performance Hall, and in the first year of DMA Friends (the DMA’s free membership program) and free general admission.

Image source: dbdt.com

Image source: dbdt.com

With the end of summer, the Dallas Arts District is in full swing again, beginning with a day of activities on Saturday, October 5. The Dallas Black Dance Theatre will kick off its 8th annual DanceAfrica marketplace and festival at Strauss Square with a pedestrian parade of dancing in the streets from the DMA to the AT&T Performing Arts Center. CBS Radio’s Fall for the Arts will have free family activities and three stages of performances from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. You can also catch a sneak peek of Jim Hodges: Give More Than You Take at the DMA that day, before the exhibition officially opens. Additionally, the Crow Collection of Asian Art will celebrate its 15th anniversary with the grand reopening of its sculpture garden, which will include kids events and food truck lunch service.

Jim Hodges, and still this, 2005-2008, 23.5K and 24K gold with Beva adhesive on gessoed linen, The Rachofsky Collection and the Dallas Museum of Art through the DMAamfAR Benefit Auction Fund , © Jim Hodges

Jim Hodges, and still this, 2005-2008, 23.5K and 24K gold with Beva adhesive on gessoed linen, The Rachofsky Collection and the Dallas Museum of Art through the DMAamfAR Benefit Auction Fund , © Jim Hodges

The Crow isn’t the only institution celebrating a milestone anniversary this fall. The Nasher Sculpture Center is celebrating its 10th anniversary with Nasher Xchange, a three-day weekend of free festivities culminating in a ten-hour celebration on Sunday, October 20. Friday, October 18, will also include a free afternoon concert and tour at the Meyerson Symphony Center, TEDxSMU at the Dallas City Performance Hall, and the Arts District Fall Block Party. The Nasher, DMA, and Crow Collection of Asian Art will stay open until midnight for our fall Arts District Block Party, and light-based, site-specific new media and immersive art installations can be explored district-wide as part of Aurora’s Light of Convergence, presented by the Dallas Morning News.

Image source: dallasaurora.com

Image source: dallasaurora.com

A new class of first year students has begun their academic semester at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and a new crop of leaders is starting a new chapter in the neighborhood as well. Dr. Scott Rudes is Booker T.’s new principal; Tara Green started this summer as president of Klyde Warren Park; Doug Curtis is the AT&T Performing Arts Center’s new president and CEO; and The Dallas Opera welcomes its new music director, Emmanuel Villaume. Maestro Villaume will begin his inaugural season with Carmen on Friday, October 25, at the Winspear. The performance will be simulcast free in Klyde Warren Park – complete with a costume contest and singalong. Park visitors can also enjoy food and drink from the Park’s new restaurant, Savor, and their grab-and-go kiosk, Relish – both opening soon.

Courtesy of Dallas Opera

Courtesy of Dallas Opera

There’s far more to share, including new seasons of the Dallas Theater Center, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and Shakespeare Dallas, as well as newcomer Oral Fixation’s true storytelling series. You can enjoy a Pearl Cup Coffee or free Patio Sessions concerts in Sammons Park. To stay up-to-date on all the goings-on in our neighborhood, “Like” Dallas Arts District on Facebook, follow @DalArtsDistrict on Twitter, and subscribe to our weekly  e-blast here.

Thanks for supporting our new collaborative and inclusive programming, and I hope to see you soon in the Dallas Arts District!

Catherine Cuellar is the executive director of the Dallas Arts District.

Have Fun While Staying Put

Published July 22, 2013 Arts District , Dallas , DFW Closed
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Staying in town for vacation? Spend a day or two in the Dallas Arts District experiencing the rich cultures of the world and have lots of fun while doing it! Here’s our lowdown for how to have a great “staycation” in the Arts District.

At the Crow Collection of Asian Art
Visit the Far East and the cultures of China, Japan, India, and Southeast Asia. The display of paper cranes is rotated annually and incorporates over three thousand hand-crafted cranes. Admission is free and the Museum opens at 10:00 a.m. on weekdays (closed on Mondays).
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At the Nasher Sculpture Center
Check out Berlin-based artist Katharina Grosse’s exhibition, including the interactive piece in the Lower Gallery. Katharina painted walls and mounds of dirt that visitors are able to enter and walk through. While carefully stepping through her work, one gets the feeling that they are out of this world–now talk about a vacation!
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At Klyde Warren Park
Stretch your legs and grab some lunch at the food trucks. There is something for everyone at the Park: ping pong, chess, jungle gyms, fountains, and an outdoor library. Located in the heart of Dallas and the Dallas Arts District, it’s just a short walk from the museums.
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Finally, walk over to the Dallas Museum of Art!
In addition to free general admission offered every day during Museum hours, the DMA is currently hosting two free exhibitions about art in North Texas. DallasSITES: Charting Contemporary Art, 1963 to Present is an exhibition celebrating the history of North Texas’s bold and distinctive art scene. Looking back over fifty years, DallasSITES examines the moments, people, and organizations that helped shape our area’s incredibly vital relationship with contemporary art. Be sure to check out the timeline wall (pictured) and the collage of posters at the opening of the exhibition! Did you know we have so many artists living and working in Dallas!
Hotel Texas: An Art Exhibition for the President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy is another show you won’t want to miss. This exhibition brings together the works of art installed in the president’s suite at the Hotel Texas during his fateful trip in 1963. The original installation, orchestrated by a small group of Fort Worth art collectors, was created especially for President Kennedy and the First Lady in celebration of their overnight visit to the city and included paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Thomas Eakins, Lyonel Feininger, Franz Kline, and Marsden Hartley, and sculptures by Pablo Picasso and Henry Moore, among others.
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From all of us at the DMA, we hope that you are having a wonderful summer, and we look forward to seeing you in the Arts District soon!

Hayley Dyer is the Audience Relations Coordinator for Programming at the DMA.

Destination: Anytown USA

Published August 7, 2012 Art & Teaching , Museum Insight 4 Comments
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Our annual Museum Forum for Teachers has come and gone, and this year was another rousing success.  Twenty-two teachers participated in the week-long program, and spent a full day at each of the following Museums: The Rachofsky House, the Nasher Sculpture Center, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Kimbell Art Museum, and of course the DMA.

During their time at the DMA, the teachers went on a walking tour of the Arts District before spending time in Flower of the Prairie: George Grosz in Dallas.  Both of these experiences led to their afternoon art project: creating a watercolor painting of their impression of Dallas.

One teacher’s watercolor showed the Nasher Sculpture Center and Museum Tower.

Teachers were also able to spend time in a brand new installation, Variations on Theme: Contemporary Art 1950s–Present.  While we were in the exhibition, we focused on the themes of the figure, vanitas, and place.  The idea of place was one of our key themes for the day, and we spent quite a bit of time looking at Jack Pierson’s Anytown USA.

Talking with teachers during the 2012 Museum Forum for Teachers

I always love when Anytown USA is on view.  There’s something nostalgic about it, and I always wonder just where “Anytown” might be.  The general consensus among the teachers was that Anytown was a small town that probably looked a lot like Mayberry.  As we looked at the artwork, the teachers were given the following prompt:

The letters that make up this sculpture come from a variety of places. Imagine that each of the letters came from signage on buildings in Anytown USA.  Select one letter and write a description of the business you think used that letter in its signage.  Remember, your response must be inspired by the look and feel of the font/letter you select.

Jack Pierson, Anytown USA, 2000, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Junior Associates, 2004.10.A-I, © Jack Pierson

Based on the teacher’s responses, it sounds like Anytown USA would be a wonderful place to live!  Here are some of their ideas:

NY: A coffee shop where everyone goes to hang out.  Every town has to have a coffee shop.  Or,  a deli run by a transplant from New York.  All of the sandwiches are named after local celebrities.
T: An antique or curio store, and all of the employees are eclectic, just like the goods they sell.
O: A donut shop where grandparents spend weekend mornings with their grandkids.  A city is defined by its donut shops.  Or, it’s an old gas station that is practical, functional, but a little bit dirty.  They don’t care about the aesthetics of their business, they just want to get the job done.
W: This W looks very commercial and slick, like it came from a Walden Books.  Or, it could be from a Woolworth’s Five and Dime.
N: A feminine upscale hotel, or maybe a newspaper printing office.  Or, maybe it’s for a fine art framing shop that has a Thomas Kinkade painting hanging in the window.

U: This belongs to a Western store called “Boot Country.”
S: This S looks universal and simple–it belongs to a store called Supermart that sells everything.
A: This could be part of the sign of a ball park.  Or, it’s the sign for a bar called BAR that’s full of smoke and beer, but is a place to escape.

Surprisingly, none of the teachers selected to write about the first yellow A.  What type of business do you think that A might represent?  I would love to hear your ideas!

Shannon Karol
Manager of Docent Programs and Gallery Teaching

Sign Up Now: Museum Forum for Teachers

Published March 1, 2012 Art & Teaching , Resources 2 Comments
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Each summer, the DMA hosts a week-long program called Museum Forum for Teachers: Modern and Contemporary Art.  Over the course of the week, teachers spend a full day at five different art museums: The Rachofsky House (a private contemporary art collection located in Dallas), the Nasher Sculpture Center, the Kimbell Art Museum, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the Dallas Museum of Art.   This year, the Forum will be held from July 23-27.

Melissa discusses the Silence and Time exhibition during Museum Forum 2011

As its title suggests, the focus of Museum Forum is modern and contemporary art.   The DMA day this summer will focus on the exhibition Flower of the Prairie: George Grosz’s Impressions of Dallas, 1952, as well as selected works from our contemporary collection.  This will be my fourth year to lead the Museum Forum, and for me the week is always an opportunity to feel refreshed and rejuvenated.  It’s rare that I have an opportunity to spend five consecutive days in the galleries, and I love the conversations and ideas that emerge over the course of the week.  I also feel like I walk away from the Forum learning just as much from the teachers as they do from me.

Teachers examine a painting during Museum Forum

If you want to feel reinvigorated by modern and contemporary art, I encourage you to apply for this year’s Museum Forum for Teachers.  The Forum is open to middle school and high school teachers of all disciplines, and enrollment is limited to twenty-five participants.  We are currently accepting applications, and a 10% discount will be given to all teachers who apply by our early application deadline of March 30.  The regular application deadline is May 25, and all teachers will be notified of their acceptance by June 8.  I hope you’ll consider joining us!

Talking about On Kawara during a past Museum Forum

Shannon Karol
Manager of Docent Programs and Gallery Teaching

2012 Spring Teacher Workshops

Published January 19, 2012 Art & Teaching , Resources 1 Comment
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We are officially in the middle of January, and that means that it is time to announce our Spring Teacher Workshops for 2012!

The Fashion World Of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk at the Dallas Museum of Art

If you have ever wondered how exhibitions are created, then you absolutely must attend our first workshop on February 11th, Designing Exhibitions. Learn about the creativity, challenges, and design of exhibitions at the Dallas Museum of Art with the DMA’s exhibition designer, Jessica Harden. Explore The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier from the Designer’s perspective, participate in art-inspired, design-based thinking projects, and be prepared to look at museum exhibitions in a brand new light.

As you may know, we love the idea of combining art and poetry, so we are excited to promote The Art of Language: Mark Manders and Elliott Hundley as an Adult Workshop that is open to teachers as well as the general public. This evening workshop will take place at the Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center on March 8th. Come and explore connections between language and visual art in this workshop, as we examine the work of contemporary artists Mark Manders and Elliott Hundley. Led by Farid Matuk, poet, and Dr. Cynthia King, an English professor at UNT, as well as staff from the DMA and the Nasher, participants will discover each artist’s unique relationship to language and then respond to the exhibitions through writing.

Still Life with Books, Table and Fake Newspaper, Mark Manders, 2010, Collection David Teiger

The Amazon, Joseph Stella, 1925-1926 The Baltimore Museum of Art: Purchase with exchange funds from the Edward Joseph Gallagher III Memorial Collection

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Later this spring, on March 31st, The Twenties: American Art, Literature, and History will coincide with the exhibition Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties. Participants will view the varied works in this exhibition and study key American artworks in the DMA’s collection as they explore ideas about art, literature and popular culture in 1920s American life.

We hope to see you at the DMA in 2012!

Jessica Kennedy
McDermott Intern for Gallery Teaching

Friday Photos: April Fool's Day!

Published April 1, 2011 Friday Photos 1 Comment
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We decided to have a little fun on April Fool’s Day, so a few of us took a field trip over to the Nasher Sculpture Center’s new  exhibition, Sightings: Martin Creed.  Getting lost in the balloons was fun and scary at the same time.  Can you find the Museum educators?

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Melissa Nelson
Manager of Teaching in the Community

Community Connection: Nasher Sculpture Center

Published October 5, 2010 Art & Teaching , People , works of art Closed
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This past weekend marked the kick-off of Art in October, a celebration of the Dallas Arts District that features a variety of performances, exhibitions, programs, and events throughout the month.  In honor of this celebration, I walked across the street to the Nasher Sculpture Center for a coffee break with Stephen Ross.  Stephen began working in Admissions at the Nasher months after it opened in 2003.  Since then, he has held the title of Education Coordinator, Assistant Curator of Education, and for the last two years, Curator of Education.  See if you can find Stephen in this picture (hint: you can often identify a museum educator by his/her all-black outfit).

Stephen Ross seen through Jaume Plensa’s Twenty-nine Palms, 2007

What sparked your interest in museum education?
I think you have two choices coming out of graduate school – stay in school and become a curator (even though you don’t know what that is) or get a job at a museum.  I like museum education because I get to work with the public.

What has been the most enjoyable, challenging, or surprising aspect of your work with the Nasher?

I really like our Education Department.  It is limited because of our small staff, which is a total of three people.  I work with two really good people, and together we reach a wide spectrum from young children to adults.  We do a lot – we reach different audiences with different types of learning – so we all get to do a variety of things.

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

I would take home Alberto Giacometti’s Two Figurines (Deux figurines sur socles) because they’re wonderful and tiny.  I love their size and portability – each figurine is less than two inches tall.  Giacometti would carry them around in matchboxes and put up small “exhibitions” on café tables.  They are the smallest pieces in the Nasher collection.

Tell us about your relationship with the DMA.

I work with the Museum Forum for Teachers, a five-day summer program for teachers that occurs at the Nasher, the DMA, The Rachofsky House, the Kimbell Art Museum and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.  We also collaborate on the docent program, which is a big help.  A small museum like ours could never have its own docent program, and we are thankful that DMA docents also lead tours at the Nasher. 

I love the sense of collaboration, in general.  I feel I can pick up the phone and call anyone in the DMA Education department to talk about program ideas, ask questions, etc.

Describe your idea of a perfect day.

Reading Beckett.  Listening to the Rudy Van Gelder sound.

Check out the Nasher and other Arts District venues during Art in October.

Melissa Nelson
Manager of Teaching in the Community

Friday Photos: The Dallas Arts District

Published September 10, 2010 Friday Photos 2 Comments
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Last year, the AT&T Performing Arts Center opened in Downtown Dallas, and everyone celebrated the completion of the Dallas Arts District.  October marks the one-year anniversary of the ATTPAC, and a month-long celebration has been planned throughout the Arts District, including performances, festivals, and more.    Art in October will end on October 31st with a Closing Celebration, including free admission to the DMA.  A complete calendar of events is available online.

Not only is the Arts District a great place to experience art and culture, but it’s also a wonderful place to explore architecture.  Below are some photos that I took between rainstorms this week of some of my favorite sites in the Arts District.  I hope you’ll bring your students down to explore the Arts District, too!

Shannon Karol
Coordinator of Museum Visits

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