Mark Menza teaches sound design for film at the DMA.
The second annual offering of Film Workshops for youth are in full swing this summer at the DMA. Dallas Film Society is a key partner for these workshops, recruiting film industry professionals from the area to lead workshops at the Museum. Workshop topics include cinematography, sound design, costuming and set design, animation, acting, and screen writing.
Nicole Stutzman
Director of Teaching Programs and Partnerships
This is one of twelve individual sound designs created for works of art in the exhibition, and these individual sound designs represent only one layer of a three-part, synchronized sound installation. A global soundscape powered by two subwoofers is audible throughout the Coastlines exhibition and contains musical elements shaped by the natural sounds and rhythms of waves. Regional soundscapes emerge from ten ceiling-mounted speakers and respond to the thematic sections of the exhibition. The twelve local, or individual, soundscapes representing interpretations of selected works of art are delivered through Holosonics hyperdirectional speakers, which allow for a controlled design of the auditory space. Now that I’ve geeked out on the technology of the sound installation, let me tell you a little more about the making of this sonic experience.
The Coastlines sound installation was created by graduate students and faculty in the Arts and Technology program at the University of Texas at Dallas, in collaboration with undergraduate students in the School of Information and Communication and Media Engineering at the Université du Sud Toulon-Var (USTV), in Toulon, France. The project began in September 2009 with several planning meetings between UT Dallas and the Dallas Museum of Art focusing on exhibition themes and artworks, as well as technological possibilities. UT Dallas faculty and students presented a proof of concept demonstration in December 2009 for the multilayer sound design and use of hyperdirectional speakers. In January 2010, under the direction of UT Dallas professor Dr. Frank Dufour, students selected works of art in the Coastlines exhibition and began composing sonic interpretations for these works. Lead graduate students Michael Austin and Jason Barnett also began work on the conceptual and technical development of the overall multilayer sound design.
Professor Frank Dufour talks with French students via Skype.
Communications about the project between the creators occurred primarily through the Internet using Skype, a free web-based chat software, and a private social network that provided a forum for the exchange of ideas, images, and iterative sound designs. The exchange was bilingual, encouraging each set of students to work through language barriers. In addition, Michael Austin visited the USTV students in Toulon, France during project development to lead them in sound design workshops. One of the workshops included collecting sounds from the harbor in Toulon, France. Many of these were used in the individual sound designs created by students in Texas and France.
Michael collects sounds of the harbor in Toulon.
French students record the sound of water.
This project is an education initiative undertaken in part with the support of FRAME, the French Regional and American Museum Exchange. FRAME fosters exchanges between a group of American and French art museums committed to establishing long-term partnerships on common projects that make their respective resources available to a wider public. Several collaborating museums and universities involved with FRAME are focused on the relationship between music and art and support the work of young artists.
Berthe Morisot, The Port of Nice, 1881-82, 1985.R.40
This past Sunday, Coastlines: Images of Land and Sea opened at the Museum. I came to see the opening with only an hour to spare, but will definitely be spending more time in the galleries; it’s an incredible exhibition. Actually, Coastlines is an incredible experience.
The show is curated by Heather MacDonald, The Lillian and James H. Clark Associate Curator of European Art, and is comprised of some fifty works from the DMA and local collections. The artworks are as diverse as the coastlines that inspired them. There are vibrant Impressionist paintings; spare, modern photographs; energetic gestural drawings; and more.
What is more exciting than the impact of any one artwork is the experience of being in the exhibition itself. Artwork labels have sea-inspired passages from literature. There are also sound installations throughout the galleries created through a partnership with the University of Texas at Dallas Arts and Technology program (ATEC). Graduate students and faculty in the ATEC program composed these soundscapes, some in response to specific artworks, some in response to the exhibition’s themes. Hyper-directional speakers hang above the twelve selected artworks, directing the sound right to you. Standing under the speakers is like putting a seashell to your ear and hearing the ocean.
Bottom line: Come see it! You’ll be very glad you did.
We’re gearing up for a week of extraordinary programming at the Museum, so come spend a day (or the whole week!) with us. Below are just a few of the many great experiences you can have at the Museum next week.
Take a new smARTphone tour Bring your own web-enabled device (such as an iPhone or Blackberry) to the Museum to access new and interactive content related to The Lens of Impressionism and The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection. If you do not have your own device, a limited number of iPod Touches can be checked out free of charge at the Visitor Services Desks.
Spend an evening in Wonderland
Learn to be a hatter in the Art Studio and watch three film adaptations of Alice in Wonderland at the Museum’s Alice in Wonderland-themed Late Night on March 19th..
Feed your appetite for knowledge Gallery Talks happen every Wednesday at 12:00 p.m. They are free 45-minute discussions led by various Museum speakers. Logan Acton, McDermott Education Intern for Teaching Programs, will be leading the discussion next Wednesday, March 17th, entitled Enlightening Connections: Science and Contemporary Art.
Go on a scavenger hunt Explore the Museum’s collections and search for hats using a gallery scavenger hunt.
Discover local Young Masters View selected artwork created by Advanced Placement Studio Art students participating in the O’Donnell Foundation’s AP Arts Incentive Program™. On view in the Concourse through April 18th.
Enjoy a light spring meal Head to the Museum’s Atrium Cafe and celebrate spring with tasty seasonal dishes like Quiche and Salad, Chicken Broccoli Crepe Provencal, and Turkey and Brie Crossiant.
Help your kids walk into and away with some art
Use green screen technology to create your own vacation-themed postcards that will be available on the Museum’s Flickr website. Tuesday, March 16–Friday, March 19th, 1:30-4:00 p.m in the Center for Creative Connections.
Stop and enjoy the flowers
The springtime wisteria blooms in the Museum’s Sculpture Garden near the Ross Avenue entrance are breathtakingly beautiful. After admiring their splendor, go find Water Lilies by Claude Monet in the European Painting and Sculpture galleries on Level Two.
Have a great break!
Amy Copeland
Coordinator of Learning Partnerships with Schools and the Community
It is Saturday now. I’m one day late with the weekly Friday Photos post. But check out these cool photos from the Late Night last night. New media art was presented in the Tech Lab by students from the University of North Texas School of Visual Art. New Media mixes the materials and concepts of technology and art, emphasizing the experience of the viewer who plays an active role in the artwork. Thanks to Lindsay Hooker for help capturing these images!
Nicole Stutzman
Director of Learning Partnerships with Schools and the Community
Late Night visitors enjoyed Christina Day's interactive self-portrait. Animated images of the artist projected on a lycra screen change when visitors touch the screen.
In the Mood is a work by Eric Flye. Heat sensors, LED lights, and a computer program calculate your temperature and your mood.
Arash Sabha played with ideas about time and infinity in his work, Revisited, which uses mirrors, motion sensors, and a video camera.
Our work on a new grant project, Connect: Teachers, Technology, and Art, has officially begun! Through the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and their Museums for America grant program, the DMA was awarded $150,000 in October 2009 to begin redesigning online teaching materials. Over the course of the next two years, we will work to create five new dynamic, web-based resource units that present the wealth of our collections in African and South Asian art. How will we do it? Thoughtfully, by connecting these three things:
Teachers: Results from a 2007 evaluation with 450 teachers, which focused on how teachers learn and teach with art, will inform the initial selection and organization of artwork images and information. Staff will also collaborate closely with twenty teachers, who will help design and test the new teaching resources in their classrooms. How do you currently use the Museum’s online teaching materials? We welcome your comments!
Technology: Digital images, video, and audio, similar to those on DMAtv, will enliven the resources by providing extended information about works of art and cultures. Imagine all of this packaged into custom units that are easy for teachers to access, search, and share with students.
Art: Works of art from Africa and South Asia will be the focus for the five new resource units. The units will reflect recent curatorial scholarship and upcoming catalogue publications for both collections. They will also highlight artworks recently added to the collection, such as the olumeye from Nigeria and the Buddha Sakyamuni from Thailand.
Kneeling female figure with bowl (olumeye)
Buddha Sakyamuni
Grant work to tackle over the next two months includes taking inventory of great images, information, video, and audio content related to the African and South Asian artworks, as well as selecting ten teachers to begin collaborating with staff. If you would like to hear more about the grant, please feel free to email us. Also look for future progress reports on the Connect project here on the blog or delivered via the Educator Newsletter.
Nicole Stutzman
Director of Learning Partnerships with Schools and the Community
nstutzman@DallasMuseumofArt.org
Jenny Marvel
Manager of Learning Partnerships with Schools
jmarvel@DallasMuseumofArt.org
I invite you to make your way soon to the Tech Lab in the Center for Creative Connections at the Dallas Museum of Art for a new experience with art and technology. On most days laptops await you and your students in an open lab setting. You can research one of the many artworks and artists viewed in the Museum galleries.
Workshops and special programs for all ages enliven the Tech Lab space on Thursday nights, Late Nights, and weekends. This past Saturday, the Booker T. Washington High School video club met with local painter and filmmaker, Trayc Claybrook. The task at hand? Make a one- minute movie using the theme “chairs”. Inspired by the design and film work of Charles and Ray Eames, the students ventured into the galleries for filming and initiated the editing process in the Lab. Other workshop topics for families, kids, teens, and adults include stop-motion animation, podcasting, graphic design with Photoshop Elements, mini-documentary, and photography. Workshops include time in the galleries connecting with works of art and time in the Tech Lab working creatively with technology tools to produce original work. Check the Web site for workshop listings — a new calendar will be posted soon!
Drop by the Lab on the secondThursday of every month and everyLate Night for hands-on Open Lab sessions with Technology experts. Coming up at the November Late Night: University of North Texas art students present interactive art you can touch!
Nicole Stutzman
Director of Learning Partnerships with Schools and the Community
What do artworks sound like? This spring a group of graduate students from the Institute for Interactive Arts and Engineering at The University of Texas at Dallas and their professor, Dr. Frank Dufour, explored this question. The Institute is an interdisciplinary program offering degrees that merge technology and the humanities. Dufour and the students created digital soundscapes for works of art in the DMA, introducing visitors to new ways of interpreting and experiencing art.
Emma-O
A sculpture of the Buddhist judge Emma-O, Frederic Church’s painting The Icebergs, and the ancient sculpture Head of the rain god Tlaloc are among the artworks that students chose as the inspiration for soundscapes.
Each of the soundscapes that were created is a layering of collected and found sounds that students mixed and manipulated with a variety of editing software. The process began with a study of the artwork. What do I see? Do I imagine real or abstract sounds? Are historical references also an influence for my soundscape? Melanie, a graduate student who created one sound design for The Icebergs, said “… I wanted the sound to represent the volume and expanse so I moved the sound from left to right. I then added waves and a hollow moaning sound to create the feel of the sea, the desolation of the place and the immense uninhabited space of the environment.”
Head of the rain god Tlaloc
All visitors can experience the soundscapes while viewing the works of art in the galleries. Bring your smartphone to the Museum, or check out an iPod Touch at the Visitor Services desk. To listen to a few of the soundscapes and to hear more about the project in an interview with Dr. Dufour, visit KERA’s Art & Seek blog.
Nicole Stutzman
Director of Learning Partnerships with Schools and the Community
I invite you to make your way soon to the 
High School video club met with local painter and filmmaker, 
