Posts Tagged 'University of Texas at Dallas'



Friday Photo…Uh, How About A Video?

It’s the end of a long week, and we all deserve a laugh.  I had the opportunity recently to revisit a series of video shorts that were created by a few oh-so-smart college students during a course led by my oh-so-smart colleague Molly Kysar.  I love these videos.  They are presented like commercials for a visit to the DMA and wonderfully represent our brand “Hundreds of Experiences.  Have one of your own!”   Enjoy the catchy tune and laugh hard.

Nicole Stutzman
Director of Teaching Programs and Partnerships

UT Dallas Students Make Creative Connections

Every year the Dallas Museum of Art collaborates with The University of Texas at Dallas to offer an honors course.  At the end of the semester, students create projects that draw connections between the discussions they have had and the artworks they have experienced. This year’s class focused on the process of creativity and drew to a close on Thursday evening. Here are a few photos of some of the amazing projects students produced: 

Combining Trenton Hancock's interest in storytelling with Tim Rollins' use of literature

Another take on Tim Rollins and the K.O.S.

This student was inspired to translate colorful flowers into fashion design

This student gave new life to Chihuly's work as each disc spins out from the painting

This work combined elements drawn from Vernon Fisher and Dorothea Tanning

   

A close-up including collaged images

Logan Acton
McDermott Intern for Teaching Programs

Coastlines: Images of Land and Sea

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.

Amy Copeland
Coordinator of Go van Gogh Outreach

From Student to Staff

I began my relationship with the Dallas Museum of Art when I was an AP art student at Frisco High School and visited the Museum with my class.  Although I spent at least three hours a day in art classes during my senior year, the Museum felt like it was a world apart from my own, much further than the half hour drive from my school. After graduating from Frisco High, I earned a scholarship to the University of Texas at Dallas where I was accepted into Collegium V, the honors program there. In addition to the courses available on campus, each spring UT Dallas and the Dallas Museum of Art collaborate to offer an innovative honors seminar that takes place at the Museum.

Me in 1717 during the honors seminar exploring the senses

I signed up for the partnership class in the spring of my freshman year,  a course devoted to the Maya, and I fell in love with the Museum. I took the class again the following year, studying modernism, then once more the next spring, studying the process of creativity. Although I had graduated with my Bachelor´s degree in Art & Performance by the time my fourth year arrived, I was able to participate as a graduate student auditing the course, this time about the senses in art and literature. As my scholarship program drew to a close, I learned that the Museum offers eight McDermott internships: four in the Curatorial Department and four in Education. I knew I loved art, I knew I loved sharing the things I was passionate about with others, so I applied to work at the Museum doing just that. Not long after, I found myself walking through the Museum’s doors as the McDermott Teaching Programs Intern.

Me leading discussion during a teacher workshop about contemporary art

Not only have I been afforded the great opportunity to participate in teacher workshops and docent training as well as leading tour groups of all ages, but I have found myself on the other side of the table in the spring honors seminar. My experiences as a high school, undergraduate, and graduate student have shaped the way I see the Museum and the educational opportunities it provides, especially the way we interact with visitors. As someone who has witnessed it firsthand, I know that transformative experiences with art in the Museum are possible. My goal as a museum educator is not to impart a specific set of facts to a group of students, but rather to spark each student’s sense of wonder and provide them a starting point for whatever journey their imagination takes.

Gregory Crewdson at the DMA

Photographer Gregory Crewdson was at the Dallas Museum of Art this week to give a lecture as part of the “Creativity in the Age of Technology” lecture series offered through the Center for Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology at The University of Texas at Dallas.

In addition to the public lecture, Crewdson also met with students who are enrolled in our UT Dallas/Dallas Museum of Art partnership course this spring.  It was a great opportunity for the students to see the three works of art by Crewdson on view in the galleries and to participate in a conversation with the artist.

This free lecture series on creativity continues with three more talks this spring at The University of Texas at Dallas: Mihalyi Csikszentmihaly on February 17, Robert Sternberg on March 11, and Raffaello D’Andrea on April 8.

Gregory Crewdson, Untitled (Sunday Roast)

Gregory Crewdson with UT Dallas students

Horchow Auditorium fills before the lecture begins.

Molly Kysar
Head of Teaching Programs

Welcome New McDermott Interns!

DSC00948 ii

Introducing…Logan Acton and Justin Greenlee!  Logan and Justin joined the K-12 Education team one week ago today as the 2009-2010 McDermott Interns.  Did you know the DMA annually offers eight curatorial and education internships? The Eugene McDermott Education Fund makes these highly competitive positions possible.  McDermott Interns work full-time at the Museum for nine months helping to shape our exhibitions and programs, as well as share them with our visitors.  We couldn’t survive without them!

Logan Acton (on the left) is the Graduate McDermott Intern for Teaching Programs.  He is completing an MA in Aesthetic Studies at The University of Texas at Dallas and holds a BA in Art & Performance from UT Dallas as well.  Logan has been a familiar face around the DMA as he participated in several semesters of a collaborative honors seminar held at the Museum and taught by DMA staff and UT Dallas faculty.

Justin Greenlee (on the right) is the McDermott Intern for Learning Partnerships with Schools and the Community.  He graduated from Kenyon College with a BA in Art History and English.  New to Texas, Justin spent a semester abroad at the Institute at the Palazzo Rucellai in Florence studying art history, and he has extensive experience as a tennis instructor at camps throughout the country.

As I mentioned above, Logan and Justin have only been roaming the Museum for one week.  I put them on the spot somewhat when I asked them which collection areas they most looked forward to spending more time exploring. Justin said the Asian art is his pick.  This will match well with a cluster of Asian Studies courses he took in college! Logan first said everything, then narrowed it down to the African galleries. He’s an artist who loves to sketch and the African works offer opportunities for line work and seeing space in new ways.  Once they settle in a bit more, the interns will join the blog as regular voices sharing their experiences throughout the next nine months. Welcome Logan and Justin!

Nicole Stutzman

Director of Learning Partnerships with Schools and the Community

The Sounds of Art

Iceburgs 1979_28

The Icebergs

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

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

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


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