South Dallas Cultural Center in the C3 House

If you have stopped by the DMA’s Center for Creative Connections recently, you might have noticed our fourth Community Partner Response Installation near the Space Bar. The South Dallas Cultural Center (SDCC) created Free Association, a 12-foot-tall multimedia, interactive installation that includes a music composition station and a choreography instructional video. You can experience the installation through October.

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Pause and Remember

Just in time for Memorial Day, the Dallas Museum of Art has added to its collection David Johnson’s 1870 painting View from Garrison, West Point, New York. This landscape is a fantastic panoramic view of the Hudson River Valley with the United States Military Academy at West Point front and center. As we take time off to celebrate the many sacrifices our veterans have made for our country, consider stopping by the Museum to see this painting, now on view in the American galleries.

David Johnson, “View from Garrison, West Point, New York,” 1870, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, The Patsy Lacy Griffith Collection, gift of Patsy Lacy Griffith by exchange, and General Acquisitions Fund, 2012.6

David Johnson, “View from Garrison, West Point, New York” (detail of United States Military Academy), 1870, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, The Patsy Lacy Griffith Collection, gift of Patsy Lacy Griffith by exchange, and General Acquisitions Fund, 2012.6

Martha MacLeod is the Curatorial Administrative Assistant in the European and American Art Department at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Picture This – Part Deux

Over a year ago, the Dallas Museum of Art sent  College of Animals by Cornelis Saftleven (1607-1681) to a conservator for cleaning and minor repair. With the grime removed from the Dutch artist’s enigmatic composition, it was the perfect time to do a bit more. So we replaced the thin, unadorned gilt frame that formerly surrounded the canvas with one more in keeping with the sort preferred by Dutch artists working during Saftleven’s time. Seventeenth-century Netherlandish artists typically favored a waffle or ripple style molding frame. These darkly painted wooden frames that simulated ebony are decorated with several rows carved in a zigzag design, and often have a reverse ogee profile.  A few months ago, the DMA purchased a period Dutch frame that has all of these design elements from a Parisian dealer. Now that Saftleven’s College of Animals is back from the conservator and has an appropriate frame, it is once again on view in the European galleries for everyone to enjoy!

The simple gilt frame that formerly surrounded Cornelis Saftleven’s “College of Animals,” n.d., oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, The Karl and Esther Hoblitzelle Collection, gift of the Hoblitzelle Foundation, 1987.32

Cornelis Saftleven, College of Animals with its period seventeenth-century waffle-style Dutch frame.

Detail of College of Animals’ new frame

Martha MacLeod is the Curatorial Administrative Assistant to the European and American Art departments.

Graduation Day

The 2011-2012 McDermott Interns are finishing their final days at the DMA. The year has flown by and we want to thank each intern for their dedication and enthusiasm over the past eight months. Below is a look at what their next steps will be. Congratulations to you all.

• Andrew Sears will pursue his Ph.D. in medieval art history at UC Berkeley.
• Vivian Barclay has accepted an adjunct teaching position at Brookhaven College.
• Hannah Burney will stay at the DMA over the summer to assist with Go van Gogh programs.
• Mary Jordan will be at the DMA over the summer to assist with summer camps and family programs.
• Lexie Ettinger plans to return to Houston and use her art history degree and museum background there.
• Melissa Barry will stay in Dallas and be involved with the arts and contemporary collections.
• Jessica Kennedy has accepted the position of Public Programs Manager at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth.
• Wendy Earle has accepted the position of Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at the Museum of the Southwest in Midland.

Sarah Vitek Coffey is the Assistant to the Chair of Learning Initiatives at the Dallas Museum of Art.

BooksmART Festival – My Favorite Things

Well, it’s that time again! The second annual FREE BooksmART Festival at the Dallas Museum of Art is right around the corner. Mark your calendars now: Saturday, June 9, 2012, 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Spend the entire day with authors, illustrators, musicians, and actors! Every member of the family is guaranteed to find something to enjoy–there is really something for everyone. The full lineup can be found on our website, but I thought I would go ahead and give you my “Top Ten” list of things you need to do at the festival.

My Top Ten List of Things To Do (And See) at the BooksmART Festival 

1. Get here early! The first events start at 11:00 a.m. and you won’t want to miss them. You know what they say,  “To be early is to be on time. To be on time is to be late. To be late is unacceptable!”

2. Make sure you go to an author or illustrator presentation. Whether you read picture books, chapter books, young adult books, or comic books, we have an event for you.

3. Get as many autographs as humanly possible. If, by chance, you miss an author at their booksigning, you can politely ask them to sign a book for you if you attend their workshop.

4. Eat something from the food trucks! I pinky promise that you’ll be glad you did. We’ve invited all kinds of trucks to come to the festival, but I know you’ll be especially excited for snow cones and ice cream sandwiches as the hot Texas sun threatens to swallow you up. You are welcome.

5. Head over to the Crow Collection of Asian Art for paper and pop-up fun! I am dying to learn how to re-create the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry using only paper, scissors, and my own two hands. I tried, and Wingardium Leviosa doesn’t really work in the Muggle world.

6. Stop in for a workshop or performance by the Dallas Theater Center. I’m so curious–just what is an Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat? They don’t exactly sell them at the Gap.

7. Get your eyes checked! The Essilor Vision Foundation will be at the festival all day providing FREE vision screenings and glasses to kids ages 5-16. After you get your glasses, go meet Taye Diggs. I’m 99.9% positive he’ll be wearing his glasses too.

8. Grab a snack and re-hydrate in the Atrium while you listen to music. Food, water, and music–life’s essentials!

9. Drop in on the Center for Creative Connections (a.k.a. C3). Check out the Art Studio, where several illustrators will be giving workshops; stop by the Tech Lab and create a digital short film; or just hang out at the space bar and let your imagination run wild!

10. Buy your favorite author’s books in the Museum Store, and visit Half Price Books’ table in the Concourse. Sign up for their summer reading program so you can keep the BooksmART fun going all summer long.

And now, since your appetite has been whetted, I’m going to leave you with a little song I’ve written for the BooksmART Festival. Sing it over and over with your family and friends in anticipation. If, by chance, you happen to memorize it, come find me; I’ll have a special prize for the choristers who serenade me. I will be at Horchow Auditorium all day, so look for me.

My Favorite Things (BooksmART Remix)

To the tune of Rogers and Hammerstein’s “My Favorite Things”

Readings and writings and workshops and classes
Joe wears a dreamcoat and new stylish glasses
Pablo Picasso and yum, Chocolate Me!
These are a few of my favorite things
Cartoons and funnies and writers of stories

Mice and amoebas and full Scrabble glory
Dramas and comedies and mysteries
These are a few of my favorite things

Papers that morph into pop-up creations
Aliens that go on extended vacations
Monkeys that bounce on a bed full of springs
These are a few of my favorite things

When I’m grounded
When the ship sinks
When I’m feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don’t feel so bad

For more information about the 2nd annual BooksmART Festival, visit our website or call 214-922-1818.

Hayley Dyer is the Audience Relations Coordinator for Programming at the Dallas Museum of Art. Growing up, her favorite picture book was “A Bargain For Frances.”

Seldom Scene: Installing 1950s Dallas

Did you get a chance to travel to 1950s Dallas this weekend? Flower of the Prairie: George Grosz in Dallas opened on Sunday and will be on view through August 19. Below are a few images from the installation of the exhibition.

Photography by Adam Gingrich, DMA Marketing Assistant.

Youth and Beauty in the Harlem Renaissance

Regarded as one of the premier art historians on the Harlem Renaissance, Dr. Richard Powell will be joining us on Friday, May 18, for our Late Night celebration centered on the Harlem Renaissance and the Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties exhibition.

Dr. Powell, the John Spencer Bassett Professor of Art & Art History at Duke University, has been writing on art and curating since 1988, when he received his Ph.D. from Yale University. He has worked with the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. We asked him a few questions about his work before he joins us on Friday.

You’ve worked extensively on African diaspora, American art, and African American art.  What drew you to the Harlem Renaissance specifically?

So much of the work during this period was trail-blazing. It was pushing against conventions to make a bold, new statement in art.

Would you comment on the work Congo (1928) by Aaron Douglas, which is featured in Youth and Beauty, and how it is evocative of the Harlem Renaissance?

It is evocative of the Harlem Renaissance because Douglas is encouraging viewers to see African dance, bodies, and art as sources of inspiration and information. My favorite part of the picture is the woman looking upward with what seems like “super sight” Eyes that radiate upward on a levitating figure. Eyes that do more than simply see; they project.

Aaron Douglas, Congo, c. 1928, gouache and pencil on paperboard, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, Gift of Susie R. Powell and Franklin R. Anderson

Do you have a favorite, little known fact or story about the Harlem Renaissance?

My little known fact is that the term “Harlem Renaissance” actually comes into common currency starting in the 1940s. Artistically inclined black artists in the 1920s and 1930s referred to that moment as the “New Negro Arts Movement.”

What are you most looking forward to on your visit to Dallas?

Just seeing Dallas. It’s been a little while since I was last there. I’m really looking forward to my visit!

Dr. Powell’s lecture, Jungle Beauty: Harlem Renaissance Portraits and Their Marks, will start at 9:00 p.m. in Horchow Auditorium on Friday, May 18. We hope to see you there!

Liz Menz is the Manager of Adult Programming.

All in a Day’s Work: George Grosz in Dallas

On May 13, 1952 George Grosz arrived in Dallas to begin work on his Impressions of Dallas series. 60 years ago today, according to entries from Grosz’s diary, he met the DMFA’s director Jerry Bywaters and later in the day enjoyed a cocktail party at the Cipango Club. You can view twenty works from his series this Sunday when Flower of the Prairie: George Grosz in Dallas opens at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Leon Harris, left, welcomes Reeves Lewenthal, center, and George Grosz at Love Field Airport, May 13, 1952. Clint Grant Collection, Texas/Dallas History and Archives Division. PA2001-1/17.

George Grosz sketching in front of the skyline of Dallas, May 16, 1952. Archiv Bildende Kunst, Akademie der Kϋnste

Mother’s Day flashback

We were poking around in the Museum’s archives and found this Dallas Morning News article from May 15, 1949, featuring mothers at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. It could be fun to re-create the photos and treat your mom to a beautiful Mother’s Day at the DMA this Sunday.

Dallas Morning News Staff Photos by Ed Miley, May 15, 1949.

 

 

Dallas Morning News Staff Photos by Ed Miley, May 15, 1949.

 

Dallas Morning News Staff Photos by Ed Miley, May 15, 1949.

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

Seldom Scene: Installing a Souvenir Tusk

This past weekend, Souvenir: A 19th-Century Carved Tusk from the Loango Coast of Africa opened in the Museum’s Concourse. Below are a few shots of the installation process.

Photography by Adam Gingrich, DMA Marketing Assistant