CAA News Today

CAA hosted its 100th Annual Conference and Centennial Celebration, February 22–25, 2012, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. This year’s program included: four days of presentations and panel discussions on art history and visual culture; Career Services for professionals at all stages of their careers; a Book and Trade Fair; and a host of special events throughout southern California.

Attendance

Five thousand art professionals from throughout the United States and abroad—including artists, art historians, students, educators, curators, critics, collectors, and museum staff—attended the conference.

Sessions

Conference sessions featured presentations by artists, scholars, graduate students, and curators, who addressed a range of topics in art history and the visual arts. In total, the conference offered over 200 sessions, developed by CAA members, affiliated societies, and committees.

Career Services

Career Services included four days of mentoring and portfolio-review sessions, career-development workshops, and job interviews with colleges, universities, and other art institutions. Approximately 200 interviewees and 46 mentors participated in Career Services.

Book and Trade Fair

This year’s Book and Trade Fair presented over 120 exhibitors, including participants from the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Belgium, Mexico, China, Germany, Poland, and Cuba, displaying new publications, artists’ materials, digital resources, and innovative products of interest to artists and scholars. The Book and Trade Fair also featured book signings, lectures, and demonstrations, as well as three exhibitor-sponsored program sessions on art materials and publishing.

ARTspace and ARTexchange

ARTspace, a “conference within the conference” tailored to the needs and interests of practicing artists, presented this year’s Annual Artists’ Interviews with Mary Kelly and Martin Kersels. Over 300 people attended this extraordinary event.

The ARTspace program also featured four days of panel discussions devoted to visual-arts practice, opportunities for professional development, screenings of video work curated and produced by graduate students from six Los Angeles colleges, and a symposium exploring art in the public realm. Programmed by CAA’s Services to Artists Committee, ARTspace was made possible in part by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

ARTexchange, an open-portfolio event in which CAA artist members displayed drawings, prints, photographs, small paintings, and works on laptop computers, took place on Friday, February 24. Nearly 50 artists participated in ARTexchange this year.

Convocation and Centennial Awards

More than 400 people attended CAA’s Convocation and presentation of the 2012 Centennial Awards. Rocco Landesman, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, delivered the keynote address.

The recipients of CAA’s Centennial Awards are:

• Deborah Marrow, Leadership and Service to the Field. Presented by James Cuno, President and CEO, J. Paul Getty Trust
• Edythe and Eli Broad, Patronage and Philanthropic Support of the Arts. Presented by Steven D. Lavine, President, California Institute of the Arts
• California Lawyers for the Arts, Advocacy for the Arts. Awarded to Maria Seferian, Copresident of California Lawyers for the Arts and presented by Joseph Lewis III, Dean, Claire Trevor School of the Arts, University of California, Irvine

Awards for Distinction

More than 300 people attended CAA’s ceremony for the 2012 Awards for Distinction. The recipients of this year’s awards are:

• David Hammons, Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement
• Adrian Piper, Artist Award for Distinguished Body of Work
• Lucy R. Lippard, Distinguished Feminist Award
• Allan Sekula, Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award for Writing on Art
• David Antin, Frank Jewett Mather Award
• Alexander Nagel, Charles Rufus Morey Book Award
• Maryan W. Ainsworth, Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award
• Roy Flukinger, Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award for Smaller Museums, Libraries, Collections, and Exhibitions
• Jacki Apple, Distinguished Teaching of Art Award
• Gabriel P. Weisberg, Distinguished Teaching of Art History Award
• Francesca G. Bewer, CAA/Heritage Preservation Award for Distinction in Scholarship and Conservation
• Rebecca Molholt, Arthur Kingsley Porter Prize
• Triple Canopy and Colby Chamberlain, Art Journal Award

Centennial Book

Edited by Susan Ball, executive director emerita, The Eye, the Hand, the Mind: 100 Years of the College Art Association surveys the impressive history of the organization from 1911 to the present. The 330-page hardcover book was published jointly by CAA and Rutgers University Press.

Special Events

Following the Centennial Convocation, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art hosted a Centennial Reception on Wednesday evening, February 22. Hundreds of attendees gathered to celebrate CAA’s 100th anniversary and enjoyed exclusive access to the museum’s galleries.

Save the Date

CAA’s 101st Annual Conference will be held in New York, February 13–16, 2013.

About CAA

The College Art Association is dedicated to providing professional services and resources for artists, art historians, and students in the visual arts. CAA serves as an advocate and a resource for individuals and institutions nationally and internationally by offering forums to discuss the latest developments in the visual arts and art history through its Annual Conference, publications, exhibitions, website, and other events. CAA focuses on a wide range of issues, including education in the arts, freedom of expression, intellectual-property rights, cultural heritage and preservation, workforce topics in universities and museums, and access to networked information technologies. Representing its members’ professional needs since 1911, CAA is committed to the highest professional and ethical standards of scholarship, creativity, criticism, and teaching.