CAA News Today

American Council for Southern Asian Art

The Bulletin of the American Council for Southern Asian Art (ACSAA) will be available to all ACSAA members this summer. As printed versions of the bulletin were discontinued in 2011, members should visit the ACSAA website to download the latest edition in PDF format, as well as all past Bulletins and Newsletters that have now been digitized.

American Society of Hispanic Art Historical Studies

The American Society of Hispanic Art Historical Studies (ASHAHS) announced its awards winners at the 2012 CAA Annual Conference. Jessica Weiss of the University of Texas at Austin is the recipient of the Photographs Grant, given to support the acquisition of photographs by graduate students who are preparing their doctoral dissertation or MA thesis on the topic of Spanish or Portuguese art history. Weiss’s dissertation is entitled “Juan de Flandes and the Commoditization of Aesthetics in Isabelline Spain.”

The Eleanor Tufts Award, which recognizes an outstanding English-language publication in the area of Spanish or Portuguese art history, went to Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2011), edited by Ilona Katzew. In addition, the jurors selected two books for honorable mention: Book of Honors for Empress Maria of Austria: Composed by the College of the Society of Jesus of Madrid on the Occasion of Her Death (1603) (Philadelphia: Saint Joseph’s University Press, 2011), edited by Antonio Bernat Vistarini, John T. Cull, and Tamás Sajó; and Maruja Mallo and the Spanish Avant-Garde (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2010), by Shirley Mangini.

Art, Literature, and Music in Symbolism and Decadence

Art, Literature, and Music in Symbolism and Decadence (ALMSD) thanks everyone who helped make its recent conference, “The Symbolist Movement: Its Origins and Its Consequences,” a success. The event took place April 25–28, 2012, at Allerton Park in Monticello, Illinois. Visit the conference website for complete program information and to watch a video of the opening. ALMSD has signed a contract with a publisher to publish an annual journal, to be called Art, Literature, and Music in Symbolism, Its Origins, and Its Consequences, beginning in 2013. The organization invites interested scholars working on aspects of the Symbolist movement to learn more about membership in the organization. Please contact Rosina Neginsky to contribute to the annual newsletter.

Association for Textual Scholarship in Art History

The Association for Textual Scholarship in Art History (ATSAH) seeks papers for a special session during CAA’s 101st Annual Conference in New York, taking place February 13–16, 2013. The session will examine how stained glass evolved as an art form between the years 1400 and 1900. Papers may also address how images are derived from the Bible, mythology, history, and literature. Please send abstracts to Liana Cheney, ATSAH president.

Association of Historians of American Art

The Association of Historians of American Art (AHAA) will sponsor two sessions at CAA’s 2013 Annual Conference in New York. Elizabeth Lee of Dickinson College and Robin Vedder of Pennsylvania State University will chair the scholarly session, “The Body of the Artist and the Artist as Body in American Artistic Practice.” Jaleen Grove and Douglas Dowd, both of Washington University in Saint Louis, will chair the professional session, “The Art History of American Periodical Illustration.” See the AHAA website for more information on the two panels.

The second AHAA symposium, “American Art: the Academy, Museums, and the Market,” will feature Holland Cotter, art critic for the New York Times, as the keynote speaker. The event will take place at the Boston Athenaeum in Massachusetts on October 11–13, 2012. The full schedule of speakers and registration information can be found online. Registration opened on June 1, 2012.

Association of Research Institutes in Art History

The Association of Research Institutes in Art History (ARIAH) invites nominations and self-nominations for the newly established ARIAH Prize for Online Publishing. This award, which carries a $1,000 cash prize, seeks to encourage and promote scholarly standards in online publishing in all fields of art history. The prize will be awarded annually to the author(s) of a distinguished article or essay published online in the past three years in the form of an ejournal or a short-form epublication that advances the study of art history and visual culture. The article should either appear exclusively online, or should be substantially distinct from any print version, creatively capitalizing on the potential of digital publishing.

Community College Professors of Art and Art History

Community College Professors of Art and Art History (CCPAAH) is reaching out to new members: please visit the new blog and watch for a Facebook page that is being developed. The organization seeks papers for a symposium, “Teaching All of Our Students: Few Majors, Fewer Transfers, Many Others,” to be held at the next CAA Annual Conference, taking place February 13–16, 2013, in New York. The symposium will explore the diverse make-up of the community-college student body and consider how best to teach art and art history to students who may have no interest in pursuing a major in the field. Panelists will be asked to share an example of a “best practice” that they feel addresses this concern. For more information about the upcoming symposium and for general inquiries about CCPAAH, please write to communitycollegeart@gmail.com.

CCPAAH invites its members to submit proposals for papers for Foundations in Art: Theory and Education’s next conference, “postHaus,” taking place April 3–6, 2013, in Savannah, Georgia. The session topic, “The Value of Writing in the Foundation Year: Exploring New Approaches,” will examine the importance of writing in both studio and art-history courses in the foundation year. Paper topics might include: how writing is integrated into your studio course; writing assignments beyond the standard art-history research paper; and using technology to get students writing. Please address all questions regarding FATE proposals to communitycollegeart@gmail.com.

Historians of Eighteenth-Century Art and Architecture

Michael Yonan, associate professor at the University of Missouri in Columbia, has been elected the new president of the Historians of Eighteenth-Century Art and Architecture (HECAA).

HECAA will be represented at the next American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies conference, taking place April 4–7, 2013, in Cleveland, Ohio, with two panels, chaired by Christopher Johns and Heather McPherson. Proposals for papers are due by September 15, 2012, and should be sent directly to the seminar chairs. HECAA will also host its annual luncheon and its business meeting at the conference.

Historians of Islamic Art Association

Registration is open for “Looking Widely, Looking Closely,” the third biennial symposium of the Historians of Islamic Art Association (HIAA), hosted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, October 18–20, 2012. Early registration ends on August 1. For more information about registration, travel tips, and hotels, please visit the website.

HIAA welcomes Jennifer Pruitt to the organization’s executive board as interim webmaster, succeeding Lara Tohme, who served for two years, from 2011 to 2012.

International Sculpture Center

Registration is now open for the twenty-third International Sculpture Conference of the International Sculpture Center (ISC), taking place October 4–6, 2012, in Chicago, Illinois. The conference will bring together people from around the world and across the field of contemporary sculpture to Chicago for ARTSlams, mentoring sessions, and an invigorating roster of presenters, including two keynote speakers: the artists Sophie Ryder and Sanford Biggers. This is an event you don’t want to miss!

ISConnects is hosting three upcoming summer and fall events in 2012. On July 21 in Omaha, Nebraska, ISC, KANEKO, and Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts will present a full day of discussions and artist-led tours with Nathalie Miebach and Michael Jones McKean, coinciding with McKean’s Bemis exhibition, The Rainbow: Certain Principles of Light and Shapes between Forms. On August 25, ISC and Grounds for Sculpture will host tours and an exciting panel discussion exploring the evolution and transformation of sculpture, followed by a reception in the Grounds for Sculpture Museum in Hamilton, New Jersey. Funded in part by the Johnson Art and Education Foundation, ISConnects explores the unique perspectives on sculpture in the contemporary art world. With partner organizations, ISC offers intimate programming that addresses cutting-edge, timely trends in sculpture through lively and insightful discourse.

Italian Art Society

The Italian Art Society (IAS) seeks nominations and self-nominations for various committee positions; please review the list of vacancies for more information on how to apply for a position. The deadline for nominations is November 1, 2012. Those interested in submitting proposals for papers for four linked sessions at the forty-eighth International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan, taking place May 9–12, 2013, should review the online call for additional information.

Leonardo Education and Art Forum

Patricia Olynyk, an artist and chair of the Leonardo Education and Art Forum (LEAF), will moderate a panel, “Eco-Art + the Evolving Landscape of Social and Situated Practices,” at the eighteenth International Symposium on Electronic Art, to be held September 19–24, 2012, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The panelists include Linda Weintraub, Sam Bower, and Saul Ostrow, and the focus will be on education and the complex triad of ecoart, situated practices, and project-based public work that embraces various democratic processes and inspires progressive social, cultural, and environmental change. Jill Scott and Ellen K. Levy are cochairs of another ISEA panel, “Synaptic Scenarios for Ecological Environments,” which addresses cognitive issues in relation to ecology with the goal of gaining a greater embodied sense of place within the ecological environment. The panelists include Patricia Olynyk, Nicole Ottiger, Angelika Hilbeck, and Alison Hawthorne Deming.

LEAF seeks panelists for its session at CAA’s 2013 Annual Conference in New York. Entitled “Re/Search: Art, Science, and Information Technology (ASIT): What Would Leonardo da Vinci Have Thought?” and moderated by Joe Lewis of the University of California, Irvine, the session takes a close look at art projects that involve the intersection of science and technology. When Leonardo da Vinci introduced himself to the Duke of Milan, he did not reveal himself as an artist but instead presented a proposal to create military weapons to protect the duke’s city in times of siege. What entrepreneurial ideas have contemporary artists developed to provide funding for their projects? Please submit proposals to Joe Lewis by July 31, 2012.

Mid-America College Art Association

The Mid-America College Art Association (MACAA) will hold its biannual conference from October 3 to 6, 2012, in Detroit, Michigan. The James Pearson Duffy Department of Art and Art History at Wayne State University will host the conference. Programming will include three featured speakers; panels on art, design, art history, and visual resources; and studio workshops, member exhibitions, and museum visits. The conference will have two content areas, “Meaning and Making” and “Community and Collaboration.” Visit the Detroit conference website to learn more about the event, travel and hotel information, and how to become an MACAA member.

National Alliance of Artists from Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Lee Ransaw, chairman and founder of the National Alliance of Artists from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (NAAHBCU), was a panelist on the 2012 James A. Porter Colloquium at Howard University in Washington, DC. He presented on “The Growth and Development of the National Alliance of Artists from Historically Black Colleges and Universities.” The James A. Porter Colloquium is the leading forum for scholars, artists, curators, and individuals in the field of African American Art and Visual Culture. Established at Howard University in 1990, the colloquium is named in honor of James A. Porter, the pioneering art historian and professor, whose 1943 publication Modern Negro Art laid the foundation for the field.

The annual NAAHBCU meeting was held June 29–30, 2012, in Atlanta, Georgia. Coinciding with the meeting was an exhibition, Influence and Legacy: Shaping the Future while Preserving the Past, featuring NAAHBCU artists and held at the Stewart McClain Gallery in Atlanta.

National Council of Arts Administrators

The National Council of Arts Administrators (NCAA) board seeks proposals for the presentation of case studies for its annual conference, “Granting Permission,” taking place November 7–10, 2012, and hosted by Ohio State University and Columbus College of Art and Design. Topics might include but are not limited to: leadership and management; interpersonal communication; succeeding with external constituencies; budget management; personnel evaluation; issues related to promotion and tenure; personal growth; career paths; and any topical area related to arts administration and leadership. Please outline your proposal, or send an actual case study, in 350 words or less to Lydia Thompson or Amy Hauft. Proposals are due by Friday, July 31, 2012. Selected entries will be notified by September 1, 2012. Confirmation of presenters will be posted at NCAA’s website and formally acknowledged by the NCAA board.

New Media Caucus

The New Media Caucus (NMC) extends a warm welcome to its new board members: Elizabeth Demaray, Rutgers University; Margaret Dolinsky, Indiana University Bloomington; Conrad Gleber, La Salle University; Claudia Hart, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Krista Hoefle, Saint Mary’s College; Meredith Hoy, University of Massachusetts, Boston; Patrick Lichty, Columbia College Chicago; Gail Rubini, Florida State University; and Joyce Rudinsky, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. These outstanding artist practitioners, educators, and academics will join continuing board members and officers.

Public Art Dialogue

Public Art Dialogue (PAD) has published the latest issue of its eponymous journal, which features a theme of “Audience Response.” Public art today is often commissioned with community input, but very little is known about how such art is received initially and over time. Although “the public” is often invoked, the actual audience is rarely consulted after a work is in place. In this issue, Public Art Dialogue aims to document this elusive but critical aspect of public art and suggest a methodology for its study.

The fourth annual PAD award for achievement in the field of public art was presented to the media artist Ben Rubin at the 2012 CAA Annual Conference in Los Angeles. Rubin treated all in attendance to a unique glimpse into the behind-the-scenes happenings of his new public project, Shakespeare Machine. Commissioned by New York City’s Percent for Art program, the site-specific sculpture will be installed in the lobby of the Public Theater in New York. After the presentation, Rubin shared some of the joys and obstacles of the public art process in an intimate question-and-answer session.

Society for Photographic Education

This fall the Society for Photographic Education (SPE) will host regional conferences in Rochester, New York; Jersey City, New Jersey; Daytona Beach, Florida; Starkville, Mississippi; Cincinnati, Ohio; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Eugene, Oregon. Photographic artists, educators, students, and professionals will gather on an intimate scale for discussions on programming, photography critiques, exhibitions, tours, receptions, and more. Regional conferences are great opportunities to meet other members of the organization. If you are not an SPE member, you can still attend the conferences at a nonmember rate. Visit the SPE website to find out more about the regional conferences, including registration and proposal deadlines.

Society for the Study of Early Modern Women

The Society for the Study of Early Modern Women (SSEMW) has elected the following officers for the current year: Allyson M. Poska, professor of history, University of Mary Washington, president; Jane Couchman, professor emeritus, York University, vice president; Deborah Uman, professor of English, Saint John Fisher College, treasurer; Abby Zanger, independent scholar, secretary; and Karen Nelson, Center for Literary and Comparative Studies, University of Maryland, webmaster.

Society of Architectural Historians

At its sixty-fifth annual conference in Detroit in April 2012, members of the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) warmly welcomed a new slate of officers: Abigail A. Van Slyck, Connecticut College, president; Kenneth Breisch University of Southern California, first vice president; Ken Tadashi Oshima, University of Washington, second vice president; Gail Fenske, Roger Williams University, secretary; and Jan M. Grayson, treasurer. SAH also welcomes the following incoming board members, who will serve three years: Michael J. Gibson, Greenberg, Whitcombe & Takeuchi; Duanfang Lu, University of Sydney; Robert Nauman, University of Colorado, Boulder; Donna Robertson, Illinois Institute of Technology; and Gary Van Zante, MIT Museum.

Visual Resources Association

The Visual Resources Association (VRA) presented the winners of its highest honors at an awards luncheon on April 19, 2012, which took place during the organization’s thirtieth annual conference, held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Kathe Hicks Albrecht of American University received the Distinguished Service Award for her contributions to visual resources and image management. The ceremony featured comments from Albrecht’s nominators and a discussion of her engagement with visual resources advocacy, service to the profession, and long term involvement with VRA and the VRA Foundation over her twenty-one year career. In addition, VRA presented two Nancy DeLaurier Awards for distinguished achievement to Sheila M. Hannah of the University of New Mexico and Patti McRae Baley of the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. Hannah was honored for her early, innovative development of image automation: the Visual Information Checklist, the development of Visual Resources Catalog of Native American Artists, and the implementation of a thriving internship program. Baley was honored for her long and successful role as the “Empress” of the VRA conference; inaugurating the “VRAffle,” which provides income for the Tansey Travel Awards; and immediate involvement in the association for new and veteran conference attendees. You can find images and information about the awards presentation and a selection of multimedia illustrated conference presentations on the VRA website.