CAA News Today

American Council for Southern Asian Art

The American Council for Southern Asian Art (ACSAA) invites members to contribute information regarding recent publications, exhibitions, conferences, or other newsworthy items for publication in the 2013 Bulletin. Submissions should be sent to the Bulletin’s editor, Melody Rodari.

Art, Literature, and Music in Symbolism and Decadence

Art, Literature, and Music in Symbolism and Decadence (ALMSD) will present two workshops under the title “Symbolist Movement and Mental Illnesses” at the Congress of Comparative Literature, taking place in July 17–24, 2013, in Paris, France. The moderator for both events is Rosina Neginsky, ALMSD president. The workshops are scheduled for Friday, July 19, between 2:30 and 6:45 PM. Neginsky is also presenting a paper, “Flaubert’s Herodias: Pictorial or Ekphratic?” on Monday, July 22, 2013, between 11:00 AM and 12:30 PM.

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 blog and keep up with the organization on Facebook. CCPAAH sponsored two sessions over the past year. Both “Teaching All of Our Students: Few Majors, Fewer Transfers, Many Others” at the CAA Annual Conference in New York and “The Value of Writing in the Foundation Year: Exploring New Approaches” at the Foundations in Art: Theory and Education (FATE) biennial conference in Savannah, Georgia, were well attended and very successful.

CCPAAH invites its members to submit proposals for papers to be presented at the next CAA Annual Conference, taking place February 12–15, 2014, in Chicago. The session, “Starting the Conversation: Engaging Students in the Studio and Art History,” will examine innovative ways to engage students in all kinds of courses: studio, digital, art history, art appreciation, and online. Paper topics should highlight best practices and might include: inventive ways to get students engaged in coursework; writing assignments beyond the standard art-history research paper; collaborative work; and using technology to help students become active learners. Please send all questions regarding CAA proposals to CCPAAH@gmail.com. The deadline for submittal of proposals is July 20, 2013. For more information about upcoming events and for general inquiries about the organization, write to CCPAAH@gmail.com.

Historians of Islamic Art Association

The Historians of Islamic Art Association (HIAA) plans to hold its fourth biennial symposium in October 2014 at the new Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Ontario. The symposium theme and the call for participation will be announced this summer.

International Sculpture Center

On April 25, 2013, International Sculpture Center (ISC) honored Wayne E. Potratz of the University of Minnesota with its prestigious Outstanding Educator Award for 2013. Over one hundred of Potratz’s friends, colleagues, and former students came to witness him receiving the award and to congratulate him on his many exceptional achievements as both an educator and an artist. ISC established the Outstanding Educator Award program in 1996 to recognize individual artist-educators who have excelled at teaching sculpture in institutions of higher learning. Potratz, who earned his master’s degree in 1966 at the University of California, Berkeley, has been a faculty member in the University of Minnesota’s Department of Art since 1969. He chaired the department from 1985 to 1998 and is currently Professor and Scholar of the College. His work has been exhibited in 30 solo or two-person exhibitions and in 340 group exhibitions regionally, nationally, and internationally since 1964; it is also represented in 28 public and corporate collections and in 165 private collections. Potratz was a cofounder of the International Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art and has an extensive record of lectures, workshops, and professional service since 1966. For award details or to nominate an outstanding educator, please visit the ISC website.

Italian Art Society

The Italian Art Society (IAS) has announced the location of the fifth annual IAS/Kress Foundation Lecture in Italy for spring 2014: the Università di Pisa. Established North American scholars who wish to speak on ancient to modern art in the region of Pisa and Tuscany are welcome to apply (deadline: January 4, 2014). IAS thanks Sarah Blake McHam of Rutgers University, who spoke to a full house as the fourth annual IAS/Kress Lecture speaker. Her presentation, called “Laocoön, or Pliny Vindicated,” took place at the Fondazione Marco Besso in Rome on May 28, 2013.

IAS is pleased to announce its second Research and Publication Grant up to $1,000 (deadline: November 1, 2013). The society is also accepting applications for two $500 Travel Grants to support graduate students and/or emerging or independent scholars giving conference papers on Italian art in 2014 (deadline: November 1, 2013) and for grants for IAS members abroad to travel and present papers in IAS sessions at American conferences (deadline: October 7, 2013).

IAS had well-attended sessions at the 2013 meetings for CAA, the Renaissance Society of America, and the Society of Architectural Historians, and at the International Congress of Medieval Studies. IAS will sponsor sessions at the same conferences in 2014. See http://italianartsociety.org/conferences-lectures for details.

National Council of Arts Administrators

The 2013 annual conference of the National Council of Arts Administrators (NCAA) is moving to September; registration is now open. The conference, called “Huh? The Value of Uncertainty and Doubt in the Arts,” will convene in beautiful and temperate Richmond, Virginia. Richard Roth and Joe Seipel of Virginia Commonwealth University have ambitious plans for an amazing event, which will offer timely and forward-looking sessions, an administrator’s workshop, a program for partners and spouses, and much more. As always, NCAA enthusiastically welcomes any and all interested professionals to its conference. Register by September 3, 2013, for the advance rate of $275 ($325 after September 3 and $350 onsite). Please also reserve your hotel room by August 26 for the NCAA group rate of $175/night at the beautiful Jefferson Hotel. Please visit the conference website for speakers, schedule, events, travel, and FAQ.

The NCAA website has been redesigned and has migrated to a new hosting service. Please visit the redesigned site to renew your membership and to update your contact information. Membership provides access to the Members Area, where you can post positions, email the membership, create member communities, link to resources for arts administrators, and avail yourself of other valuable services.

Society for Photographic Education

The Society for Photographic Education (SPE) seeks curators, professors, gallerists, art historians, and scholars to review student and/or professional member portfolios at SPE’s fifty-first annual conference in Baltimore, taking place March 6–9, 2014. Portfolio reviewers receive a discounted admission to the four-day event in exchange for their participation. Please visit the SPE website for more information on the conference offerings. To express interest in serving as a portfolio viewer, write to info@spenational.org.

Society of Architectural Historians

The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) is please to announce the H. Allen Brooks Travelling Fellowship. This new fellowship will provide a $50,000 award to allow a recent graduate or emerging scholar to study by travel for one year. The fellowship is not for conducting research. Instead, Prof. Brooks intended the recipient to study by travel and contemplation while observing, reading, writing, or sketching. The goals of the fellowship are as follows: to see and experience architecture and landscapes firsthand; to think about his or her profession deeply; and to acquire knowledge useful for the recipient’s future work, contribution to the profession, and contribution to society. The fellowship recipient may travel to any country or countries during the one-year period. The application deadline is October 1, 2013.

Society of Historians of East European, Eurasian, and Russian Art and Architecture

The Society of Historians of East European, Eurasian, and Russian Art and Architecture (SHERA) is soliciting proposals of papers for its sponsored session, “Decentering Art of the Former East,” at CAA’s 2014 Annual Conference in Chicago. The session seeks to move beyond traditional binaries of East and West and rethink how the art of the region it studies can be understood in an increasingly global art history. The chairs seek historically grounded case studies of Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian art from the Byzantine era to modern times that productively explore these issues. Interested contributors should contact the session’s cochairs, Masha Chlenova and Kristin Romberg, for more details. The deadline for proposals is August 1, 2013.

SHERA is delighted to welcome three new institutional members: the Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens in Washington, DC, with its comprehensive collection of Russian imperial art and outstanding research library; the Institute of Modern Russian Culture at the University of Southern California, a major research center dedicated to the intellectual and material culture of Russia; and the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, which holds both Russian imperial art and the world’s largest collection of Soviet nonconformist art.

SHERA maintains an active listserv and Facebook page and is currently creating a new website. New individual and institutional members are welcome. Please direct your inquiries for more information to SHERA.artarchitecture@gmail.com.

Visual Resources Association

The thirty-second annual conference of the Visual Resources Association (VRA) will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from March 12 to 15, 2014. Proposals are now being solicited for the program sessions, workshops, papers, posters, special interest/user groups, and case studies. You access the Google Docs version of the conference proposal form, which can also be found on VRA’s conferences page. Questions about the proposal process and the various presentation formats included in the VRA conference program can be directed to Steven Kowalik, vice president for conference programming. The proposal deadline is July 15, 2013.

Women’s Caucus for Art

The Women’s Caucus for Art (WCA) announces the 2014 recipients of its Lifetime Achievement Awards: Phyllis Bramson, Harmony Hammond, Adrian Piper, and Faith Wilding. The recipients for the 2014 President’s Art and Activism Awards are Janice Nesser-Chu and Hye-Seong Tak Lee. Please join WCA for the awards celebration on Saturday, February 15, 2014, in Chicago. The celebration will be held during the annual WCA and CAA conferences. The awards ceremony, open free of charge to the public, will take place from 6:00 to 7:30 PM, followed by a ticketed gala from 8:00 to 10:00 PM at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. The ticketed gala will include a walk-around gourmet dinner, open bar, and the opportunity to congratulate the awardees. Mark your calendars! Gala tickets will be available for sale in the fall.