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CAA Opposes the Sale of the Iowa Pollock Painting

posted by — February 17, 2011

In response to the possible sale of Jackson Pollock’s Mural (1943) by the University of Iowa and the state legislature, Barbara Nesin, president of the CAA Board of Directors, and Linda Downs, executive director, sent the following letter to editor of the Des Moines Register. While the newspaper did not publish this missive, it did print a letter from Paul B. Jaskot, a professor at DePaul University and CAA president from 2008 to 2010, on February 20. The next day, Jason Clayworth reported that the idea to sell the painting died in legislature.

Letter to the Editor

February 17, 2011

To the Editor
The Des Moines Register

When Peggy Guggenheim donated Jackson Pollock’s “Mural” to the University of Iowa in 1951 she was not donating the cash equivalent of the painting’s value. She was giving the University and the state of Iowa an iconic American painting. The purpose of the gift was to enrich the present and future members of the University community, and to benefit the citizens of Iowa as well as all Americans.

I am writing on behalf of the College Art Association, the nation’s premier visual rights organization, with 16,000 members—artists, art historians, other visual arts professionals and institutions across the country. It would be a major mistake for the Iowa Legislature to pass House Study Bill 84, which would compel the University’s Board of Regents to sell an irreplaceable part of the state’s patrimony.

As teachers, students and arts professionals, we acknowledge the urgent financial situation facing the University, and we note that the bill proposes that any funds earned be used to support scholarships for art majors. Any sale of “Mural,” however, would violate broadly accepted professional museum standards. More importantly, it would rob all Iowans of a remarkable painting, which was intended for them to enjoy and appreciate—in Iowa. We are hopeful that the legislature will reject the bill, to keep the painting in Iowa, where it rightly belongs.

Sincerely,

Barbara Nesin, MFA
President, College Art Association


Linda Downs
Executive Director, College Art Association

Filed under: Advocacy, Legal Issues — Tags: , , —

Anne-Imelda Radice Joins the Board as Appointed Director

posted by — February 14, 2011

CAA has named Anne-Imelda Radice, a senior consultant for the Dilenschneider Group, to the Board of Directors as an appointed director. Radice has a strong record of public service, serving in all three federal cultural agencies: the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

Prior to joining the Dilenschneider Group, Radice was director of the IMLS from 2006 to 2010. Previously acting assistant chairman for programs at the NEH, she served as chief of staff to the secretary of the United States Department of Education. In the early 1990s she was acting NEA chairman and senior deputy chairman. From 1989 to 1991, Radice was chief of the Creative Arts Division of the United States Information Agency and also served as the first director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (1983–89). Before that she worked as a curator and architectural historian for the Architect of the Capitol and as an assistant curator at the National Gallery of Art.

Radice earned a PhD in art and architectural history from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, an MBA from American University in Washington, DC, and a BA in art history from Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. She also holds an MA from the Villa Schifanoia in Florence, Italy.

About CAA Appointed Directors

In addition to the areas of art, art history, museums, law, and finance that currently are represented on the board, CAA seeks expertise in marketing, technology, and philanthropy, among other areas. In February 2010, CAA members approved an amendment to Article VII, Section IV, of the organizational By-laws to establish a new category of appointed director to serve this function. Read more about the amendment.

Challenges to membership societies have increased a great deal in the last decade. Even before the recent financial downturn, membership societies became more complex and expensive to operate. Fund raising, strategies to make the organization structure more efficient, and advice on offering member services in new ways, such as through digital technologies, are just some of the areas that are increasingly important to address and could aid our organization in its mission. CAA will benefit enormously from a variety of views and skills, brought by appointed directors, that will contribute to the organization’s growth and stability.

Image: photograph by Dennis Brack

Filed under: Board of Directors, Governance, People in the News —

Results of the Board of Directors Election

posted by — February 11, 2011

The CAA Board of Directors welcomes four newly elected members, who will serve from 2011 to 2015:

  • Leslie Bellavance, Dean, School of Art and Design, New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University
  • Denise Mullen, President, Oregon College of Art and Craft
  • Saul Ostrow, Chair, Visual Arts and Technologies, Cleveland Institute of Art
  • Georgia Strange, Director, Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia

Barbara Nesin, CAA board president, announced the election results at the conclusion of the Annual Members’ Business Meeting, held on Friday, February 11, at the 99th Annual Conference in New York.

The Board of Directors is charged with CAA’s long-term financial stability and strategic direction; it is also the association’s governing body. The board sets policy regarding all aspects of CAA’s activities, including publishing, the Annual Conference, awards and fellowships, advocacy, and committee procedures.

For the annual board election, CAA members vote for no more than four candidates; they also cast votes for write-in candidates (who must be CAA members). The four candidates receiving the most votes are elected to the board.

Filed under: Board of Directors, Governance, People in the News —

Speak Your Mind about CAA’s Future

posted by — February 09, 2011

With its Centennial in mind, CAA invites members to discuss the future of the organization in three conference forums. The Board of Directors is hosting two Strategic Plan Focus Group Discussions on Thursday and Friday mornings on topics in communication and career enhancement. A third opportunity, the Annual Members’ Business Meeting, takes place on late Friday afternoon.

Strategic Plan Focus Group Discussion Part I: Communication

This first Strategic Plan Focus Group Discussion, led by Sue Gollifer, CAA vice president for Annual Conference, will explore new forms of communication using innovative and improved technology. The session will take place on Thursday, February 10, 7:30 AM–9:00 AM in the Madison Suite, 2nd Floor, Hilton New York.

After presentations by invited participants, who will talk about new forms of CAA communication. The informal panel will be straightforward, quick moving, and guided in the spirit of conversation and sharing. Next, the floor will open to discussion, enabling CAA members to give their input and to raise concerns of their own. The ideas from this session will then feed the Annual Members’ Business Meeting (see below).

CAA’s Nia Page and Christopher Howard will talk about the organization’s traditional and digital communications, and Randall Griffin of Southern Methodist University and Paul Jaskot of DePaul University will discuss e-publishing. Two speakers on social media, Bonnie Mitchell of Bowling Green State University and Cora Lynn Deibler of the University of Connecticut, will close the introductory presentations. Andrea Kirsh, CAA vice president for external affairs, and Judith Thorpe of the University of Connecticut will also be present.

Strategic Plan Focus Group Discussion Part II: Career Enhancement

Jean Miller of the University of North Texas and a CAA board member will lead a conversation about how CAA can improve its advocacy efforts, career-development activities, and workforce issues in order to assist professional growth. The focus group takes place on Friday morning, February 11, 7:30–9:00 AM in Beekman Parlor, 2nd Floor, Hilton New York.

Participants include these leaders from leading nonprofits and arts organizations: Steve Bliss, a former board member of the Society for Photographic Education; Sally Block, executive director of the Association of Art Museum Curators; Michael Fahlund, CAA deputy director; Jim Hopfensperger, 2011 president of the National Council of Art Administrators; and Richard Grefé, AIGA executive director. Randall Griffin of CAA’s board will also be present.

Annual Members’ Business Meeting

CAA invites all members to attend the Annual Members’ Business Meeting, taking place on Friday, February 11, 2011, 5:30–7:00 PM in the Rendezvous Trianon Ballroom, Third Floor, Hilton New York. Barbara Nesin, CAA board president will lead the meeting and welcome discussion on new organizational business and projects in progress.

In addition, the meeting’s agenda will include summaries of ideas presented in the two Strategic Plan Focus Groups, a financial report from Teresa Lopez, CAA’s chief financial officer, and an update on the 2012 Annual Conference in Los Angeles from Ruth Weisberg. At the end of the meeting, Nesin will announce the results of the current board election. To celebrate CAA’s Centennial, a reception will follow the business meeting.

Filed under: Annual Conference, Board of Directors, Career Services, Governance — Tags: —

Centennial Projects for The Art Bulletin, Art Journal, and caa.reviews

posted by — February 08, 2011

The CAA three journals have launched special projects to coincide with the yearlong celebration of CAA’s Centennial. Each publication—The Art Bulletin, Art Journal, and caa.reviews—has created an online anthology of articles from its back archive. The editorial boards of the journals determined the shape, structure, and content of the anthologies, and the three projects are fascinating in their distinct approaches. All are available to the wider web-browsing public.

The Art Bulletin

The Art Bulletin Editorial Board chose to feature thirty-eight essays and reviews from the journal, which has been in print since 1913, for its Centennial anthology. As Natalie Kampen notes in her introduction to the project, the articles are “the ones that made a difference to us as art historians and as people.” The articles are listed chronologically, with author, title, and a link to a PDF of the full text. Among the authors are Meyer Schapiro, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Linda Nochlin, James S. Ackerman, and Griselda Pollock.

Art Journal

Art Journal’s project is in two parts. The first is an extended essay by Howard Singerman that traces the history and shifting identities of the journal and its predecessor titles, Parnassus and College Art Journal. The author of Art Subjects: Making Artists in the American University, Singerman is current reviews editor of Art Journal. To complement the essay, members of the editorial board selected texts and artists’ projects from past issues and wrote brief introductory texts to them. As editor-in-chief Katy Siegel writes, “Some feature familiar names attached to much-cited touchstones, while others, we hope, will come as a surprise.” Both projects can be seen at the journal’s new website.

caa.reviews

The editorial board of caa.reviews took a different tack, one that reflects the journal’s born-digital nature. Current and past editors of the journal penned texts to introduce statistically relevant reviews. For each of the dozen years of publication, the Centennial anthology includes the one review that was read the most over a three-year period. Though statistics were not available for the journal’s infancy, some early reviews had the largest overall readership. The topics of the reviews in the anthology vary from installation art to Islamic architecture and reflect the diverse range of expertise of the journal’s numerous commissioning editors.

Filed under: Art Bulletin, Art Journal, caa.reviews, Centennial, Publications —

2011 Regional BFA Exhibition at NYCAMS

posted by — February 08, 2011

Hosted by the New York Center for Art and Media Studies (NYCAMS) in Manhattan, the College Art Association Regional BFA Exhibition celebrates current perspectives from seventeen undergraduate student artists enrolled in seven area BFA programs. Curated by John Silvis and Brent Everett Dickinson, both professors of art at NYCAMS, the exhibition demonstrates the distinctiveness of each artist’s work and cultivates an engaging conversation among the participating programs. It will be on view for three weeks: February 7–25, 2011.

The seven schools in the College Art Association Regional BFA Exhibition are: Brooklyn College, City University of New York; the Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York; Long Island University, C. W. Post Campus; Pratt Institute, School of Art and Design; Purchase College, State University of New York; the School of Visual Arts; and St. John’s University.

The seventeen exhibiting artists are: Marcel Bornstein (FIT), Christina Carlsson (Brooklyn), Matthew Chavez (FIT), Theresa Daddezio (Purchase), Alexander Derwick (Purchase), Alex Gavryushenko (Pratt), Su Yeon Ihm (SVA), Saskia Kahn (Brooklyn), Elizabeth Maroney (LIU), Katherine Mias (St. John’s), Anna Niedermeyer (Pratt), Zoey B. Scheler (Pratt), Olivia Taylor (FIT), Matthew Uebbing (Pratt), Allison M. Walters (St. John’s), Samantha Wolf (SVA), and Phillip Wong (Purchase).

The opening reception for the artists, their professors, and CAA conference attendees is Friday, February 11, 6:00–9:00 PM. NYCAMS is located twenty-five blocks south of the Hilton New York, at 44 West 28th Street, 7th Floor, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. (Take the F or M train to the 34th or 23rd Street stops.) The NYCAMS gallery is open Monday–Friday, 10:00 AM–4:00 PM or by appointment. For more information, please call Janna Dyk at 212-213-8052. CAA is also sponsoring the College Art Association New York Area MFA Exhibition, which opens on the same evening at the Hunter College/Times Square Gallery.

RSVP to the exhibition on Facebook.

About NYCAMS

Affiliated with Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, NYCAMS offers a semester-long, sixteen-credit residency in art and writing for its undergraduate students. The program provides a concentrated educational experience to prepare students for an effective career in the arts. The core of its mission is to pursue excellence in all academic and artistic endeavors, and to provide a stimulating and nurturing environment that encourages the creative process. NYCAMS is committed to exploring issues in contemporary culture in a rigorous academic environment, enabling students to become astute contributors to the current cultural discourse.

Image: Alexander Derwick, Temporary Tattoos, 2011, etching, 17½ x 24 in. (artwork © Alexander Derwick)

Filed under: Annual Conference, Exhibitions, Students —

CAA Bloggers at the Annual Conference

posted by — February 07, 2011

CAA has invited a diverse group of artists, scholars, teachers, and students to contribute to the 2011 Annual Conference Blog, with the hope of capturing the full and exciting range of experiences, points of view, and opinions that is expected in New York in 2011.

Since the Boston conference in 2006, CAA has sponsored a team blog to accompany the organization’s main event. From longtime members to first-time attendees, past writers for each year have chronicled all aspects of the conference: sessions and panels, exhibitions and parties, Career Services and the Book and Trade Fair, and more.

The seven bloggers this year are: Dwayne Butcher, an artist, teacher, and connoisseur of chicken wings who lives and works in Memphis, Tennessee; Patricia Flores, a historian of decorative arts and art history from San Francisco, California; Charlotte Frost, a UK-based academic, broadcaster, and self-described glamour puss focusing on art’s relationship with technology; Joy Garnett, a New York–based artist, writer, and blogger whose paintings explore the “apocalyptic sublime”; William T. Gassaway, who studies Precolumbian art in the doctoral program at Columbia University in Manhattan; Tempestt Hazel, a recent art-history graduate from Columbia College Chicago who cofounded a nonprofit art organization, Sixty Inches From Center; and Alisha McCurdy, an artist pursuing her MFA at Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York. Christopher Howard, CAA managing editor, will also post during the week.

Filed under: Annual Conference, Blogs, Centennial —

CAA Signs the Association of Art Museum Directors’ Statement regarding Egypt

posted by — February 03, 2011

The Executive Committee of the CAA Board of Directors has reviewed and approved the support of the following statement, published on February 2, 2011, under the aegis of the Association of Art Museum Directors. You may download a PDF of the letter.

Statement regarding Egypt

New York, NY—February 2, 2011—Recent news reports about the turmoil in Egypt have varyingly reported that some damage was done to works of ancient art in Egyptian museums—and that those who attempted to do harm were stopped. Just as we worry about the safety of Egypt’s citizens in this time of civil unrest, so, too, do we worry about the safety of the country’s cultural heritage—works of art and material culture crucial to our understanding of world civilization and humanity.

We, the representatives of the leading American museums and university art and art history departments, stand with the people of Egypt in their determination to protect 5,000 years of history, including those objects from history that remain unexcavated. Our members—more than 21,000 institutions and individuals—stand ready to assist in any way possible to secure the art and artifacts of Egypt.

Association of Art Museum Directors, Kaywin Feldman, President
American Association of Museums, Ford Bell, President
Association of Art Museum Curators, John Ravenal, President
Association of Academic Museums and Galleries, David Alan Robertson, President
College Art Association, Barbara Nesin, President

Contact

Janet Landay and Christine Anagnos
Association of Art Museum Directors
212-754-8084

Sascha Freudenheim and Elizabeth Chapman
Resnicow Schroeder Associates
212-671-5172 and 212-671-5159

Filed under: Advocacy, Cultural Heritage, Government and Politics —

CAA Signs the Association of Art Museum Directors’ Statement regarding Egypt

posted by — February 03, 2011

The Executive Committee of the CAA Board of Directors has reviewed and approved the support of the following statement, published on February 2, 2011, under the aegis of the Association of Art Museum Directors. You may download a PDF of the letter.

Statement regarding Egypt

New York, NY—February 2, 2011—Recent news reports about the turmoil in Egypt have varyingly reported that some damage was done to works of ancient art in Egyptian museums—and that those who attempted to do harm were stopped. Just as we worry about the safety of Egypt’s citizens in this time of civil unrest, so, too, do we worry about the safety of the country’s cultural heritage—works of art and material culture crucial to our understanding of world civilization and humanity.

We, the representatives of the leading American museums and university art and art history departments, stand with the people of Egypt in their determination to protect 5,000 years of history, including those objects from history that remain unexcavated. Our members—more than 21,000 institutions and individuals—stand ready to assist in any way possible to secure the art and artifacts of Egypt.

Association of Art Museum Directors, Kaywin Feldman, President
American Association of Museums, Ford Bell, President
Association of Art Museum Curators, John Ravenal, President
Association of Academic Museums and Galleries, David Alan Robertson, President
College Art Association, Barbara Nesin, President

Contact

Janet Landay and Christine Anagnos
Association of Art Museum Directors
212-754-8084

Sascha Freudenheim and Elizabeth Chapman
Resnicow Schroeder Associates
212-671-5172 and 212-671-5159

Filed under: Advocacy — Tags: , , , —

Wi-Fi at the Annual Conference

posted by — February 02, 2011

Connecting to the internet at the CAA Annual Conference is essential, whether you are searching for a job, contacting friends in New York, or communicating with your school or institution back home. From the conference hotels to the ever-reliable Starbucks, CAA has researched the various ways to get Wi-Fi quickly, easily, and at low or no cost. The information below may be subject to change but should be reliable.

Hilton New York

The Hilton New York offers three types of wireless internet service to its guests and thus has three prices: $14.99 per twenty-four hours for a 1 MB download speed; $16.99 for 2 MB; and $18.99 for 4 MB. The Hilton also allows nonguests to log onto its network in the lobby areas on a pay-per-use basis, at $5.99 an hour. No connection speed is specified. Users must pay by credit card upon opening a browser on their laptop. For full details in advance, please contact the Hilton, not CAA. While onsite, ask a hotel representative from the concierge or check-in desk for more information.

Sheraton New York

The Sheraton New York is generously offering free internet access—both in rooms and in the lobby—to all guests who are attending the conference. When you check in, tell the hotel representative that you are here for CAA and need an access code. The Sheraton also provides free wireless connection to anyone inside the hotel—you need not be a guest (so be nice). To gain access, simply request the log-in information from the check-in desk, as you cannot automatically connect just by opening a browser. For full details in advance, please contact the Sheraton, not CAA. While onsite, ask a hotel representative from the concierge or check-in desk for more information.

The Sheraton has graciously extended its special room-reservation rates for CAA conference attendees to February 6, 2011. To reserve a room by phone, call 800-325-3535 and mention “College Art Association Annual Conference.” Please be sure to request a confirmation number, email, or fax.

Park Central Hotel

The Park Central Hotel, the conference hotel for students, charges $15 a day for a wireless connection that can be used by guests throughout the building. For full details in advance, please contact the Park Central, not CAA. While onsite, ask a hotel representative at the concierge or check-in desk for more information.

SEP Lounge

Thanks to a generous contribution from the Courtauld Institute of Art, the SEP Lounge provides free wireless internet during its opening hours: Wednesday–Friday, 9:00 AM–8:00 PM; and Saturday, 9:00 AM–5:00 PM. The lounge is located on Concourse B, Concourse Level, Hilton New York.

Hosted by CAA’s Student and Emerging Professionals Committee, the SEP Lounge is a space that allows its constituents to convene and converse freely, away from the conference hustle and bustle. On several days, the committee will present special interactive programming, where you can practice your interviewing skills, talk candidly about completing your thesis or dissertation, or get advice on what to do after earning your degree.

Candidate Center

As part of the conference’s Career Services, the Candidate Center—located in Concourse A, Concourse Level, Hilton New York—houses a bank of computers that CAA members may use only for the Online Career Center. No other internet use is allowed. Hours are Wednesday, February 9–Friday, February 11, 9:00 AM–7:00 PM. You must have a CAA membership card to enter the Candidate Center.

Starbucks

Bottoms up, coffee drinkers! A smallish Starbucks—located directly across the street from the Hilton, at the northeast corner of Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) and West Fifty-third Street—offers free wireless internet to its guests. No special password is needed—just connect when you open a browser. This location may be closed on Saturday and Sunday, according to the company. Another Starbucks a few blocks north, on Sixth Avenue between West Fifty-sixth and Fifty-seventh, has free access according to the company, but this is unconfirmed (meaning I did not enter the store and ask).

Other Area Hot Spots

OpenWiFiSpots, which calls itself a comprehensive directory of free wireless hot spots, lists eighty-two free sources near the Hilton in midtown Manhattan, including hotels, cafés, and restaurants. This website, however, includes the Hilton, which we know is not free.

Revised on February 4, 2011.

Filed under: Annual Conference — Tags: —

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