CAA News Today
David Craven: In Memoriam
posted by CAA — Apr 03, 2012
The following obituary was compiled by the deceased’s family and submitted by Patricia Mathews, professor of art history at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York, and a member of the CAA Board of Directors.
David Craven
David Lee Craven, distinguished professor of art history at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, passed away on February 11, 2012. He was 60 years old. Craven was beloved by all who knew him for his passionate dedication to writing, lecturing, and teaching art history. He is recognized by his peers as one of the most informed and incisive art historians in the world, a leading scholar in twentieth-century art from Latin America, post-1945 art in the United States, and the critical theory and methodology of art history and visual culture. His ten books and over 150 articles have appeared in twenty-five different countries and been translated into fifteen different languages. Craven’s close friend and fellow professor at the University of New Mexico, Susanne Baackmann, recalled his “generous spirit” and remembered that “his love for life and work, two concepts that were synonymous in his mind, was as intense as it was infectious.” He had taught at New Mexico since 1993 and was affiliated with the university’s Latin American and Iberian Institute.
Craven earned a PhD in art history from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1979, an MA degree in art history from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1974, and a BA in European history from the University of Mississippi in Oxford, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1972. Fluent in Spanish, German, and French, Craven gave lectures in universities and museums in the United States and internationally, traveling to Russia, Mexico, Spain, Germany, England, and France. His art-history books are respected as authoritative in the field, and many are popular with a general audience, such as the widely read Art and Revolution in Latin America, 1910–1990 (2002), which was nominated for a 2004 Mitchell Prize. His other books include Diego Rivera as Epic Modernist (1997); The New Concept of Art and Popular Culture in Nicaragua since the Revolution in 1979 (1989); Poetics and Politics in the Life of Rudolf Baranik (1997); and Abstract Expressionism as Cultural Critique: Dissent during the McCarthy Period (1999). He recently edited Dialectical Conversions: Donald Kuspit’s Art Criticism (2011) with Brian Winkenweder.
Among the many awards and recognitions Craven received during his long teaching career are a Medal for Excellence from the state of New York in 1991 for his work at Cortland College at the State University of New York, and a Faculty Acknowledgement Award at the University of New Mexico in 2003. In 2007 he was chosen to be the Rudolf Arnheim Professor at Humboldt University in Berlin. Craven won more than fifteen major national and international grants and fellowships from numerous organizations, such as the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ministerio de Cultura de Espana, and the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes de Mexico. His work on Latin and Central American art has earned him the praise of Ernesto Cardenal Martínez, Nicaragua’s minister of culture from 1979 to 1987.
Craven was born in Alexandria, Louisiana, on March 22, 1951, to Peggy and Albert Craven. He lived with his family in Houston, Texas, before moving to Oxford, Mississippi, where his father taught at the University of Mississippi. Craven’s parents encouraged his early interest in art, and he began taking art classes in fourth grade. A gifted athlete, Craven was the star quarterback for the Oxford High School football team and won MVP honors in the 1969 season. He also brought his high school’s basketball team into the state championship.
Craven was preceded in death by his father Albert Craven; his sisters Anita and Peggy Melinda; and his brother Jonathon. He is survived by his mother Peggy Craven; his sister Laura Duncan and her husband Lee, and a niece and nephew, Caroline and Lee Duncan; his brother Brian Craven and his wife Pam and nephews Jonathon, Allen, and Mark Craven; his brother Paul Craven; his niece Edy Dingus and nephew Charles Dingus, and nephew John Phillip Dingus, as well as his dear friends Susanne Baackmann and Hannah Baackmann-Friedlander of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Propose a Paper or Presentation for the 2013 Annual Conference
posted by Emmanuel Lemakis — Mar 28, 2012
The 2013 Call for Participation for the 101st Annual Conference, taking place February 13–16 in New York, describes many of next year’s programs sessions. CAA and the session chairs invite your participation: please follow the instructions in the booklet to submit a proposal for a paper or presentation. This publication also includes a call for Poster Session proposals and describes the eight Open Forms sessions.
Listing more than 120 panels, the 2013 Call for Participation was mailed to all individual and institutional members in late March; you can also download a PDF of the twenty-five-page document from the CAA website immediately.
The deadline for proposals of papers and presentations for the New York conference is May 4, 2012.
In addition to dozens of wide-ranging panels on art history, studio art, contemporary issues, and professional and educational practices, CAA conference attendees can expect participation from many area schools, museums, galleries, and other institutions. The Hilton New York in midtown Manhattan is the conference headquarters, holding most sessions, Career Services, the Book and Trade Fair, ARTspace, special events, and more. Deadline: May 4, 2012.
Contact
For more information about proposals of papers and presentations for the 2013 Annual Conference, please contact Lauren Stark, CAA manager of programs, at 212-392-4405.
THE STATE OF CAA: A REPORT FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
posted by Linda Downs — Mar 21, 2012
2012 Annual Conference
Art in Odd Places and Performance Exchange sponsored performances outside the Los Angeles Convention Center as part of ARTspace’s Art in the Public Realm, a daylong event at the 2012 Annual Conference (photograph by Bradley Marks)
The 100th CAA Annual Conference in Los Angeles, held February 22–25, 2012, was a great success with over five thousand attendees, two hundred sessions addressing topics from ancient art to contemporary criticism, a sold-out Book and Trade Fair with more than 120 exhibitors, and a plethora of exciting events throughout southern California. The timing of the conference happily coincided with Pacific Standard Time, a large group of exhibitions and programs focused on modern and contemporary art made in the region, sponsored by the Getty Foundation and involving sixty public institutions and many commercial galleries. California Design, 1930–1965: “Living in a Modern Way” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was an eye-opener to place so many familiar modern designs in their original West Coast context.
The atmosphere throughout the conference was collegial and extremely positive. Maybe it was the delicious LA sunshine, or perhaps it was due in part to the presence of over ten thousand new citizens who appeared on Wednesday at the Los Angeles Convention Center for a naturalization ceremony at the start of CAA’s conference. Citizenship, something many of us take for granted, was visibly cherished on their proud faces.
Graduate Public Practice from the Otis College of Art and Design presented “Re/Locating Learning: Public Practices as Art” (photograph by Christopher Howard)
Special Centennial Sessions were organized by a committee under the chairmanship of Ruth Weisberg, an artist and former CAA board president and former dean of the Roski School of Fine Arts at the University of Southern California. One of the highlights of these sessions was “Re/Locating Learning: Public Practices in Art,” presented by Suzanne Lacy, an artist and chair of public practice at Otis College of Art and Design, in which members discussed new approaches to academic teaching and ways to engage the public over the conference’s full four days.
A new presentation technique debuted in “Hot Problems/Cool Solutions in Arts Leadership,” a session organized by the National Council of Arts Administrators in which twelve panelists—in extremely short presentations—proposed solutions ranging from administrative issues such as how to write ninety letters of recommendation in one semester (don’t do it unless they are serious job candidates) or how to be kind in academic interactions for productive and cooperative faculty outcomes.
Rocco Landesman, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, spoke at the 2012 Centennial Convocation (photograph by Bradley Marks)
The conference featured two excellent keynote addresses. Rocco Landesman, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, spoke at Convocation. Stating that only two newspapers in the United States employ full-time art critics, Landesman presented a new grassroots initiative entitled Knight/NEA Community Arts Journalism Challenge that is fostering art criticism in four cities. This new program provides unique partnerships to expand arts journalism that both informs and engages audiences. April Greiman, a prominent international designer, presented her work at the Annual Members’ Business Meeting, including a gigantic mural in Koreatown in Los Angeles and the design of Miracle Manor Retreat, an intimate hot-springs motel on the edge of Joshua Tree National Park.
The Service to Artists Committee, chaired by Jackie Apple, professor of art at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, organized a vast number of programs through ARTspace, including the Media Lounge, ARTexchange, and performance pieces that engaged attendees and the general public alike.
Some of the most packed sessions included the Distinguished Scholar Session, in which Rosalind Krauss’s work was both lauded and critiqued; the Annual Artists’ Interviews with Mary Kelly and Martin Kersels; “‘Your Labels Make Me Feel Stupid’: Museum Labels as Art Historical Practice,” organized by the Association of Art Museum Curators; the performance works inside and outside the convention center; and sessions devoted to the fortieth anniversary of the beginning of feminism.
The art historian Benjamin H. D. Buchloh participated in the 2012 Distinguished Scholar Session honoring Rosalind Krauss (photograph by Bradley Marks)
CAA’s Committee on Intellectual Property presented critical information on copyright and fair use in its session. The group has also reviewed intellectual-property information on the CAA website and will soon publicly post the revised pages.
New publishing platforms and online resources were presented at a session organized by the artist Tara McPherson, called “Art History Meets the Digital Age,” in which new multimedia platforms for publishing were presented following a hands-on workshop that introduced thirty CAA members to the Scalar platform. CAA will use Scalar in demonstration projects in the coming months developed by The Art Bulletin and caa.reviews.
Celebrating the conclusion of CAA’s Centennial year, Susan Ball, former CAA executive director and interim director of programs at the New York Foundation for the Arts, led a panel of five of the fourteen authors who contributed to the recent book on CAA’s history, The Eye, The Hand, The Mind: 100 Years of the College Art Association (New York: College Art Association; New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2011). The group discussed their revelations about watershed moments and movements in the history of the organization, including characterizations of the differing cultures of the journals and the historical ups and downs of the association. In the former category, the development of visual resources for teaching, advocacy, and the influence of feminism on the structure of the conference were cited. The latter category includes the unfortunate split between CAA and the Society of Architectural Historians in 1940.
CAA gained insights into issues that are of critical importance to members at the two speak-out sessions organized by Anne Collins Goodyear, incoming president of the Board of Directors, and the town-hall meeting organized by Margaret Lazzari, a professor in the Roski School of Fine Arts at the University of Southern California. A separate article will be devoted to the topics raised at these sessions. A predominant theme was contingent faculty concerns—from course loads to the need to teach a wide breadth of courses.
Three recipients of the Getty Foundation International Travel Grant: Shao-Chien Tseng from National Central University in Taiwan; Didier Houenoude of the Université d’Abomey-Calavi in Benin; and Jean Celestin Ky from the University of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso (photograph by Bradley Marks)
The Getty Foundation awarded CAA a generous grant to organize the CAA International Travel Grant Program, which supported the selection of twenty international art historians from eighteen countries to attend the conference. The grantees were hosted by experienced members of CAA’s International Committee and by representatives from the National Committee for the History of Art. For all but two recipients, the conference was their first introduction to CAA apart from reading the journals. The grant recipients attended sessions, were introduced to fellow CAA members by their hosts, explored the museums and collections in the Los Angeles area, and also carried out independent research. As a result, CAA’s membership now represents almost seventy countries. This program is part of an ongoing effort to provide a wider network of international members, to assess their needs and interests, and to provide an integrated network for the exchange of ideas, research, and creative projects.
Governance
The artist and designer April Greiman spoke at the Annual Members’ Business Meeting (photograph by Bradley Marks)
At the Annual Members’ Business Meeting, Barbara Nesin, the current board president, announced the new board members: Suzanne Preston Blier, Harvard University; Stephanie D’Alessandro, Art Institute of Chicago; Gail Feigenbaum, Getty Research Institute; and Charles A. Wright, Western Illinois University. Teresa López, CAA chief financial officer, then presented a balanced budget. Anyone interested in receiving a copy of CAA’s fiscal year 2011 audit may email López. Nesin reiterated her aspirations for the organization to have greater inclusivity and responsiveness to its members. She also mentioned her commitment to sustainability and communication.
The full Board of Directors met on Sunday, February 26. The most significant action items included the results of a review of three of the nine Professional Interests, Practices, and Standards Committees: the International Committee, the Services to Artists Committee, and the Committee on Women in the Arts. The board commended all three groups for their outstanding work this year.
The election of officers to the board included Patricia McDonnell for a second term as vice president for external affairs; Jacqueline Francis as vice president for Annual Conference; Randall C. Griffin for a second term as vice president for publications; DeWitt Godfrey as the new vice president for committees; and Maria Ann Conelli as secretary.
The board then passed a resolution to revise the Procedures for Task Forces. The revision added the step of the Executive Committee’s review and prioritization of all proposals for task forces before presentation and adoption by the board. Nesin extended thanks to two members who are rotating off the board after four years of dedicated service: Jay Coogan, president of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design; and Judith Thorpe, professor of art and head of the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Connecticut.
Chris Sundt, a former board member, the editor of the journal Visual Resources, and current cochair of the Committee on Intellectual Property, presented the newly drafted Visual Resources Association: Statement on the Fair Use of Images for Teaching, Research, and Study. She presented the history of CAA’s involvement in fair-use issues and explained how the Visual Resources Association statement can clarify how best to use visual resources in the classroom. The board also reviewed the Association of Research Libraries’ newly drafted Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries, which addresses fair use of visual resources in libraries. The board unanimously adopted both statements.
Looking Forward
Three dedicated leaders who have served as president of the CAA Board of Directors: Paul B. Jaskot, Barbara Nesin, and Nicola M. Courtright (photograph by Bradley Marks)
This Centennial year was a time of reflection for CAA. Hundreds of members participated in delving into the organization’s history and evaluating its present state and possible future. Please see the Centennial Case Statement for the projects and publications that resulted from these investigations.
CAA has changed enormously since its founding in 1911, from a handful of art professors who saw the need to advocate for visual-arts curricula in higher education to its current 14,000 members from over seventy countries. CAA has held to its mission and focus of advocacy, providing a platform for new research and creative expression, job placement, best practices, standards and guidelines, and a place to network with like-minded and not-so-like-minded professionals in the field.
The future for CAA holds a greater use of technology for conferences, publications, and member networking. Under the leadership of Goodyear, incoming board president, the Task Force on Annual Conference Technology will explore ways of extending the conference and increasing member interaction. A consultant from Chain Bridge Group, Raym Crow, has been hired to work with the board, the Publications Committee, and CAA staff to analyze the risk and rewards of developing online versions of The Art Bulletin and Art Journal. Also under consideration is the challenge to find a business model for open access to caa.reviews and an investigation in developing a business model for practical publications. And various networking systems are being explored for future use.
CAA will also have a greater focus on advocacy for the visual arts in the academic and public spheres. As James Leach, chairman of the National Endowment of the Humanities, stated in his Convocation address at the 2011 Annual Conference in New York, it is essential to address not only the intrinsic value of the visual arts, but also its importance to American business and national security. Knowledge and exchange of creative ideas, international cultures, languages, and history are essential to international understanding and security. He addressed the decades-long trend in higher education on the concept of profit-centers and focusing on only those majors that return profits by satisfying the “customer” (student). He warned us of the problems of using reasonable math to determine curriculum instead of emphasizing the intrinsic educational value of the subject. It is time to build defenses of the arts and humanities in universities as well as in the public sphere.
CAA’s Centennial year has deepened the knowledge of our field by reflecting on its history, the current status of the visual arts, and the need to put even more effort into advocating for art and art history in academia and in the public sector. Thank you to the hundreds of members who researched CAA’s history and analyzed its many facets, and who continue to lend their expertise to the future of the field.
Dear Colleague Letter in Support of the NEA and NEH
posted by Linda Downs — Mar 20, 2012
US Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) is circulating a Dear Colleague letter that requests funding for the National Endowment for the Art and the National Endowment for the Humanities for fiscal year 2013, as requested in President Barack Obama’s federal budget. CAA encourages you to contact your senators, asking them to sign the letter.
NEA/NEH FY13 Letter to Appropriators
This letter requests funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) at the level requested in the President’s budget, which is $154 million for each endowment. This is the same level included in the Senate’s FY12 Interior Appropriations mark. More details below:
- The FY12 President’s Request – $146.255 million for each endowment
- The FY12 Enacted – $146.255 million
- FY12 Senate mark – $154 million
- The FY13 President’s Request – $154 million
Staff Contact: Jeanette Lukens, Jeanette_lukens@tomudall.senate.gov.
Deadline for Signatures is COB Monday March 26th.
Dear Colleague Letter
March 27, 2012
The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye
Chairman
Senate Committee on Appropriations
Capitol, S-128
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Jack Reed
Chairman
Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies
SD-131
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Thad Cochran
Vice Chairman
Senate Committee on Appropriations
Capitol, S-128
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Lisa Murkowski
Ranking Member
Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies
SH-125
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Chairman Inouye, Vice Chairman Cochran, Chairman Reed, and Ranking Member Murkowski:
We write to express appreciation for your continued support of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and to urge you to support the President’s funding request for the endowments as outlined in his Fiscal Year 2013 budget proposal. As our nation grapples with economic uncertainty, federal support for the arts and humanities is a vital economic, educational, and cultural priority that impacts communities across the United States.
The NEH is the primary source of federal support for humanities research and related activities in the United States. It provides support for professional development to scholars, educators, curators, librarians, historians, filmmakers, and more. Through the endowment’s efforts, heritage is preserved, civic institutions are strengthened, and Americans are better prepared to address the challenges in a constantly changing world. In addition to appropriated funding, the NEH is able to leverage significant, non-federal contributions through competitive grant awards, with direct matching totaling more than $2 billion over the last few decades.
Federal funding for the NEH includes support for state humanities councils who work in partnership with the endowment to reach millions of Americans each year through teacher institutes, family literacy programs, and thousands of other programs. With this extensive network of state humanities councils and general NEH programming, the endowment reaches every state and territory across the nation.
For over 40 years, the NEA has provided strategic leadership and investment in the arts and has proudly expanded arts activity across the nation with the mission “to bring arts to every American.” For every one dollar spent on federal arts initiatives there are eight non-federal dollars leveraged while at the same time children and communities are enriched through access to the arts that they might not otherwise have.
Federal funding for the NEA acts as seed money that generates massive economic return with the non-profit arts industry generating $166.2 billion annually in economic activity and supporting 5.7 million full-time jobs. Additionally, the federal government enjoys a direct return of $12.6 billion in income taxes, as well as the indirect benefit of improved education, community development, and increased business activity across the country.
The President’s requested funding for FY13 for the NEA will help the endowment maintain its extremely successful programs, including The Big Read, Our Town, Challenge America, The Mayor’s Institute on City Design 25th Anniversary Initiative, Blue Star Museums, Shakespeare in American Communities, and Operation Homecoming. In FY11, the NEA awarded over $124 million in appropriated funds through just over 2,400 grants reaching all 435 congressional districts.
Thanks to your leadership, the NEH and NEA continue to play a vital role in every state. We urge you to continue to support federal funding of the arts and humanities in FY13 by adopting the President’s request level for both endowments in your final appropriations legislation. We appreciate your attention to this vital funding, and look forward to working with you on this and the other important issues facing our nation.
Ask Your US Senators to Support the IMLS Office of Museum Services
posted by CAA — Mar 16, 2012
On Wednesday, March 14, 2012, the American Association of Museums (AAM) sent the following email regarding federal funding for the Office of Museum Services at the Institute of Museum and Library Services. AAM represents the entire scope of museums and their professionals and nonpaid staff: more than 18,000 individual museum professionals and volunteers, almost 3,000 institutions, and 250 corporate members.
Act Now: Ask Your US Senators to Support the IMLS Office of Museum Services
Once again, in conjunction with Museums Advocacy Day, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter urging the Senate Appropriations Committee to provide $50 million in FY13 for the Office of Museum Services (OMS) at the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
The deadline for Senators to sign on to this letter is THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2012. Ask your Senators to SIGN THE GILLIBRAND APPROPRIATIONS LETTER today!
“Our collective efforts in the U.S. House resulted in a record number of supporters on the House Dear Colleague letter, with many Members of Congress signing on specifically because they were asked by constituents,” said AAM President Ford W. Bell. “Now we must ask Senators to join the Senate letter. Museums are a wise investment for Congress because they pump $20 billion into the economy and support 400,000 jobs, and Senators need to hear from us.”
Current funding for the Office of Museum Services is $30.8 million, the same amount requested in President Obama’s FY13 budget.
Please visit www.speakupformuseums.org to learn more about advocacy for museums.
CAA Wraps Its 100th Annual Conference
posted by Nia Page — Mar 12, 2012
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.
Committee on Women in the Arts Picks for March 2012
posted by CAA — Mar 10, 2012
Each month, CAA’s Committee on Women in the Arts selects the best in feminist art and scholarship. The following exhibitions and events should not be missed. Check the archive of CWA Picks at the bottom of the page, as several museum and gallery shows listed in previous months may still be on view or touring.
March 2012
Cindy Sherman, Untitled #183, 1988, chromogenic color print, 38 x 22¾ in. (artwork © Cindy Sherman; photograph provided by the artist, Metro Pictures, and the Museum of Modern Art)
Cindy Sherman
Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019
February 26–June 11, 2012
Featuring over 170 photographs, Cindy Sherman—only the fifth career survey by a woman in the Museum of Modern Art’s history—begins with the artist’s groundbreaking series of Untitled Film Stills (1977–80) and continues to her recent Society Portraits that address the unreality of aging in contemporary culture. Soaking up influences far beyond the art world, Sherman has created a body of work that has in turn inspired fashion, film, performance, and music. A film series, Carte Blanche: Cindy Sherman, runs from April 2 to 10 and features films personally selected by the artist from the museum’s collection.
Rosemarie Trockel: Flagrant Delight
WIELS
Avenue Van Volxemlaan 354, 1190 Brussels, Belgium
February 18–May 27, 2012
Rosemarie Trockel: Flagrant Delight is the first large-scale survey in Belgium of work by this German artist. Trockel often deals with the aesthetic legacies of Surrealism and Dada, and the WIELS show highlights her connection to the Belgian artists René Magritte and Marcel Broodthaers. Flagrant Delight features work produced since the early 1980s and debuts pieces created specifically for the exhibition. The cornerstone of the show is a new series of forty mixed-media collages that trace Trockel’s distinct sensibility through the juxtaposition of recognizable images and abstract motifs.
Kimsooja
Musée d’Art Moderne de Saint-Étienne Métropole
Rue Fernand Léger, 42270 Saint-Priest-en-Jarez, France
February 25–March 28, 2012
Known for large-scale, filmed performances and multichannel videos, the Korean artist Kimsooja makes work that questions global culture and the role of the artist in the world. As the main actor in her videos, often filmed from behind, she engages in repetitive tasks that evoke ritual practice and Zen Buddhist philosophy. In A Needle Woman (1999–2001), comprising eight simultaneously projected videos, Kimsooja stands motionless in the middle of busy city streets—in Madrid, Tokyo, Beijing, Mumbai, Jerusalem, and more—as people walk around, ignore, or interact with her.
R(ad)ical Love: Sister Mary Corita
National Museum of Women in the Arts
1250 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20005
March 9–July 15, 2012
R(ad)ical Love: Sister Mary Corita surveys the work of the nun, artist, social activist, and influential teacher, Sister Mary Corita (later known as Corita Kent). The exhibition features sixty-five prints created between 1963 and 1967, when Corita taught art at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles; the works combine the eye-catching graphics of pop with the sincere messages of protest signs and buttons that were synonymous with youth culture in the sixties. Highlighting her role as a political activist, R(ad)ical Love foregrounds the agitprop quality of the work and distances it from the commercial art that it may superficially resemble.
Rachel Kneebone: Regarding Rodin
Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art
Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238
January 27–August 12, 2012
Rachel Kneebone: Regarding Rodin pairs the porcelain sculptures of the British artist Rachel Kneebone with fifteen sculptures by the nineteenth-century master Auguste Rodin, chosen by Kneebone from the Brooklyn Museum’s collection. A highlight of the exhibition, Kneebone’s first major museum show in the United States, features The Descent (2008), her work inspired by Dante’s Inferno, presiding over nine large-scale pieces by Rodin. Juxtaposing the emphatic figures of Kneebone and Rodin highlights a shared interest in the “representation of mourning, ecstasy, death, and vitality in figurative sculpture,” while contrasting the differences of their processes and materials.
Postcard for Not Ready to Make Nice: Guerrilla Girls in the Artworld and Beyond.
Not Ready to Make Nice: Guerrilla Girls in the Artworld and Beyond
Glass Curtain Gallery
Columbia College Chicago, 1104 South Wabash Avenue, First Floor, Chicago, IL 60605
March 1–April 21, 2012
Not Ready to Make Nice: Guerrilla Girls in the Artworld and Beyond
Averill and Bernard Leviton A+D Gallery
Columbia College Chicago, 619 South Wabash Avenue, Chicago, IL 60605
March 1–April 21, 2012
This two-part exhibition, devoted to the art world’s resident feminist activists, contextualizes the unruly group’s activism and art. The Glass Curtain Gallery features material related to the Guerrilla Girls’ work in museums and galleries, while the A+D Gallery stressess their political activities outside the art world and features a selection of films. Both presentations combine never-before-seen documentation and samples of fan and hate mail, as well as the opportunity for visitors to contribute their own voice through several interactive installations.
Eija-Liisa Ahtila: Parallel Worlds
Moderna Museet
Skeppsholmen, Stockholm, Sweden
February 11–May 6, 2012
This exhibition brings together recent work by the Helsinki-based artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila such as Horizontal (2011), The Annunciation (2010), and Where is Where (2008), with an iconic video from the early 1990s, Me/We, Okay, Gray. Bridging film, video, and installation, the artist’s work is lushly cinematic and strangely subversive, touching on themes of biopolitics and posthumanism. The selection highlights Ahtila’s exploration of human perception, tragedy, and the play between inner and outer worlds.
SHORT BIG DRAMA: Angela Bulloch
Witte de With
Witte de Withstraat 50, 3012 BR Rotterdam, Netherlands
January 21–April 9, 2012
This solo exhibition of the Canadian-born, Berlin-based artist Angela Bulloch collects three separate bodies of work: large-scale wall paintings, pixel installations, and interactive drawing machines. Bulloch’s interdisciplinary and theatrical approach invites viewer participation, and some works can even be “programmed” anew each time they are shown. Bold graphics, vibrant color, and references to the strategies of twentieth-century avant-garde movements—Constructivism, Minimalism, and the Situationists’ use of détournement—call into question the “informational status” of a given artwork.
In conjunction with the exhibition, Witte de With will host a book launch on April 3 for Source Book 10: Angela Bulloch, a monographic collection of critical essays and collaborations with other artists.
Affiliated Society News for March 2012
posted by CAA — Mar 09, 2012
American Institute for Conservation
Registration is open for the next annual meeting of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC), taking place from May 8 to 11, 2012, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Help AIC celebrate its fortieth anniversary and be a part of the lively discussions surrounding the theme of “Connecting to Conservation: Outreach and Advocacy,” an exploration of how conservation connects with allied professionals, the press, clients, and the general public.
Art, Literature, and Music in Symbolism and Decadence
Art, Literature, and Music in Symbolism and Decadence (ALMSD) will present its second conference, “The Symbolist Movement: Its Origins and Its Consequences,” from April 25 to 28, 2012, at Allerton Park in Monticello, Illinois. For the keynote address, Liana De Girolami Cheney will deliver a paper titled “Edward Burne-Jones’s The Sirens: Magical Whispers.” You can register, reserve a room, and learn more about the historic Allerton Park and Retreat Center online.
ALMSD is accepting news from scholars whose work focuses on the Symbolist movement for its annual newsletter. Please submit the your items to Rosina Neginsky.
Association of Academic Museums and Galleries
The Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG) welcomes two new board members. James Rosengren, deputy director of the University of Houston’s Blaffer Art Museum in Texas, begins his first term as a board member at large; and Susan Longhenry, director of the University of New Mexico’s Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, begins her first term as the Mountain–Plains regional representative. Both new board members bring extensive academic leadership experience, along with expertise in business and education, to AAMG.
Registration is still open for the AAMG annual conference, “Tools of Engagement: Securing Commitment on Campus,” to be held on April 28, 2012, at the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum on the campus of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, a day before the start of the American Association of Museums’ annual meeting. Through the presentation of outstanding case studies, thoughtful papers, and lively roundtable discussions, the AAMG conference will explore various creative strategies for negotiating with, and advocating value to, parent institutions. You may preview the conference schedule and register online. The deadline for registration is April 7, 2012.
Association of Historians of American Art
The Association of Historians of American Art (AHAA) has announced its new chair and members. Jenny Carson, Maryland Institute of Art, chair, 2012–13; Sarah E. Kelly, Art Institute of Chicago, cochair, 2012–13; and Katherine Smith, Agnes Scott College, sessions coordinator, 2012–15.
Save the date for the second AHAA symposium, “American Art: The Academy, Museums, and the Market,” to be held October 11–13, 2012, and hosted by the Boston Athenaeum and Boston University in Massachusetts. For more information, please contact the symposium cochairs, David Dearinger and Melissa Renn.
AHAA wishes to sponsor a two-and-a-half-hour scholarly session at the 2014 CAA Annual Conference in Chicago. Please review the submission guidelines before sending your proposal. The deadline for submissions is April 1, 2012.
Association of Historians of Nineteenth-Century Art
The Association of Historians of Nineteenth-Century Art (AHNCA) began 2012 with especially good tidings. In the final days of December, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded the organization a grant of $49,800 in support of its scholarly electronic journal, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide. Specifically, the funds will enhance the journal’s already innovative use of digital technology. Over the next three years, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide will have the means to support new approaches to digital research for contributing authors and to publish articles with enriched media content, such as computer graphics, architectural modeling, and streaming video. The Mellon award recognizes the journal not only as a leading venue for research on nineteenth-century art, but also for its standard-setting determination to make online scholarship free and available to anyone with internet access. The managing editor, Petra ten-Doesschate Chu of Seton Hall University, anticipates sponsoring at least six articles that involve enhanced digital research or digital presentation through the grant. A key contributor to the initiative is Emily Pugh, the journal’s web designer and developer. Scholars of nineteenth-century art who believe their work engages digital scholarship in an innovative way and who might be interested in participating in this pilot project should contact Chu.
Foundations in Art: Theory and Education
Foundations in Art: Theory and Education (FATE) will hold its national biennial conference at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia from April 3 to 6, 2013. Titled “postHaus,” the conference has a theme of “Instructing, Constructing, and Connecting with Students in the Twenty-First Century.” Each FATE biennial conference attracts a fantastic group of first-year studio professors and instructors from two- and four-year colleges across the United States and internationally. For “postHaus,” FATE seeks to expand its reach. Topics for session proposals can include but are not limited to: innovations in studio courses; curriculum development; approaches to art history; liberal-arts instruction; the importance of research librarians; and the vital role of lab technicians. The deadline for proposals is March 16, 2012.
Historians of German and Central European Art and Architecture
The Historians of German and Central European Art and Architecture (HGCEA) has a new redesigned website. With a banner of six images on the homepage, the site now features many links to resources, including research and grant opportunities, databases, calls for papers, and websites of other institutions and journals. It also includes a membership directory, archives of its CAA Annual Conference sessions since 2005, and a list of member publications.
Historians of British Art
The Historians of British Art (HBA) has announced its 2011 awards for the three best books on British art and architecture. All three titles were published by Yale University Press. Chaired by Elizabeth Honig, associate professor of art history at the University of California, Berkeley, the HBA committee has selected Celina Fox’s The Arts of Industry in the Age of Enlightenment (2010) as the best in the category of single-author book on a pre-1800 subject, and Morna O’Neill’s Walter Crane: The Arts and Crafts, Painting, and Politics, 1875–1890 (2010) in the category of single-author book on a post-1800 subject. In the category of edited/multiauthor book on a subject of any period, the award goes to Thomas Lawrence: Regency Power and Brilliance (2010), edited by Cassandra Albinson, Peter Funnell, and Lucy Peltz. “We congratulate all of the winners,” says HBA president Peter Trippi, “and we warmly encourage our members and colleagues to acquire these superb titles for their own libraries.”
Historians of Netherlandish Art
The Historians of Netherlandish Art (HNA) has elected three new board members: Lloyd DeWitt, curator at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto; Paul Crenshaw, associate professor of art history at Providence College in Rhode Island; and Martha Hollander, associate professor of art history at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.
The organization has awarded its 2012 HNA Fellowships for Scholarly Research, Publication, and Travel to aid the publication of the following four books: Natasha T. Seaman, The Religious Paintings of Hendrick ter Brugghen: Reinventing Christian Painting after the Reformation in Utrecht (Ashgate); Mitzi Kirkland-Ives, In the Footsteps of Christ: Hans Memling’s Passion Narratives and the Devotional Imagination in the Early Modern Netherlands (Brepols); Anna C. Knaap, Rubens and the Antwerp Jesuit Church: Art, Rhetoric, and Devotion (Brepols); and Elizabeth A. Sutton, Early Modern Dutch Prints of Africa (Ashgate).
Historians of Islamic Art Association
The Historians of Islamic Art Association (HIAA) have established the Oleg Grabar Memorial Fund in support of the annual award of Grabar Grants and Fellowships.
HIAA has announced full program details for its third biennial symposium, to be hosted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from October 18 to 20, 2012. The symposium’s theme is “Looking Widely, Looking Closely.”
International Association of Word and Image Studies
The International Association of Word and Image Studies (IAWIS/AIERTI) seeks proposals for “From the Wall, to the Press, to the Streets,” its session for CAA’s 101st Annual Conference in New York, taking place February 13–16, 2013. IAWIS/AIERTI invites reflections on contemporary art practices that occur outside the traditional framework of the gallery or museum space. Topics to consider include: public art rhetoric (how language challenges elitist/populist divides); working around the frame (spatial transgression as institutional critique); art’s new open-access sites (the internet and social networks); and institutional responses (marketing and copyright laws). Please submit proposals and CV to Eve Kalyva and Ignaz Cassar by June 1, 2012. IAWIS/AIERTI membership is not required.
Italian Art Society
The Italian Art Society (IAS) has named Debra Pincus as the speaker of the third annual Italian Art Society–Kress Foundation Lecture Series in Italy, being held in Venice on June 6, 2012. Pincus will speak on “The Lure of the Letter: Renaissance Venice and the Recovery of Antique Writing” at the Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti, seat of the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti.
IAS would like to congratulate the 2012 recipients of the IAS/Kress Foundation Travel Grants for American or foreign scholars traveling from abroad to present papers in IAS-sponsored sessions: Michele Luigi Vescovi, for “Defining Territories and Borders in Italian Romanesque Architecture: Regions, Sub-regions, Meta-regions” at the CAA Annual Conference in Los Angeles; Daniele Rivoletti, for “Pinturicchio’s Coronation of Pius III: The Interests of a Family in a Republican Context” at the Renaissance Society of America; and Christine Ungruh for “Kairo: On the Efficacy of a Classical Motif in Italian Medieval Art” at the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo.
IAS is sponsoring one individual and three linked sessions at the Renaissance Society of America’s 2012 annual meeting, taking place in Washington, DC, from March 22 to 24, 2012.
Mid-America College Art Association
Save the date for the Mid-America College Art Association (MACAA) biannual conference: October 3–6, 2012, in Detroit, Michigan. The James Pearson Duffy Department of Art and Art History at Wayne State University will host the event. Programming will include three featured speakers; panel presentations in art, design, art history, and visual resources; studio workshops; MACAA member exhibitions; and museum visits. The conference will have two content areas, “Meaning and Making” and “Community and Collaboration.” Read more about on MACAA membership, conference registration and accommodations, and submission guidelines for papers. The deadline for submission proposals is April 10, 2012. For further information, please email the conference coordinator.
Midwest Art History Society
Attend the thirty-ninth annual conference of the Midwest Art History Society (MAHS) in Wichita, Kansas, from March 29 to 31, 2012. Papers on topics ranging from art history to modern film to collecting Asian art will be presented on the Wichita State University campus and at the Wichita Art Museum. The keynote address will be delivered by Marilyn Stokstad, Judith Harris Murphy Distinguished Professor Emerita of Art History at the University of Kansas and the acclaimed author of Art History (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2010), a widely used textbook in American colleges. Her topic will be “Art Patronage in a Civil Society.” Please visit the MAHS website to register for the conference and to review the schedule of events.
National Council of Arts Administrators
The National Council of Arts Administrators (NCAA) will hold its annual conference, “Granting Permission,” at Ohio State University in Columbus on November 7–10, 2012. Sergio Soave, art chair at Ohio State, is creating an ambitious and lively schedule of events that will include an administrator’s workshop, tours of the Wexner Center for the Arts, cultural walks in Columbus, and much more. The NCAA board seeks proposals for presentations, sessions, and/or panels for the annual Arts Administrators Workshops, taking place on November 7. Topics might include but are not limited to: leadership and management; promotion and tenure; interpersonal communication; budget management, personnel evaluation, and growth; career paths; and case studies related to arts administration. Proposals and inquiries should be sent to Jim Hopfensperger, NCAA president. Initial proposals of no more than 350 words are due by May 21, 2012. Selected entries will be notified by June 20.
NCAA sends many thanks to all who participated in the organization’s activities at the CAA Annual Conference in Los Angeles. The annual reception was extremely well attended, and the “More Hot Problems/Cool Solutions in Arts Leadership” session drew enthusiastic responses for its innovative and unusual solutions to challenges in arts leadership.
Society for Photographic Education
The Society for Photographic Education (SPE) will hold its forty-ninth national conference, “Intimacy and Voyeurism: The Public/Private Divide in Photography” from March 22 to 25, 2012, in San Francisco, California. The keynote speaker is the acclaimed photographer Sally Mann; other featured speakers include Trevor Paglen, Sharon Olds, and Sandra S. Phillips, senior curator at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. You need not be an SPE member to register for the conference, but membership offers a reduced ticket price. In addition, a discounted conference rate is available for student volunteers.
The fiftieth SPE national conference will be held March 7–10, 2013, in Chicago, Illinois.
Society of Architectural Historians
The sixty-fifth annual conference of the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) will be held in Detroit, Michigan, from April 18 to 22, 2012. Topics under discussion include rebuilding Detroit, midcentury modern design, historic preservation, and the legacy of the automobile industry. Information on conference registration, hotel accommodation, and travel has been published online.
SAH invited CAA members to participate in an upcoming SAH study tour of Saxony, Germany, from July 12 to 25, 2012. As an exclusive offer for CAA members, the SAH membership requirement to participate in this tour will be waived. Led by the renowned scholar of German architecture, Juergen Paul, the tour will survey sites ranging from late Romanesque to modern and include religious and secular buildings, the Bauhaus, landscapes, and gardens. The tour will begin in Berlin and visit the following cities: Dessau, Gorlitz, Leipzig, Grimmer, Cowlitz, Wechselburg, Kriebstein, Lichtenwalde, Agustusburg, Annaberg, Marienberg, Freiberg, Dresden, Bautzen, Lobau, Gorlitz, Wermsdorf, Torgau, and Wittenberg. The deadline for tour registration is May 4, 2012. Please review the website for the tour itinerary and pricing; Study Tour Fellowships are also available to current full-time MA and PhD students and to emerging professionals who have received their degree between 2007 and 2011.
Southeastern College Art Conference
The sixty-eighth annual meeting of the Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC), hosted by Meredith College, will be held in historic Durham, North Carolina, from October 17 to 20, 2012. SECAC membership is required to attend and to participate in the conference; registration will open on August 1, 2012. Please visit the website for registration fees, travel and accommodation details, and local information on Durham. The deadline for submitting proposals for papers is April 20, 2012. Current SECAC members are eligible to apply for the SECAC Artist’s Fellowship, a grant of $5,000 to be made to an individual or a group of artists working on a specific project. The postmark deadline is August 1, 2012, and the winner will be announced at the conference in October. Questions? Please contact Beth Mulvaney, conference chair for SECAC 2012.
People in the News
posted by CAA — Feb 17, 2012
People in the News lists new hires, positions, and promotions in three sections: Academe, Museums and Galleries, and Organizations and Publications.
The section is published every two months: in February, April, June, August, October, and December. To learn more about submitting a listing, please follow the instructions on the main Member News page.
February 2012
Academe
Joseph BasileJoseph Basile, a professor of art history and chairperson of the Department of Art History at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore since 1994, has been named associate dean for liberal arts at his school.
Angela Ellsworth, a sculptor and professor of art at Arizona State University in Phoenix, has been awarded tenure.
Dennis FarberDennis Farber, a faculty member in the Foundation Department at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore since the 1990s, has been named associate dean of foundation studies at his school.
Anne Marie OliverAnne Marie Oliver, assistant professor of intermedia and contemporary theory at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon, has been named cochair of the master’s degree program in critical theory and creative research at her school.
P. Gregory WardenP. Gregory Warden, professor of art history and associate dean for research and academic affairs in the Meadows School of Art at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, has been appointed president of Franklin College in Lugano, Switzerland. Warden will leave his current institution at the end of academic year 2011–12.
Museums and Galleries
David Bomford (photograph by Bradley Marks)David Bomford has left his position as acting museum director of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California. Bomford, who joined the museum in 2007 as associate director for collections, will return to London to pursue research, scholarship, and writing.
Joy Garnett (photograph by Bradley Marks)Joy Garnett, a New York–based painter and the editor of NEWSgrist, has become director of Theodore:Art, a gallery that has recently relocated from Manhattan to Brooklyn.
Suzanne Folds McCullagh has been named Anne Vogt Fuller and Marion Titus Searle Chair and Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago in Illinois. A museum staff member since 1975, McCullagh succeeds Douglas Druick as the head of her department.
JoAnne NorthrupJoAnne Northrup, previously chief curator at the San Jose Museum of Art in California, has joined the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno as director of contemporary initiatives.
Martha Tedeschi has been named Prince Trust Curator in Prints and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago in Illinois. A museum staffer since 1982, Tedeschi takes the curatorial reins from Douglas Druick.
Sheena Wagstaff, chief curator at Tate Modern in London since 2001, has been recruited as the new department head of twentieth- and twenty-first century art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Kenneth Wayne, a consultant for arts organizations since 2010 after leaving a curatorial post at the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, New York, has joined the Noguchi Museum in Long Island City, New York, as deputy director for curatorial affairs.
Free Los Angeles Art Apps for Your Smart Phone
posted by Christopher Howard — Feb 15, 2012
CAA encourages you to look into a handful of free and low-cost smart-phone apps to help you navigate museums, galleries, and other art-related events, enhancing your conference experience in Los Angeles. Most of the apps, which offer an abundance of exhibition information for the Hammer and Fowler Museums and for Pacific Standard Time, are designed for iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches; several work with mobile devices using Android. A few of these apps assist with travel and transportation around the city, and with finding restaurants. The apps are available in the iTunes Store and in the Android Market.
Art Openings and Events
ArtConcierge is a free guide to galleries, art fairs, and art-related exhibits, including programming for the Getty Center’s Pacific Standard Time and to independently organized events. GPS navigation is available for all selections. ArtConcierge is produced by Fabrik Media Group, which publishes the magazine Fabrik.
Artcards gives you free instant access to a comprehensive list of current art openings, talks, performances, screenings, and related events in greater Los Angeles. Galleries are grouped by neighborhood or city. Artcards provides names of artists, titles of shows, event day and time, and links to maps and to each gallery’s website.
The free LA Weekly app offers content from the printed newspaper and its website. Updated events listings include: live music, art openings, comedy clubs, theater, and dining options. Search for a particular event or use a GPS device to find events near you. More than two thousand restaurant listings and write-ups by the celebrated food critic Jonathan Gold. Get it for Apple or Android devices.
Museums and Exhibitions
Learn all about the Los Angeles art world from the 1940s to today with The Getty: Art in LA, Pacific Standard Time at the Getty Center. This free app for both Apple and Android devices highlights all four Pacific Standard Time exhibitions held at the Getty Center. See paintings, sculptures, photographs, and archival material, listen to audio, and read the stories behind the artworks.
Getty Goggles will help you explore and learn more about paintings in the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Simply photograph a work of art you are interested in and click the Getty result to hear insightful commentary from artists, curators, and conservators. Getty Goggles works with Apple products and mobile devices using Android.
This free app for Apple and Android can help you plan a visit to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In addition to learning about the museum’s collection, you can reserve tickets for film screenings, concerts, lectures, and gallery talks. Video interviews with artists and curators are also available. The museum has also created an Apple-only app for its exhibition, California Design, 1930–1965: “Living in a Modern Way.”
Use the free Hammer Museum app to plan your visit and to experience in-depth content about the Hammer’s exhibitions and collections. Features include: interviews with artists and curators discussing specific works of art, videos of artists describing their practices, and excerpts from exhibition catalogues. The Hammer app is compatible with Apple products and mobile devices using Android.
The free Fowler Museum Guide app provides visitors with a tour of the Fowler Museum’s permanent collection of more than 150,000 art and ethnographic objects and 600,000 archaeological objects representing ancient, traditional, and contemporary cultures of Africa, Native and Latin America, and Asia and the Pacific. The app also gives information on temporary exhibitions.
Designed to help you learn more about the Norton Simon Museum’s current and upcoming exhibitions and events, this free app lets you browse the collections, listen to podcasts and audio stops, watch videos, and learn about the museum’s history. The app also lists the museum’s hours, admission fees, and directions.
Listen to the award-winning Norton Simon Museum Audio Tour. More than four hundred stops are featured in English and Spanish, including tours for adults and children. Look for the audio-tour icon and stop number on the labels of many of the museum’s artworks.
Navigating the City
Mappity Los Angeles, available for $.99, offers a map of Los Angeles with features such as street-level map details and custom mapping for door-to-door travel.
The free Beat the Traffic app for Apple, Android, and BlackBerry tells you about the road and traffic conditions in your desired city. Its features include: real-time traffic maps, GPS displays of traffic jams in your area, and weather information. Beat the Traffic HD Plus+ is an ad-free version that is available for $4.99 in the iTunes Store and $3.99 in the Android Market.
The California Traffic Report, a free app produced by the University of California, San Diego, delivers real-time traffic reports, including approximate commute time, traffic speeds, and maps. It covers greater Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, and San Diego.
Yes, public transportation does exist in Los Angeles. Use the free Go-Metro Los Angeles app to help you navigate the city’s bus system. Features include: maps, timetables, fare information, and a trip planner.
Eat Like a Native
The Los Angeles Street Food app ($1.99) covers cheap eats in the city, from Vietnamese pho houses to Mexican taco stands to grilled-cheese food trucks. The interactive maps will help you navigate the city, while listings are organized into categories and publish in-depth reviews, Twitter links, and picture slideshows. This app, though, does not track food trucks.
Vegan Los Angeles supports a healthy vegan lifestyle in Los Angeles. Find recipes and vegan restaurants and watch cooking demonstrations using this free app for Apple and Android mobile devices.
Revised on February 16, 2012.