CAA News Today
Judith Brodsky, Mary Garrard, and Ferris Olin, Co-authors of Chapter 11, “Governance and Diversity”
posted by CAA — December 17, 2021
As part of CAA’s 10-year anniversary celebration of its publication, The Eye, the Hand, the Mind: 100 Years of the College Art Association, chapter authors reflect on their contributions and how their impressions of the field have changed. Our final video in the series features Judith Brodsky, Mary Garrard, and Ferris Olin, who co-authored chapter 11, “Governance and Diversity.”
Involved not just in CAA, its Annual Conference, and its Committee on Women in the Arts (CWA), but also with CAA’s affiliate society the Women’s Caucus for Art, these three women represent pillars in the field of feminist art history.
In this video, they discuss the first 100 years of CAA’s history representing women and underrepresented groups, and point to the future: 2022 marks fifty years of the first committee to represent women at CAA. CAA is excited to honor this milestone at the 2022 Annual Conference and beyond.
Brodsky and Olin are each presenting at the upcoming 110th Annual Conference. See links underneath their bios below for more information on their sessions, panels, and talks.
SPEAKERS BIOGRAPHIES
Judith K. Brodsky is currently distinguished professor emerita at Rutgers University. She founded the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper, now renamed the Brodsky Center in her honor and located at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. The Center has been instrumental in promoting the recognition of women artists and artists of color. She is also co-founder of the Rutgers Center for Women in the Arts and Humanities and The Feminist Art Project, a national and international program to promote women artists in the cultural milieu. With her colleague, Dr. Ferris Olin, she established the Miriam Schapiro Archives on Women Artists at Rutgers and was curator of the Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series at Rutgers from 2006-2013. Brodsky was the co-founder of the Women Artists Archive National Directory (WAAND), funded initially by the Getty Foundation, a digital directory of archives where the papers of women artists active in the US since 1945 are located. A printmaker and book artist, Judith’s work is in over 100 permanent collections. She has also organized and curated many exhibitions and has published extensively, including contributions to The Power of Feminist Art and SIGNS, A Journal of Women in Culture and Society; Junctures in Women’s Leadership: The Arts. Most recently she published the first book on the impact of feminist theory on digital technology in the arts titled Dismantling the Patriarchy, Bit by Bit: Feminism, Art, and Technology, Bloomsbury, 2021. She served as CAA’s President and received the Annual Recognition Award from CAA’s Committee on Women in the Arts, as well as past national president for ArtTable and Women’s Caucus for Art.
Details for Judith Brodsky’s participation in the 2022 Annual Conference: link.
Mary D. Garrard, professor emerita of art history at American University, Washington, D. C., is a scholar whose work has combined Italian Renaissance art with feminist studies. Her book, Artemisia Gentileschi: The Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art (Princeton, 1989), was a groundbreaking contribution to the field, that launched modern studies of the now-famous artist. In Artemisia Gentileschi Circa 1622: The Shaping and Reshaping of an Artistic Identity (University of California, 2001), Garrard addressed new critical issues in Gentileschi studies. Her third book, Artemisia Gentileschi and Early Modern Feminism, positions the artist among the feminist treatises and debates of her time (Reaktion Books, London, 2020). Beyond Artemisia, Garrard has written and spoken extensively on Italian Renaissance, Early Modern art, and feminist art history. With her colleague Norma Broude, Garrard created and edited three books that have become basic texts in art history and women’s studies courses, including Feminism and Art History: Questioning the Litany (1982); The Expanding Discourse: Feminism and Art History (1992); and Reclaiming Female Agency: Feminist Art History After Postmodernism (2005). Broude and Garrard also created and contributed to The Power of Feminist Art: The American Movement of the 1970s (1994).
Ferris Olin is distinguished professor emerita at Rutgers University, where she was the co-founder and co-director (with Judith K. Brodsky) of Rutgers Center for Women in the Arts and Humanities, and The Feminist Art Project, an international collaboration to make visible the impact of women on the cultural landscape. She also established the Miriam Schapiro Archives on Women Artists at Rutgers as well as the Margery Somers Foster Center, a research center focused on documenting women’s leadership in the public arena, and served as Associate Director of the Institute for Research on Women and earlier, Director of the Art Library. She was curator of the Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series at Rutgers from 1995-2006 and later (with Judith K. Brodsky) from 2006-2013. With Brodsky, Olin also created the Women Artists Archive National Directory (WAAND). Olin has also published broadly. Her most recent book, co-authored with Judith K. Brodsky, is called Junctures in Women’s Leadership: The Arts (Rutgers University Press, fall 2018). Olin has served on the boards of numerous non-profit organizations and was Vice-President of the College Art Association. She is the recipient of numerous awards, among them the Women’s Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award and the College Art Association Committee on Women’s Annual Recognition Award (now known as Distinguished Feminist Award).
Details for Ferris Olin’s participation in the 2022 Annual Conference: link.
CAA signs AHA statement on Censorship and Prosecution by Chinese Authorities
posted by CAA — November 29, 2021
CAA has signed onto a statement released by the AHA that expresses alarm in response to the escalation of censorship and prosecution by Chinese authorities on Chinese citizens who deviate from the Communist Party line of hero worship. It asserts, “Such efforts strike at the very heart of historical scholarship, which depends on open-ended inquiry and a free exchange of ideas, wherever that inquiry leads, and whether or not those ideas cast aspersions on historical actors…. The AHA stands firmly against national laws and policies that in effect criminalize the historical enterprise.” Read the entire statement here.
CAA Interviews Mariam Ghani for this week’s member spotlight and signs on to Open Letter from Arts for Afghanistan
posted by Allison Walters — October 05, 2021
Mariam Ghani, What We Left Unfinished, 2019 (artwork © Mariam Ghani; film still provided by the artist)
Mariam Ghani’s film, What We Left Unfinished (2019), began as a project that pulled from Ghani’s experience digitizing the Afghan Film Archive, featuring five films that were shot but never edited during the communist period of 1978–1991. Now its title takes on new meaning with the Taliban’s recent takeover of the government and the evacuation of over a hundred-thousand individuals from Afghanistan. Many Afghani cultural workers, whether relocated, remaining, or watching from abroad, will need to reimagine or shift their practice to accommodate this new reality.
Addressing these issues, CAA had the privilege to talk with Mariam Ghani, this week’s member spotlight, and explore her practice as an artist, filmmaker, activist, and teacher. The daughter of former Afghani President, Ashraf Ghani, Mariam is based in Brooklyn and has spent her life in the US. Her work has often drawn from her connection to Afghanistan, in her relationship to the country as both an insider and an outsider. Dominant themes in her practice also speak to the current moment and to Middle Eastern histories, including border zones, transitions, intersecting cultures, national identities, trauma, memory, loss, and migration.
Interviewed by Laura Anderson Barbata, current CAA Vice President for Annual Conference and Programs and trans-disciplinary artist also based in Brooklyn, this conversation begins with a look at Ghani’s work and then dives into the multiple ways you can support those affected by the current crises. To show its support and solidarity, CAA has signed on to An Open Letter from Arts for Afghanistan.
Image provided by Mariam Ghani
Mariam recommends supporting the following organizations:
artsforafghanistan.org
artisticfreedominitiative.org
the Asian Contemporary Art Forum (givebutter.com/ACAF)
afghanwomensnetwork.org
womenforafghanwomen.org
Every week we will feature a CAA member in our member spotlight series who is currently demonstrating exceptional talent. Please feel free to nominate a fellow member or send along any personal upcoming events or achievements for consideration to caanews@collegeart.org. In your email, put “Member Spotlight” in the subject line.
CAA Signs on: AHA Releases Statement on Threats to Academic Conferences
posted by CAA — September 15, 2021
Read the PDF: Dismantling conference statement
The AHA has released a statement condemning the harassment and intimidation of participants, organizers, and university sponsors of the virtual conference “Dismantling Global Hindutva: Multidisciplinary Perspectives.” “Conferences, both in person and across digital platforms, are critical to the exchange of ideas among historians and our colleagues in other disciplines,” the AHA wrote. “Disruptions to a conference represent an assault on the principle of academic freedom, and the AHA stands unequivocally with participants in this conference and its sponsors in their right to exchange ideas without fear of threats and intimidation.”
To date, 15 organizations have signed onto this statement.
CAA’s Resources to Combat Departmental Closures in Art and Art History Departments
posted by CAA — July 09, 2021
For our members and the larger visual arts community, CAA is disheartened by recent and continued actions on departmental closures in Art and Art History departments. The following links offer resources to use as we continue to determine the actions going forward:
In 2020, CAA signed on to advocacy with the ACLS: http://www.collegeart.org/news/2021/02/01/caa-signs-on-to-acls-statement-on-recent-kansas-board-of-regents-actions/
Earlier Advocacy posts and response:
https://www.collegeart.org/news/2018/09/17/caa-to-issue-best-practices-for-addressing-proposed-changes/
https://www.collegeart.org/news/2018/11/12/caa-guidelines-arts-and-humanities/
The 2018 survey of universities with departmental closures:
https://www.collegeart.org/news/2018/11/08/colleges-facing-cuts-to-arts-and-humanities/
Since 2018, several other institutions have closed and continue to close. Today our constituency has been affected by this ongoing situation over the past 13 years. CAA cannot stop any institution of art, design or art-history from the decision, necessitated by financial situation or otherwise, to close. To best support our community, as a part of our ongoing repositioning and digital transformation, CAA has identified the importance and continued growth of an e-learning model and publications to recognize and support those currently and who continue to be affected.
CAA has a robust and active group of committees, Board of Directors, and other members who all continue to work together and move forward upcoming guidelines and best practices, to survey and respond to the ongoing needs of our constituencies. The advocates within our organization help strengthen the organization as a part of the community of large.
Support CAA using Amazon Smile
posted by CAA — June 22, 2021
Did you know that you can make a gift to CAA using Amazon Smile? Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of eligible smile.amazon.com purchases to the organization selected by customers — at no cost to you. Our charity link will automatically direct you to Amazon, where you will be asked to confirm that you would like your Amazon purchases to support CAA.
As a 110-year-old organization, we are proud to serve a global community of artists, designers, students, and scholars through advocacy, intellectual engagement, and a commitment to the diversity of practices and practitioners. During this pivotal moment it is more important than ever that we support our visual arts community. We hope that you will join us in our mission and help us bring our programs and publications to life by using Amazon Smile today.
CAA at 2021 Advocacy Days
posted by CAA — April 16, 2021
Screenshot of CAA in virtual conversation with NY Senator Chuck Schumer, 2021
CAA representatives advocated for the arts and humanities with partners at the American Association of Museums (AAM) and the National Humanities Alliance (NHA) this spring for Museums Advocacy Day on February 23 and Humanities Advocacy Day on March 11, 2021. Alongside other academic societies, scholars, and museum professionals, CAA urged congressional representatives and senators to back full funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and particularly the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which provides grants for museums and arts organizations throughout the country, for the fiscal year 2022. Increased allocations for these programs would bring funding levels back to what they were over a decade ago in 1998. We met with the offices of New York representatives Tom Reed, Jerry Nadler, Carolyn Maloney, John Katko, and Yvette Clarke and senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer. Sen. Schumer joined Museums Advocacy Day in person to share his enthusiasm about moving forward with emergency relief funds for arts organizations and supporting more space for them in the next year’s congressional budget.
CAA has been participating in these meetings for the past three years. We noted that 1/3 of all museums in the US are at risk of closing without assistance. We also stressed the importance of museums as institutions that have served our community greatly during COVID and have come up with creative solutions for childhood education, community building, virtual exhibitions, and out-of-the-box engagement strategies. The arts and humanities have helped our communities cope and their spaces—schools, libraries, and museums—remain some of the only spaces in communities that can be accessed freely by the public.
CAA signs on to ACLS Statement in solidarity with Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
posted by CAA — March 29, 2021
CAA joins 36 member societies in solidarity with Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in signing a statement by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) condemning the appalling acts of racism, violence, and discrimination committed against these communities.
That statement asserts, “We find ourselves in a moment where, for good reason, we and many other Americans have been and continue to be focused intently on anti-Black racism. But we are reminded by the horrific events in Georgia this week and increased acts of violence over this past year linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, of the deep prejudices affecting Asians in this country. These and other attacks against the Asian-American community represent the latest chapter in our history of xenophobia, which tends to flare during times of crisis.” (ACLS American Council of Learned Societies)
CAA Advocacy Statement
posted by Allison Walters — February 03, 2021
In the past year we have experienced unprecedented changes in the social, economic, and interpersonal landscape: transformations in higher education; financial uncertainty; home-work imbalance; quarantine during a global pandemic; a divisive political climate; the US election cycle; and the Black Lives Matter and #SayHerName protests following the violent killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and so many more. We have seen changes for us as teachers, scholars, makers, writers, and advocates for higher education and the place of academic arts discourse and development in this new world. We have seen great inequities in and serious changes to higher education that have affected faculty, staff, students, and the long-term support of art, art history, and design—as well as changes to our pedagogy, our community, and the very structure of who is cared for and how. We have suffered enormous losses and continue to mourn. These losses have had an immense impact on all of us, including underserved BIPOC communities, adjunct faculty, and arts communities unaffiliated with institutions. Significantly, this time has affected our greatest assets: connecting to, sharing with, and knowing our community.
How CAA offers service and support to our members has also changed as we work to become more inclusive, more diverse, and more equitable in the community at large. However, because so much of 2020 was spent “coping with” and “adjusting to,” we haven’t had the time to pause and reflect. We wonder what the future will look like, and as an organization, how to offer structure and support as we learn and grow together. As part of these changes we have been faced with the hard choice of what to do in the face of adversity. This community of artists, historians, and designers has risen to the moment, adapted, and supported one another. CAA has advocated for you by adapting in its greatest shift ever: to a fully online Annual Conference. Although this has sometimes felt like a pressure point, perhaps it is just a growing pain—and we will continue to show up for community more strongly and profoundly than ever before.
To ensure lasting change, we are committed to the following:
- Expanding on the Annual Conference’s virtual format, becoming ever more accessible and globally inclusive
- Expanding advocacy for underserved and BIPOC communities
- Developing and offering free and open professional resources via collegeart.org
- Increasing access to participation of our global community throughout the year
- Including diverse voices and supporting new outreach and inclusionary initiatives, especially for populations and communities that we have not engaged before: geographically, culturally, and in socioeconomic diversity
- Helping reshape the landscape of professional support via a strategic digital overhaul
- Listening to member concerns and responding with thoughtful urgency, bringing ease to transitions
CAA will continue to regularly address the changing workforce conditions in academic and cultural institutions, including for students and for the trajectory of adjunct faculty; enhance equity, diversity, accessibility, and inclusion initiatives in higher education, including promoting best practices in the reduction of systemic barriers, in faculty and staff hiring, in the support and recruitment of first-generation students from diverse and underrepresented groups, and in the implementation of sound consultative processes involving the affected communities; and increase public awareness and institutional recognition regarding the value and importance of humanities scholarship and visual arts and design education within the academy and beyond it.
CAA, its board, and its staff continue to stand in support of its members and our larger arts community to create, analyze, teach, and promote art within our higher educational and cultural institutions.
Written in solidarity and as affirmation of CAA’s commitment to the diversity of practices and practitioners we serve.
Related resources:
Guidelines from the Professional Practices Committee
Art Journal Winter 2020 Video Abstract, “Now’s the Time,” a message from Jordana Moore Saggese
Art Journal Winter 2020, Blackness Issue (free online until March 31, 2021)
CAA signs on to AHA statement condemning the “1776 Report”
posted by Allison Walters — February 01, 2021
CAA joins 41 other organizations in signing on to a statement by the American Historical Association (AHA) condemning the report from “The President’s Advisory 1776 Commission.” “Written hastily in one month after two desultory and tendentious ‘hearings,’” the AHA writes, “without any consultation with professional historians of the United States, the report fails to engage a rich and vibrant body of scholarship that has evolved over the last seven decades.”
The just –released “1776 Report” claims that common understanding of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution can unify all Americans in the love of country. The product of “The President’s Advisory 1776 Commission,” the report focuses on these founding documents in an apparent attempt to reject recent efforts to understand the multiple ways the institution of slavery shaped our nation’s history. The authors call for a form of government indoctrination of American students, and in the process elevate ignorance about the past to a civic virtue.
AHA Condemns Report of Advisory 1776 Commission (January 2021) | AHA (historians.org)