CAA News

The November issue of CAA News, your critical guide to life in the worlds of art and academia, has just been published. You may download a PDF of the issue immediately.

On the cover is not a long-lost Hans Namuth photograph of Jackson Pollock at work—it’s a detail of a sculpture by Joe Fig that’s part of the CAA Annual Exhibition, Picturing the Studio. Read an excerpt from the catalogue essay for this important group show, which opens next month in Chicago and will be on view during the CAA Annual Conference.

The newsletter also contains an interview with the creators of Smarthistory, a multimedia art-history website with innovative ideas for supplementing the Western survey class, as well as an article about this fall’s hot intellectual-property topic, the Google Books settlement. You can also check out the latest details about the upcoming conference, browse listings of recent solo exhibitions and books published by CAA members, and much more.

For submissions to the January issue, please review the CAA News guidelines. Questions? Contact Christopher Howard, CAA managing editor.

CAA News is pleased to present a special web-only feature article, Leading the Full Life: Balancing Career and Family, based on a roundtable discussion of the same name that took place at the 2009 CAA Annual Conference in Los Angeles. Participants in the discussion, led by an artist, Marie Thibeault, and an art historian, Nicola Courtright, talked about the possibilities, successes, and troubles of balancing a professional life as an artist or academic with personal goals of having a family and raising children.

Afterward, Thibeault asked a number of artists—nine women and one man—to write about their experiences of being a parent while maintaining an active art practice. The participating artists for “Leading the Full Life” are Constance Mallinson, Hagop Najarian, Amy Thornberry, Sandra Dal Poggetto, Virginia Katz, Philippa Blair, Nancy Curran, Hilary Norcliffe, Tera Galanti, and Christina Shurts.

The September CAA News has just been published. All individual and institutional members may download the PDF from the CAA website.

Inside you’ll find early information about the upcoming Annual Conference. Among the special events for Chicago is a keynote address by the renowned photographer Dawoud Bey, who will speak at Convocation. In addition, the painter Phyllis Bramson has been named one of two artists to be interviewed in ARTspace.

Also included in the issue are details about two conference mentoring sessions—the Artists’ Portfolio Review and Career Development Mentoring—as well as an interview with Jackie Battenfield, the author of the recently published book, The Artist’s Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love.

The September newsletter is the second in our return to a digital-only format. The layout has been changed to better fit your computer screen, and all images are now in color. If you prefer to read a hard copy, printed pages are clear and readable.

Submissions to the Endnotes section of the November CAA News are due by September 30; please review the guidelines before sending your listing. Questions or concerns? Please contact Christopher Howard, CAA managing editor.

The July CAA News has just been published and posted to the CAA website. All individual and institutional members can download a PDF of it now.

With this issue, CAA News returns to a digital-only format. The layout of the newsletter has changed to better fit your computer screen, and all images are now in color. If you prefer to read a hard copy, the printout pages are clear and readable.

Inside, CAA talks to Heather Darcy Bhandari and Jonathan Melber about their new book, Art/Work: Everything You Need to Know (and Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career (see pages 4–7). You can also read early details about the upcoming 2010 Annual Conference in Chicago: registration prices have just been announced (see page 16), and applications for a limited number of conference travel grants are available (pages 17–18).

Be sure to visit CAA News on the web on a regular basis. CAA will also continue using other forms of electronic communication—Facebook, Twitter, email blasts, and more—to get important organizational information to you.

As part of information-gathering pursuant to the preparation of CAA’s 2010–2015 Strategic Plan, a 2009 member survey was developed, coordinated, and carried out by a team under the leadership of Elizabeth Knapp, vice president in the Research Division of the marketing firm Leo Burnett Worldwide, to determine member preferences, awareness of CAA publications and programs, and motivations for joining and renewing membership.

In total, 1,451 CAA members responded to the online survey, a response rate of 11 percent (which is within an acceptable range for statistical analysis). The final sample was then weighted to accurately reflect the total CAA membership based on membership type. The results are an enlightening view into CAA members’ views and opinions, revealing important strengths but also giving direction to how the organization can use the next strategic plan to improve its programs and services.

Demographically speaking, CAA members are more likely to be female (70 percent), within the age range of 35–49 (34 percent), Caucasian (87 percent), and in academic settings (73 percent), and to have ten years or more of professional experience (48 percent).

The top three reasons individuals gave for joining CAA and renewing their memberships were for job postings (69 percent), networking (54 percent), and debate in the visual arts (50 percent).

CAA is perceived as most relevant to art historians (78 percent agree). From artist members, enthusiasm for ARTspace at the Annual Conference was one of the higher-ranking areas of interest (61 percent). CAA is viewed as a well-known organization among peers (75 percent agree) and a well-run organization (51 percent agree). Members who responded to the question about CAA’s roles believe the most important are advocacy for artists, art historians, and university art museums (24 percent), a conference provider (21 percent), and a leader of creative and intellectual discourse (17 percent). The most common contact points between members and CAA are through publications and emails. The Art Bulletin has the strongest reputation among members (64 percent). The most used features of the CAA website are membership renewal (76 percent), conference registration (70 percent), and CAA News (60 percent). At least half the members also visit the CAA website regularly. A near majority of members (45 percent) have interest in social networking through CAA.

The CAA Annual Conference is perceived as important for networking (68 percent) and career development (62 percent), an opportunity for intellectual exchange about the visual arts (58 percent), and relevant to professional development (53 percent). At the conference, members mostly likely attend sessions (76 percent), the Book and Trade Fair (65 percent), and, as noted above, ARTspace (61 percent). The most popular conference topics are criticism and theory (33 percent) and contemporary art history (31 percent).

The most popular publication topics for the future are curriculum development for teaching studio and art-history courses; legal and copyright issues in publishing; career-development strategies; and standards and guidelines in the visual arts in academia. Members agree that digital publications are valuable because they can be searched online (76 percent), are environmentally friendly (71 percent), can expand readership and distribution (59 percent), and can include dynamic content (56 percent). Members are undecided on the future of digital publications, but 49 percent of respondents do not favor online, non–peer reviewed publications.

CAA continues to advocate on issues of importance to members and to the visual arts. Among these, members feel that full-time vs. adjunct status is most important (50 percent), followed by intellectual-property issues (38 percent) and salary equity (39 percent).

In efforts to increase its visibility and recognition for the programs and services it provides, CAA is eager to know how members react to or view its name. While some members felt that the name “College Art Association” or “CAA” is not descriptive of what the organization does, or that it does not fit the mission, 65 percent believe that the name is understood in the field of visual arts. Name recognition and identity will be assessed as part of CAA’s communications activities in the strategic plan.

Other directions gathered from this survey that will be addressed in the strategic plan are to: 1) increase programming and publications for artists; 2) attract more young professionals; 3) increase the diversity of members; 4) increase career-development sessions at the conference; 5) increase interactive communications; 6) develop practical peer-reviewed publications; and 7) continue working on advocacy issues, particularly related to adjunct faculty.

CAA thanks its members for participating in this recent survey. Comments and responses have been extremely helpful and are being used to guide changes and improvements in the organization’s services.

Updated May 14, 2009.

Like most universities, art museums, and learned societies, CAA has been significantly affected by the global economic downturn. The Board of Directors made difficult decisions at its May 2009 meeting that nevertheless will allow CAA to maintain the high quality of member services and programming. Strategic reductions and other measures have been instituted throughout the association to balance the budget and keep core programs, publications, and services in operation. With this careful financial planning, CAA remains dedicated to supporting members and the visual-arts community at large through our advocacy, career services, publications, and conference.

Annual Conference

The 2010 Annual Conference in Chicago will commence on Wednesday evening, February 10, with Convocation and the Gala Reception. All 120 planned sessions will be presented over the following three days, Thursday, February 11 to Saturday, February 13, with the addition of extended evening hours. No sessions will take place on Wednesday.

Publications

Newsletter: Beginning July 2009, CAA News will only be distributed online in a new reader-friendly design. This allows us to save printing and mailing costs and help to preserve coverage of core programs and publications. CAA’s website, www.collegeart.org, will become the primary hub of up-to-date information on the organization.

Journals: CAA’s longtime support of the journals is absolutely central to the mission, and the association is fully committed to maintaining them now and in the future. The Art Bulletin and Art Journal will continue to be published. Illustrations, however, will be limited to black and white for 2009–10, except where editorial and budget decisions may allow the insertion of color. caa.reviews will be unchanged, with new book reviews, exhibition reviews, and conference and symposia reports published regularly. While the CAA Board of Directors has determined the budget restrictions necessary for this part of the association, the editors-in-chief will work closely with staff and editorial boards to make sure that any further reductions are implemented with a strict attention to quality consistent with the identity and mission of the journals.

Grants and Fellowships

Two programs in CAA’s grant-making arm will be suspended for 2009–10: the Professional Development Fellowship Program for graduate students and the Millard Meiss Publication Fund. However, the Annual Conference Travel Grants and the Wyeth Foundation for American Art Publication Grant will both continue, and the CAA Annual Exhibitions, also funded by a grant, will take place at the Chicago and New York conferences.

The May issue of CAA News has just been published. All individual and institutional members will receive it in the mail; you can also download a PDF of the issue now, reformatted to better fit your screen.

In the issue, CAA President Paul Jaskot and Director of Programs Emmanuel Lemakis sum up highlights from the 2009 Annual Conference in Los Angeles, and CAA Board Member Andrea Kirsh writes about her experiences at this year’s Arts Advocacy Day and Humanities Advocacy Day.

The May newsletter also includes instructions for proposing a session for the 2011 Annual Conference in New York—CAA’s centennial year. Please read the guidelines carefully before the submission process begins on June 16, 2009. Deadline: September 1, 2009.

Also published are calls for texts on “the contemporary” for Art Journal and for participation on CAA’s Professional Interests, Practices, and Standards Committees—plus the latest news from CAA’s affiliated societies and listings of solo exhibitions, books published, and exhibitions curated by CAA members.

The March 2009 CAA News has been posted to the CAA website as a PDF download. Printed copies for individual and institutional members will be mailed next week, with your copy arriving in early March.

Highlighted in the issue are the four 2008 recipients of CAA’s Professional Development Fellowship Program for graduate students: Mary Reid Kelley, Yale University; Justin Shull, Rutgers University; Nichole N. Bridges, University of Wisconsin, Madison; and Wendy Ikemoto, Harvard University. Six honorable mentions are also named.

In the Publications section, CAA announces the appointment of Katy Siegel as the next Art Journal editor-in-chief. In addition, the editorial boards of our three journals—The Art Bulletin, Art Journal, and caa.reviews—and the Millard Meiss Publication Fund Jury all seek new members. Read the calls for nominations and self-nominations inside.

The deadline for submissions to the May 2009 CAA News is March 10. Please read the newsletter submission guidelines or write to Christopher Howard, CAA managing editor.

CAA has created an official group page on Facebook, the popular social-networking website, to complement CAA’s growing digital initiatives. The Facebook group joins this frequently updated CAA News page and its RSS feed, Twitter accounts for both CAA and caa.reviews, and a conference blog for the upcoming Annual Conference in Los Angeles.

We look forward to using Facebook and these other online tools to promote CAA activities and programs not only to our members, but also to a larger audience. We also encourage your feedback. This month you can look forward to postings about special conference events, tips for the job search, information about our newly published directories of graduate schools, and much more.

The first issue of CAA News for 2009 has just been posted to the CAA website. Click on the cover to download a PDF of the issue right away. Printed copies for individual and institutional members will be mailed soon, to begin arriving in mid-January.

The January issue includes statements and biographies of the six candidates for the CAA Board of Directors for 2009–13. Please read these texts, as well as view their short video statements online, before casting your vote.

Also featured are details on the upcoming Regional MFA Exhibition at the 97th Annual Conference in Los Angeles, which features the work of student artists from twelve graduate programs in southern California.

The deadline for submissions to, and advertisements for the March 2009 issue is January 10. Please see the newsletter submission guidelines for instructions or write to Christopher Howard, CAA managing editor.