CAA News Today
2014 International Travel Grant Recipients Attend the Chicago Conference
posted by Janet Landay, Program Manager, Fair Use Initiative — March 10, 2014
This year’s recipients of CAA’s International Travel Grants arrived in Chicago on Sunday, February 9, a few days in advance of the Annual Conference. Although the temperature outside was freezing, the mood among the program’s participants was considerably warmer due to their enthusiasm and friendliness. Funded by a generous grant from the Getty Foundation, the grantees (as pictured above from left to right) included: Katerina Gadjeva (Bulgaria), Freeborn Odiboh (Nigeria), Susana S. Martins (Portugal), Kanwal Khalid (Pakistan); Magdalena Nowak (Poland), Adriana Oprea (Romania), Cezar Bartholomeu (Brazil), Daria Kostina (Russia), Eddie Butindo-Mbaalya (Uganda); Lilianne Lugo Herrera (Cuba), Laris Borić (Croatia), Josefina de la Maza Chevesich (Chile), Fernando Martinez Nespral (Argentina), Portia Malatjie (South Africa), Mahmuda Khnam (Bangladesh), Rael Artel (Estonia); Ahmed Wahby (Egypt), Hugues Heumen Tchana (Cameroon), Heba Nayel Barakat Hassanein (Malaysia), and Eric Appau Asante (Ghana). For some, it was their first visit to the United States; for all, it was their first to Chicago and to a CAA Annual Conference.
Now in its third year, CAA’s International Travel Grant Program aims to bring a more diverse and global perspective to the study of art history by generating international scholarly exchange. Over time, the program will build CAA’s international membership and strengthen its connections to an increasingly global art community. The international travel grant recipients were selected by a jury of CAA members from over one hundred applicants based on the following criteria: all had to be art history professors, artists who teach art history, or museum curators with advanced degrees in art or art history; they had to be from countries not well represented in CAA’s membership; and they had to demonstrate that attending the conference would significantly support or strengthen their work.
With additional support from the National Committee for the History of Art (NCHA), several CAA members—including members of its board of directors and International Committee and representatives from NCHA—took part in the visitors’ activities throughout the conference week, serving as hosts and/or participants in a preconference session about international topics in art history. This year graduate students from Chicago-area universities also participated to assist the grant recipients in visiting museums and galleries around town. Through informal conversations, excursions, and meals, these CAA members introduced grantees to colleagues in their fields, advised them about conference activities, and exchanged information about the practice of art history in their countries. For many, the week’s activities marked the beginning of new friendships and scholarly collaborations, to be continued in various countries around the world and at future CAA conferences.
A highlight of this year’s program was the full-day preconference about International Topics in Art History held on Tuesday, February 11, 2014. Each of the grant recipients gave presentations about their work, addressing topics such as art and national identity, international issues in contemporary art, cross-cultural influences on artistic styles, and curriculum reassessments of art historical training. The talks featured a wide range of art, from Renaissance arches to Islamic-Hispanic domestic architecture, from communist-era paintings in Poland and Russia to contemporary art in Estonia, South Africa, and Malaysia. Following the presentations, Rick Asher, professor of art history at the University of Minnesota, led a lively discussion that further explored these topics and related issues about how art history is practiced in different parts of the world. Joining him were Professors Mark Cheetham (University of Toronto), Jennifer Milam (University of Sydney), Steven Nelson (UCLA), and museum curator Joanne Pillsbury (Metropolitan Museum of Art).
“The diversity of the grantees was astonishing, and their respective self-introductions brought very much to the meeting. It was clear that nobody had had such opportunities of meeting colleagues from so many distant cultures and countries as we did that day.”
–Eva Forgacs, professor of Russian and Central European art history and a host for this year’s program
Later in the week, grantees attended a session sponsored by CAA’s International Committee entitled Topics in Global Art History: Historical Connections. The first in a series of sessions on global art history, this year’s panel included presentations by two former grant recipients, Shao-Chien Tseng (Taiwan) and Trinidad Perez (Ecuador). The goal going forward is to solicit proposals for papers from former grantees to reinforce connections between them and CAA members.
CAA’s International Committee remained centrally involved in planning this year’s travel grant program. We are particularly grateful to Ann Albritton, outgoing chair of the committee, for her enthusiastic support. In addition to co-organizing the session on Topics in Global Art History (with committee member Gwen Farrelly), Ann offered guidance on program plans, lined up several hosts, and served as an energetic host herself.
At the close of the week’s activities, grant recipients and hosts met again to report on what they had learned and how it will impact their work in the future. Several discussed preliminary plans to co-organize meetings, guest curate exhibitions, and/or arrange guest lectures at each other’s universities. Their experiences were well-summarized by Laris Borić, who wrote after he returned home:
Personally I was deeply impacted by the enthusiasm and dedication of some of the speakers at the conference, CAA staff and my fellow grant recipients. As I have already said in one of the debates, awareness that we all share a common passion and dedication towards research and teaching made me feel I belong to a common tribe or nation made of art historians wherever they come from.
–Laris Borić, professor of Renaissance art and architecture and grant recipient from Croatia
Image Captions
First: 2014 CAA International Travel Grant Recipients (left to right): Katerina Gadjeva (Bulgaria), Freeborn Odiboh (Nigeria), Susana S. Martins (Portugal), Kanwal Khalid (Pakistan); Magdalena Nowak (Poland), Adriana Oprea (Romania), Cezar Bartholomeu (Brazil), Daria Kostina (Russia), Eddie Butindo-Mbaalya (Uganda); Lilianne Lugo Herrera (Cuba), Laris Borić (Croatia), Josefina de la Maza Chevesich (Chile), Fernando Martinez Nespral (Argentina), Portia Malatjie (South Africa), Mahmuda Khnam (Bangladesh), Rael Artel (Estonia); Ahmed Wahby (Egypt), Hugues Heumen Tchana (Cameroon), Heba Nayel Barakat Hassanein (Malaysia), Eric Appau Asante (Ghana) (photograph by Bradley Marks).
Second: Joanne Pillsbury and Eric Asante (photograph by Bradley Marks).
Third: Fernando Martinez Nespral and Mahmuda Khnam (photograph by Bradley Marks).
Fourth: Deborah Marrow from the Getty Foundation talks with grant recipients at a reception following the preconference (left to right): Eddie Butindo-Mbaalya, Cesar Bartholomeu, Hugues Heumen Tchana, Freeborn Odiboh, Eric Appau Asante (photograph by Bradley Marks).
Affiliated Society News for March 2014
posted by CAA — March 09, 2014
American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works
The American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) Journal of the American Institute for Conservation (JAIC) is being celebrated by Maney Publications as its Journal of the Month. All access restrictions on three years’ worth of journal content are being lifted until February 15, 2014. Go to http://www.maneyonline.com/page/jotm/jac to learn more. You will find:
- Commentaries on the conservation of textiles, archaeological artifacts, and electronic media, as well as a commentary on sustainability and a review of the archive
- Video interviews with Michele Derrick (editor-in-chief) and Pamela Hatchfield (AIC board president)
- “Best of the Archive”: ten articles handpicked by the editor that are free to download
- 20 percent discount on institutional subscriptions
Foundations in Art: Theory and Education
The Herron School of Art and Design, part of Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), will host “Tectonic Shifts,” the thirty-fifth biennial national conference of Foundations in Art: Theory and Education (FATE) in Indianapolis, Indiana, March 25–28, 2015. As the title of the conference, “Tectonic Shifts” suggests, participants will be examining how the forces of change are shaping the foundations landscape. FATE is interested in hearing from foundations faculty and programs that are breaking new ground with their teaching practices. The Herron School of Art and Design looks forward to being the conference host and introducing attendees to its great city.
Glass Art Society
The forty-third annual conference of the Glass Art Society (GAS), titled “Strengthening Community, Collaboration, Forging New Bonds,” will be held March 19–22, 2014, in Chicago, Illinois. The Windy City is second to none when it comes to a thriving, diverse cultural scene: it is home to renowned architecture, public art displays, galleries, museums, and colleges, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and Millennium Park. GAS will hosts its conference at well-known venues such as the historic Palmer House Hotel and the Chicago Cultural Center, both centrally located in the heart of downtown. GAS will partner with a new addition to Chicago’s flourishing art scene, Ignite Glass Studios, located in the West Loop neighborhood. Hot glass, flame working, and cold working will be showcased in this state-of-the-art learning center. The second demo site is West Supply, a unique facility that joins glass production with a foundry, which casts concrete and metals for many notable collections in the high-end design, interiors, and gallery markets.
View the complete list of presentations. GAS will also be hosting special conference events such as the preconference reception, live and silent auction, Goblet Grab, gallery hop, an international student exhibition, and a closing night party. For additional information about the conference schedule and to register, visit the website.
Italian Art Society
The Italian Art Society (IAS) is delighted to announce the selection of the fifth annual IAS/Kress Lecturer in Italy: Jean Cadogan, professor of fine arts at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, who will speak on “‘Maravigliose istorie:’ The Mural Decoration of the Camposanto in Pisa.” Cadogan will share her intriguing work on the multiphase, comprehensive program of painting on the walls of the Camposanto in a presentation on May 27, 2014, in Pisa. IAS is happy to establish a link with a respected Italian university, as the lecture will take place in the Gipsoteca of the Università di Pisa. Mark your calendars to visit Pisa if you are in Italy in late May! More details to follow on the IAS website. In addition, please look at the organization’s website for details about the five IAS-sponsored sessions and a reception that IAS hopes to host at the upcoming Renaissance Society of America meeting in New York on March 27–29, 2014.
Leonardo Education and Art Forum
The chair of Leonardo Education and Art Forum (LEAF), Adrienne Klein of the Graduate Center, City University of New York, has announced the election of two new chairs-elect. Klein will be immediately succeeded by David Familian, who is artistic director of the Beall Center for Art and Technology at the University of California, Irvine. Familian will then be succeeded in 2015 by the newly elected Suzanne Anker and in 2016 by J. D. Talasek.
Anker is a visual artist and theorist working at the intersection of art and biology in a variety of media ranging from digital sculpture and installation to large-scale photography to plants grown by LED lights. She is chair of the Fine Arts Department in the School of Visual Arts in New York. Talasek is director of cultural programs of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, which explores the intersections of science, medicine, technology, and visual culture. For the past three years, Talasek has organized and moderated DC Art Science Evening Rendezvous events in Washington, DC, in collaboration with Leonardo/ISAST.
Midwest Art History Society
The Midwest Art History Society (MAHS) will hold its forty-first annual conference in Saint Louis, Missouri, from April 3 to 5, 2014. In addition to more than twenty scholarly sessions, conference activities will include a special viewing of the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts and Contemporary Art Museum Saint Louis and a curator-led tour of Impressionist France at the Saint Louis Art Museum. Axel Ruger, director of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, will offer the keynote address. For more information about the conference and access to online registration forms, please visit the MAHS website.
National Council of Arts Administrators
The forty-second annual meeting of the National Council of Arts Administrators (NCAA) convenes September 23–26, 2014, in Nashville, Tennessee, hosted by Vanderbilt University.
Yes is a world
and in this world of yes…e.e. Cummings
(creativity in the expanding field)
The world is the new studio. Artists are involved in an ever-expanding production involving constituents beyond the art world and marketplace. As educational institutions, how do we respond to this massive shift in artistic attitude? Is there a balance between standard nineteenth- and twentieth-century production and the new twenty-first-century practice centered on global and social interconnectedness? This conference will investigate art’s expanding field by exploring the influences of globalization, art education, and integrated practice. Participants will consider their role as educators of creativity, how they influence our institutions, and their effect on local and world communities. Speakers include: Richard Lloyd, author of Neo-Bohemia: Art and Commerce in the Post Industrial City; David Owens, author of Creative People Must Be Stopped! Six Ways We Stop Innovation (without Even Trying); and Steven Tepper, author of Not Here, Not Now, Not That! Protest over Art and Culture in America.Visit the NCAA website to learn more about this conference and to join the organization.
Public Art Dialogue
Established in 2009, the Public Art Dialogue (PAD) award for achievement in the field of public art is given annually to an individual whose contributions have greatly influenced public art practice. Awardees are chosen from nominations made by PAD members. Award winners receive a three-year PAD membership, which includes a subscription to the journal and all other membership benefits. Each year, the recipient accepts the award at a ceremony during the CAA Annual Conference, at which he or she makes a special presentation open to the public. Nominations for the 2015 award are due on May 1, 2014. Past winners have been Suzanne Lacy, Mary Jane Jacob, Anne Pasternak, Ben Rubin, and Penny Balkin Bach. Jack Becker is the 2014 recipient. For more information see http://publicartdialogue.org/award.
Society for Photographic Education
Each spring, Society for Photographic Education (SPE) hosts a conference for the presentation of artistic work and research to a community of peers. “Atmospheres: Climate, Equity and Community in Photography,” SPE’s fifty-second national conference, will be held from March 12–15, 2015, in New Orleans, Louisiana. SPE is accepting proposals for the 2015 conference from March 6 to June 1, 2014. Topics are not required to be theme based and may include (but are not limited to): imagemaking, history, contemporary theory and criticism, new technologies, effects of media and culture, educational issues, and funding. SPE membership is required to submit and proposals are peer reviewed. The presentation formats are:
- Graduate Student: short presentation of your own artistic work and a brief introduction to your graduate program
- Imagemaker: presentation of your own artistic work (photography, film, video, performance and installation, multidisciplinary approaches)
- Lecture: presentation of a historical topic, theory, or another artist’s work
- Panel: group led by a moderator to discuss a chosen topic
- Teaching: presentations, workshops, demos that address educational issues, including teaching resources and strategies; curricula to serve diverse artists and changing student populations; seeking promotion and tenure; avoiding burnout, and professional exchange
Visit the SPE website for information on SPE membership and full proposal guidelines
Society for the Study of Early Modern Women
The Society for the Study of Early Modern Women (SSEMW) held its annual meeting at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in October 2013. The results of the election of new officers were announced. Megan Matchinske, Department of English and Comparative Literature, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, stepped into the office of president, which was vacated by Jane Couchman, emerita of the Department of French and Women’s Studies at York University in Glendon, Canada. A full list of the new officers will be available shortly on the SSEMW website.
An excerpt from Jane Couchman’s letter to the society’s membership at the close of her term as president in 2013:
The highlights of this year were our meetings at SCSC in San Juan, and especially the talk given jointly by Susan Amussen and Allyson Poska, “Shifting the Frame: Trans-imperial approaches to Gender in the Atlantic World,” a topic chosen to mark our presence in Puerto Rico. The large and enthusiastic audience found their gendered, collaborative, transnational, transatlantic approach relevant and exciting. Susan and Allyson modeled the best of the kind of scholarship that SSEMW encourages, and that we hope to offer to early modern scholarship more generally. The Society’s principal work is very visible and we can all be proud of it: Co-sponsored Sessions (17 panels at 6 different conferences in 2013), the Annual Meeting, Reception and Plenary talk, Travel grants to graduate students (5 each year), the slate of Nominations, the Awards for scholarly work (http://ssemw.org/2013-award-winners/), the SSEMW website and Listserv, our support for Early Modern Women, an Interdisciplinary Journal, our collaboration with Attending to Early Modern Women.
Society of Architectural Historians
Registration is open for the Society of Architectural Historians’ annual conference (#SAH2014), taking place April 9–13, 2014, at the Hyatt Regency Austin in Austin, Texas. The conference offers thirty-five paper sessions along with public programming that includes twenty-one guided architectural tours and the SAH Austin Seminar, “Austin and the Place of Historic Architecture in Rapidly Growing Cities.” Please visit sah.org/2014 for more information on the conference, including a complete schedule of events and how to register.
The call for papers for the 2015 conference in Chicago (April 15–19) opens on April 16, 2014. For abstract submission instructions, visit sah.org/2015.
Registration is open for the Croatia Study Tour, a land-and-cruise program tailored for architecture professionals and enthusiasts that will take place August 18–29, 2014. This customized tour from Sarajevo to Venice along the Adriatic Coast, developed by Boris Srdar, will include visits to UNESCO World Heritage sites, exclusive access to landmark buildings as well as those off the beaten path, and admission to the Venice Biennale on August 30. A fellowship is available for this program. To register, visit sah.org/study-tours.
Buildings of Vermont, the latest volume in the Buildings of the United States series, is now available.
Society of Historians of East European, Eurasian, and Russian Art and Architecture
Following elections in January, the Society of Historians of East European, Eurasian, and Russian Art and Architecture (SHERA) has updated its by-laws and added two new officers: Tamara Jhashi is now SHERA’s listserv administrator, a role she has filled since 2004, and Ksenya Gurshtein is web news editor. Joining SHERA’s board as members-at-large are Anna Novakov, Andrea Rusnock, and Nicolas Iljine, as well as one returning member, Eva Forgacs.
At CAA’s Annual Conference in Chicago, Eva Forgacs served as host to visitors from Eastern Europe and Russia who were part of CAA’s International Travel Grant Program. Along with the visitors, Forgacs participated in a full-day preconference program organized by the CAA International Committee about international issues in art history, as well as other events throughout the conference itself.
SHERA is delighted to welcome three new institutional members: the Kolodzei Art Foundation, which promotes the contemporary art of Russia and the former Soviet Union through exhibitions and grants; the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, Massachusetts, the largest private collection of Russian icons in North America; and the M. T. Abraham Foundation, a collection of Russian and European modern art.
Southeastern College Art Conference
The Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC) will meet October 8–11, 2014, in Sarasota, Florida, hosted by the Ringling College of Art and Design. Submissions for the annual juried exhibition is April 1, 2014. The deadline for the call for papers is April 20, 2014. For more information, visit SECAC’s conference page.
Future conferences will be held: October 21–24, 2015 (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania); October 19–22, 2016 Virginia Tech (Roanoke, Virginia); 2017 (dates TBA) Columbus College of Art and Design (Columbus, Ohio).
SECAC has introduced a new award, the William R. Levin Award for Research in the History of Art. Thanks to the generosity of William R. Levin, professor emeritus at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, SECAC will offer an award of an annual total of $5000 to one or more art historians who are members of the organization. Levin has been a member of SECAC since 1987; served on the Board of Directors; published in the scholarly journal, Southeastern College Art Conference Review; received the SECAC Award for Excellence in Scholarly Research and Publication in 2004; and has been recognized with two of the organization’s highest honors, the Excellence in Teaching Award and the Exemplary Achievement Award. Deadline for applicants: March 1, 2014.
The deadline for a $5,000 SECAC Artist’s Fellowship is August 1, 2014.
Visual Resources Association
The Visual Resources Association’s thirty-second annual conference will be held March 12–15, 2014, at the historic Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Take a moment to view the full schedule. Selected highlights are:
- Sessions and case studies covering topics such as collaborative practices amongst traditional and nontraditional disciplines within archival and special collections, international copyright and resources, broadening professional roles, management of moving image collections, basic and advanced (RDF and LOD) cataloging procedures, DAM implementation, expanding VRA Core 4 capabilities, personal digital archiving
- Opening speaker, Philip Yenawine, cofounding director of Visual Thinking Strategies
- Tours of Harley-Davidson Museum and Design Archive and Lakefront Brewery
- Networking opportunities provided by Birds of a Feather Lunches throughout the conference and the Sponsors’ Meet and Greet and Poster Presentations
- Members and Awards Dinner
- Informative workshops (many free for conference registrants)
- Unwind with colleagues at the Drink ‘n’ Draw with Stephanie Barenz (Pfister Hotel’s artist in residence).
- Closing speaker Matthew Israel, director of the Art Genome Project at Artsy
The online conference schedule allows for sign up/log in via SCHED to connect with social-media sites, create custom schedules, and share interests with fellow attendees. Search for “vra32.sched.org“ on your mobile device to download the schedule.
Watch a Panel Discussion on CAA’s Fair-Use Initiative from the 2014 Annual Conference
posted by Janet Landay, Program Manager, Fair Use Initiative — March 07, 2014
In late January CAA published Copyright, Permissions and Fair Use among Visual Artists and the Academic and Museum Visual Arts Communities. The report—available as a free download on CAA’s website—reveals a situation in which uncertainty about copyright law and the availability of fair use, particularly in the digital era, has made many practitioners risk-averse, too often abandoning or distorting projects due to real or perceived challenges in using copyrighted materials. These findings are part of an ongoing fair-use initiative that will conclude with the development of a code of best practices related to the use of copyrighted materials.
You can now go to CAA’s YouTube page to watch a discussion about the fair-use initiative that took place at the 2014 Annual Conference in Chicago. In this video, Christine Sundt, chair of CAA’s Committee on Intellectual Property, moderates a discussion with the project’s lead researchers, Patricia Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi, professors of communications and law, respectively, at American University in Washington, DC; Anne Collins Goodyear, president of the CAA Board of Directors; Jeffrey Cunard, CAA’s legal counsel and cochair of the Task Force on Fair Use; and Paul Catanese, associate chair and associate professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Arts at Columbia College Chicago and chair of the New Media Caucus, a CAA affiliated society.
Please share this video with your friends and send CAA your thoughts about the project!
CAA’s fair-use initiative is supported by a major grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. It also received generous preliminary funding from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
Image Caption
Patricia Aufderheide displays the recently published Issues Report during the Committee on Intellectual Property’s session at the 2014 Annual Conference in Chicago.
News from the Art and Academic Worlds
posted by Christopher Howard — March 05, 2014
Each week CAA News publishes summaries of eight articles, published around the web, that CAA members may find interesting and useful in their professional and creative lives.
Art and Architecture Thesaurus Now Available as Linked Open Data
The Getty Research Institute has released the Art and Architecture Thesaurus as Linked Open Data. The data set is available for download at vocab.getty.edu under an Open Data Commons Attribution License. The Art and Architecture Thesaurus, a reference of over 250,000 terms on art and architectural history, styles, and techniques, is one of the institute’s four Getty Vocabularies, a collection of databases that serves as the premier resource for cultural-heritage terms, artists’ names, and geographical information. (Read more from the Getty Iris.)
Colleges Need Free Speech More Than Trademarks
What’s in a trademark? To many people in higher education, mention of the term—which denotes the legal protection afforded words or other devices that identify a good’s or service’s source—leads to bewildered looks. “You mean the designs on shirts sold in the bookstore?” Trademarks in higher education encompass institutional names, logos, and insignias, the iconography that fans love to see featured on all kinds of merchandise. Institutions license their marks on these products, often relying on third parties to broker deals that can produce significant royalties. This $4.6-billion industry appears to be good for colleges, which exploit the revenue channel to make up for losses elsewhere in their operations. (Read more from the Chronicle of Higher Education.)
Good Art Is Popular Because It’s Good, Right?
In July of last year, a man named Sidney Sealine went to see the Mona Lisa in Paris. The idea was to spend some time with the picture, to see for himself the special spark that made the painting so famous. But he couldn’t even get close to Leonardo’s famous work. (Read more from National Public Radio.)
Women at the Top
Their ages span four generations, and their careers follow no linear path. They have enough letters behind their names to form a small university. They’ve worked in Switzerland, Qatar, and too many small towns to count, hailing from regions as diverse as the southern hemisphere and the segregated South. The thirteen women who direct some of the region’s prominent museums are as different as the institutions they lead. But nine of them have at least one similarity: they succeeded men. (Read more from the Washington Post.)
Frieze Sits Down with New York Labor Unions
Representatives from Frieze New York met with local union leaders for the first time to discuss the organization’s labor practices. The fair, which is set to return to Randall’s Island in May, has been criticized by artists and activist groups for employing nonunion workers to build its sprawling tent and transport art. (Read more from the Art Newspaper.)
The Adjunct Penalty
Much discussion exists about how to escape the adjunct’s life of indentured servitude for tenure-track positions. After all, positions in the coveted ivory tower will always outrank a life of little pay and heavy, lower-level teaching loads. Despite the many pitfalls of adjunct life, many adjuncts choose to forgo the ivory tower. In doing so, they enter a career with a penalty that is both tangible and psychological. (Read more from the Adjunct Blog.)
Speculating on Trophy Art
Works by contemporary artists born after 1945 generated $17.2 billion in worldwide auction sales last year, a 39 percent increase from 2012, according to figures just released by the French database Artprice. Last November, a triptych by Francis Bacon sold for $142.4 million, a record for any work of art at a public sale. And a handy new website, www.sellyoulater.com, now advises speculators on which hot young artists to buy, sell, or “liquidate.” (Read more from the New York Times.)
The Art World’s “Wild West”
A fake Marc Chagall painting, owned by a businessman from Leeds who had bought it for $167,309 in 1992, was ordered to be burned last month, and an Istanbul art gallery closed down its Joan Miró exhibition in 2013 after directors of the Spanish Surrealist painter’s estate said some of the works were forgeries. The uncovering of fakes by committees comprising descendants of the artist is increasingly common and has prompted one of Britain’s foremost art historians to condemn the methods used by scholars to authenticate works as a “professional disgrace.” (Read more from the Tapei Times.)
President Reduces Support for NEA in 2015 Budget
posted by CAA — March 05, 2014
Americans for the Arts sent the following email on March 4, 2014.
President Reduces Support for NEA in 2015 Budget
Today, the Obama Administration released its FY 2015 budget request to Congress, which includes funding for the nation’s cultural agencies and programs, such as the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the Office of Museum Services, and the Department of Education’s Arts In Education program.
As Americans for the Arts President & CEO Robert Lynch noted in a statement:
The Administration’s FY 2015 request of level funding at $146 million for the National Endowment for the Arts is unfortunately insufficient, considering $154 million has been proposed by the Administration each of the two previous years. Senate appropriators were ready to match this funding each of these years. Investment in the arts is an investment in our nation’s culture, education, and economy. Although it is very welcoming to see the Administration continue support for Our Town and the NEA/Walter Reed Healing Arts Partnership programs, now is the time to boost investment, not reduce it. To reduce support provides both an inconsistent and confusing message for the creative economy in America. This is even more important as the President has recently nominated a new chair to lead the NEA. Arts advocates from across the country will join together on Capitol Hill for Arts Advocacy Day on March 25th to lobby Congress to increase NEA funding to $155 million.
This chart illustrates the inconsistent nature of the Obama Administration’s funding requests for the NEA:
The following is a comparison of the Administration’s FY 2015 budget request and FY 2014 enacted levels:
| Key Federally Funded Arts Program |
FY 2014 Enacted Appropriations (in millions) |
FY 2015 President’s Budget Request (in millions) |
| National Endowment for the Arts |
$146 |
$146 |
| National Endowment for the Humanities |
$146 |
$146 |
| U.S. Dept. of Education’s Arts In Education Program |
$25 |
$0* |
| Office of Museum Services |
$30 |
$31 |
| Corporation for Public Broadcasting (advanced) |
$445 |
$445 |
| U.S. Dept. of State’s Educational & Cultural Exchange |
$560 |
$578 |
*Similar to previous years, the Administration proposes to consolidate the Department of Education’s Arts In Education program.
WHAT COMES NEXT
The President’s request is traditionally just the first step in the legislative budgeting process. Next, the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate offer their proposals that will reflect their own particular priorities. Appropriations subcommittee work is already underway with several upcoming hearings scheduled.
We ask that advocates remain vigilant in the months ahead as Congress works to pass spending bills. Last year, the House Appropriations Interior subcommittee proposed cutting NEA funding nearly in half! Thanks to your messages to Congress, the nation’s signature cultural agency was spared such drastic cuts after an outpouring of support that helped enable Senate appropriators to drive the final result. We hope to count on your advocacy again this year.
Our kickoff advocacy effort will launch at our National Arts Advocacy Day conference on March 24–25. Join us in Washington, DC for the only national event that brings together a broad cross section of America’s cultural and civic organizations, along with hundreds of grassroots advocates from across the country. We encourage you to register for this national arts action summit and join us on Capitol Hill as the arts community brings a united message to Congress to increase funding for the NEA to $155 million! The deadline for advance registration is approaching quickly on Monday, March 10, 2014.
Help us continue this important work by also becoming an official member of the Arts Action Fund. If you are not already a member, play your part by joining the Arts Action Fund today—it’s free and easy to join.
Take the 2014 Annual Conference Survey
posted by Nia Page — March 04, 2014
In an effort to improve our services, we encourage you to complete the following survey about your experiences at the 102nd Annual Conference in Chicago last month. This survey should take only a few minutes to complete. We appreciate your feedback and your support and hope to see you at the 103rd Annual Conference in New York, to be held February 11–14, 2015.
Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HRGVZG8
Please complete the survey by Friday, March 14, 2014. Thank you.
Thanks to 2014 Career Services Mentors and Leaders
posted by Emmanuel Lemakis — March 04, 2014
CAA wishes to thank the artists, scholars, curators, critics, educators, and other professionals in the visual arts who generously served as Career Services mentors—for the Artists’ Portfolio Review, Career Development Mentoring, the Mock Interview Sessions, and the Professional Development Roundtable Discussions—during the 2014 Annual Conference in Chicago. The organization also appreciates the work of the leaders of the Professional-Development Workshops and the speakers at Orientation.
Orientation
Susan Altman, Middlesex County College; Michael Aurbach, Vanderbilt University; and David M. Sokol, University of Illinois, Chicago (emeritus).
Artists’ Portfolio Review
Ivan Albreht, University of Miami; Elissa Armstrong, Virginia Commonwealth University; Marie Bukowski, Southern Illinois University Carbondale; Susan Canning, College of New Rochelle; Brian Curtis, University of Miami; Sandra Dupret, Fleming College; Peter Kaniaris, Anderson University; Jason Lahr, University of Notre Dame; Suzanne F. W. Lemakis, Center for Culture: Department of Fine Art, Citibank; Craig Lloyd, College of Mt. St. Joseph; Sarah Richardson, Center for Culture: Department of Fine Art, Citibank; Greg Shelnutt, Clemson University; Steve Teczar, Maryville University of St. Louis; and David Voros, University of South Carolina.
Career Development Mentoring
Susan Altman, Middlesex County College; Michael Aurbach, Vanderbilt University; Brian Bishop, Framingham State University; Leda Cempellin, South Dakota State University; Kevin Concannon, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Michelle Erhardt, Christopher Newport University; Reni Gower, Virginia Commonwealth University; Jim Hopfensperger, Western Michigan University; Dennis Ichiyama, Purdue University; Mitch Kern, Alberta College of Art and Design; Elisabeth Leach; Craig Lloyd, College of Mount St. Joseph; Patrick Luber, University of North Dakota; Mary McInnes, Alfred University; Heather McPherson, University of Alabama, Birmingham; Jo-Ann Morgan, Western Illinois University; Niki Nolin, Columbia College Chicago; Mark O’Grady, Pratt Institute; Christopher Olszewski, Savannah College of Art and Design; Morgan Paine, Florida Gulf Coast University; Doralynn Pines, Metropolitan Museum of Art (retired); David Raizman, Drexel University; Jack Risley, University of Texas at Austin; Ann M. Roberts, Lake Forest College; Dinah Ryan, the Principia; Paul Ryan, Mary Baldwin College; Greg Shelnutt, Clemson University; Gerald Silk, Tyler School of Art, Temple University; Katherine Sullivan, Hope College; Larry Thompson, Samford University; Ann Tsubota, Raritan Valley Community College; and Charles Wright, Western Illinois University.
Professional-Development Roundtable Discussions
Michael Aurbach, Vanderbilt University; Nicola Courtright, Amherst College; Brian Curtis, University of Miami; Ira Goldberg, Art Students League of New York; Joseph Henry, TIAA-CREF; Peter Kaniaris, Anderson University; Suzanne F. W. Lemakis, Center for Culture: Department of Fine Art, Citibank; Leo Morrissey, Georgian Court University; and Norie Sato, Sato Service.
Mock Interview Sessions
Steven Bleicher, Coastal Carolina University; Maria Ann Conelli, Brooklyn College, City University of New York; Carole Garmon, University of Mary Washington; Joe Girandola, University of Cincinnati; Amy Hamlin, St. Catherine University; Kim Hartswick, Brooklyn College, City University of New York; Dennis Ichiyama, Purdue University Andrea Kirsh, Rutgers University; Cory Knoedler, University of South Dakota; David LaPalombara, Ohio State University; David Lindsay, Texas Tech University; Brittany Lockard, Wichita State University; Carolyn Martin; Savannah College of Art and Design; Sally Packard, Texas Christian University; Sandra J. Reed, Savannah College of Art and Design; Kristin Ringelberg, Elon University; David Yager, University of California, Santa Cruz; and Megan Koza Young, Dishman Art Museum, Lamar University.
Brown Bag Sessions
Leda Campellin, South Dakota State University; Maria Ann Conelli, Brooklyn College, City University of New York; Jacquelyn Coutré; Amanda Hellman, Emory University; Lauren Kilroy, Brooklyn College, City University of New York; David Lindsay, Texas Tech University; Laurel Peterson, Yale University; and Megan Koza Young, Dishman Art Museum, Lamar University.
Professional-Development Workshops
Susan Altman, Middlesex County College; Michael Aurbach, Vanderbilt University; Steven Bleicher, Coastal Carolina University; Mika Cho, California State University, Los Angeles; Angela Faris-Belt, independent artist; Elaine Grogan Luttrull, Minerva Financial Arts; Gigi Rosenberg; David M. Sokol, University of Illinois, Chicago (emeritus); Jane Alden Stevens, University of Cincinnati; Suzanne E. Szucs, independent artist; and Blaise Tobia, Drexel University.
“Sexing Sculpture” Event at SculptureCenter
posted by Joe Hannan — March 03, 2014
SculptureCenter in Long Island City, New York, will present “SC Conversations: Sexing Sculpture” in anticipation of the next issue of Art Journal, to be released in mid-March. For that issue, Jillian Hernandez and Susan Richmond have organized the forum “Sexing Sculpture.” In addition to an essay on Minimalism and gender variance by Gordon Hall, the forum features portfolios by the artists Rachel Lachowicz and Lily Cox-Richard, as well as texts by Rachel Middleman on Hannah Wilke, Nicholas Hartigan and Joan Kee on Lily Cox-Richard, and Jennifer Doyle and David Getsy on queer formalism.
The event will take place on Friday, March 7, 2014, from 11:00 AM to 12 NOON; admission is free.
Meiss/Mellon Author’s Book Awards for Spring 2014
posted by Christopher Howard — February 28, 2014
CAA is accepting applications for Meiss/Mellon Author’s Book Awards for the spring 2014 grant cycle. This grant program is designed to support the work of emerging authors of manuscripts in art history and visual studies who are responsible for paying for rights and permissions for images in their publications. Awardees will be selected on the basis of the quality and demonstrated financial need of their project.
Successful applicants will be authors under contract with a publisher for a manuscript on art history or visual studies. Awardees are announced six to eight weeks after the deadline. For a fuller grant description, the complete guidelines, and the application forms, please visit the Meiss/Mellon section of the CAA website or send an email to nyoffice@collegeart.org. Deadline: March 15, 2014.
Image Caption
Megan R. Luke won a Meiss/Mellon Author’s Book Award in spring 2013 for her book Kurt Schwitters: Space, Image, Exile (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013).
Report on the 2014 Annual Conference
posted by Nia Page — February 28, 2014
CAA hosted its 102nd Annual Conference from February 12 to 15, 2014, at the Hilton Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. 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 the region. Preceding the Annual Conference was CAA’s second THATCamp, an “unconference” on digital art history that took place at Columbia College Chicago.
Attendance
Over 4,000 people from throughout the United States and abroad—including artists, art historians, students, educators, curators, critics, collectors, and museum staff—attended the conference. Visual-arts professionals from over 43 countries were represented at 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. Approximately 800 individuals presented their work.
Career Services
Career Services included four days of mentoring and portfolio-review sessions, professional-development workshops, and job interviews with colleges, universities, and other art institutions. Approximately 240 interviewees and 47 mentors participated in Career Services. During the week of the Annual Conference, there were 165 active jobs posted on the Online Career Center and 56 employers participating onsite.
Book and Trade Fair
This year’s Book and Trade Fair presented 108 exhibitors—including participants from the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Mexico, and Germany—that displayed new publications, materials for artists, digital resources, and other innovative products of interest to artists, scholars, and arts enthusiasts. 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
ARTspace, a “conference within the conference” tailored to the needs and interests of practicing artists, presented programming that was free and open to the public, including this year’s Annual Distinguished Artist Interview with Kay Rosen. Over three hundred people attended this lively event. The scheduled interview with William Pope.L was unfortunately cancelled due to inclement weather.
ARTspace also featured four days of panel discussions devoted to visual-arts practice, opportunities for professional development, and screenings of film and video.
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 14. Nearly 40 artists participated in ARTexchange this year.
The Media Lounge, a space for innovative new-media programming in conjunction with ARTspace, presented the UncommonCommons project. UncommonCommons was an incubator for skills and knowledge-sharing that responded to the themes of the commons and “commoning.” The project included a series of workshops, film and video screenings, public discussions, and provocations by a range of international artists, filmmakers, activists, art critics, curators, educators, lawyers, and ethnographers.
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.
Student and Emerging Professionals Lounge
The Student and Emerging Professionals Lounge served as a hub for networking, information- sharing, collaboration, professional development, and much more. The Student and Emerging Professionals Committee hosted an incredibly informative session on “Teaching Professional Practices in the Arts” to a packed audience; five Brown Bag Sessions with attendance ranging from 25 to 60; a successful, first-ever social night; and two days of Mock Interviews at full capacity.
The SEP Lounge was sponsored by Wix.com. Wix workshops were held daily at the Annual Conference to captive audiences. Wix empowers creatives and entrepreneurs to build their own website—without having to write a single line of code.
Distinguished Scholar Session
Wanda M. Corn, professor emerita of art history at Stanford University, was CAA’s 2014 Distinguished Scholar. Corn was honored during a special session, sponsored by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw of the University of Pennsylvania chaired the session and five additional participants—Lanier Graham, Cécile Whiting, Richard Meyer, Ellen Wiley Todd, and Tirza Latimer—joined Shaw in exploring and celebrating Corn’s many contributions to American art.
Convocation and Awards
More than 400 people attended CAA’s Convocation and presentation of the annual Awards for Distinction, which honor the outstanding achievements and accomplishments of individual artists, art historians, authors, conservators, curators, and critics whose efforts transcend their individual disciplines and contribute to the profession as a whole and to the world at large. Jessica Stockholder of the University of Chicago delivered the keynote address. Video of her presentation will be posted on CAA’s website and YouTube page in the coming weeks.
The recipients of the 2014 awards are:
- Yvonne Rainer, Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement
- Kay Rosen, Artist Award for Distinguished Body of Work
- John Berger, Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award for Writing on Art
- T. J. Demos, Frank Jewett Mather Award
- Lorraine O’Grady, Distinguished Feminist Award
- Yukio Lippit, Charles Rufus Morey Book Award
- Jeff L. Rosenheim, Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award
- Peter C. Sturman and Susan S. Tai, Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award for Smaller Museums, Libraries, Collections, and Exhibitions
- Reni Gower, Distinguished Teaching of Art Award
- Margaretta M. Lovell and W. J. T. Mitchell, Distinguished Teaching of Art History Award
- Glenn Wharton, CAA/Heritage Preservation Award for Distinction in Scholarship and Conservation
- Sascha Scott, Arthur Kingsley Porter Prize
- Jeanne Dunning, Art Journal Award
The recipients of the 2014 Professional-Development Fellowships are:
Professional-Development Fellowships in the Visual Arts:
- Roberta Gentry, University at Albany, State University of New York
- Jaime Knight, University of Iowa
- Liss LaFleur’, Emerson College
- Patrick Segura, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Valentina Vella, Columbia College Chicago
Professional-Development Fellowships in Art History:
- Maggie M. Cao, Harvard University
- Michelle Maydanchik, University of Chicago
Honorable Mentions in the Visual Arts:
- Ann Bartges, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
- Rachael Lynn Davis, Colorado State University
- Michelle Young Lee, New York University
Honorable Mentions in Art History
- Lacey Baradel, University of Pennsylvania
- Karlyn Griffith, Florida State University
Board Election and Member Vote
Results of the Board of Directors election were announced on February 14, 2014, during the Annual Members’ Business Meeting. The new directors are:
- Helen C. Frederick, Professor, School of Art and Design, George Mason University
- Gunalan Nadarajan, Professor and Dean, Stamps School of Art and Design, University of Michigan
- Dannielle Tegeder, Associate Professor of Art, Art Department, Lehman College, City University of New York
- David C. Terry, Director of Programs and Curator, New York Foundation for the Arts
They will take office at the next board meeting in May 2014.
CAA’s membership also voted in favor of an amendment to the By-laws. The board believes that this change will benefit members and sustain the services that CAA provides. The amendment also provides for flexibility in enabling CAA to make further changes to the membership structure as may be deemed desirable in the future.
Special Events
Following Convocation, the Art Institute of Chicago hosted CAA’s Opening Reception on Wednesday evening, February 12. Over 600 attendees gathered to celebrate the conference while enjoying a stroll through the Art Institute’s Modern Wing.
CAA celebrated its copublishing partnership with Routledge, Taylor & Francis, with a reception and champagne toast at the CAA booth in the Book and Trade Fair on Friday afternoon.
International Travel Grant Program
The highlight of this year’s CAA International Travel Grant Program was a full-day preconference on Tuesday, February 11, 2014. The grant recipients, who came from 20 countries from around the world, gave presentations about their work, addressing topics such as art and national identity, international issues in contemporary art, cross-cultural influences on artistic styles, and curriculum reassessments of art-historical training. The talks featured a wide range of art, from Renaissance arches to Islamic-Hispanic domestic architecture, from communist-era paintings in Poland and Russia to contemporary art in Estonia, South Africa, and Malaysia. Following the presentations, Rick Asher, professor of art history at the University of Minnesota, led a stimulating discussion that further explored the above topics as well as the differences in how art history is practiced around the world. This is the third year of the International Travel Grant Program, funded by the Getty Foundation. Additional support for the program was provided by the National Committee for the History of Art.
Online Presence
Digital media were used in a number of creative ways to expand the reach of Annual Conference programming and encourage greater interactivity:
- Thanks to the sponsorship of Golden Artist Colors, select conference sessions were filmed and will be posted to CAA’s YouTube page in the coming weeks
- Informational preconference Google+ Hangout and Q&A currently has 753 views
- A free mobile app helped attendees navigate the conference. The app was downloaded 1,186 times
- Columbia College Chicago students hosted the conference blog, reporting on panels, receptions, exhibitions, and participant experience
- ARTspace organized Art2Make, an exhibition of 3D printed art
- Renowned blog and podcast Bad at Sports recorded a podcast onsite at the conference
Other Exciting Highlights
- CAA released and distributed a Fair Use Issues Report and held a discussion about the ongoing fair-use project. Video from the fair-use session will be posted to CAA’s YouTube page in the coming weeks.
- Unscheduled performance art enlivened the Hilton Chicago during the Annual Conference
Thank You
Members of CAA’s Board of Directors and staff would like to extend their gratitude to all conference funders and sponsors, attendees, volunteers, and participants; the organization’s committees and award juries; the Hilton Chicago staff; Choose Chicago; the museums and galleries that opened their doors to conference attendees free of charge; and everyone else involved in helping to make the 102nd Annual Conference such a tremendous success!
A warm thanks to the following for their generous support of CAA:
- Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
- Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
- Art in America
- Artstor
- Blick Art Materials
- Burlington Magazine
- Columbia College Chicago
- David L. Klein Jr. Foundation
- Getty Foundation
- Golden Artist Colors
- Institute for Doctoral Studies in Visual Arts
- National Committee for the History of Art
- National Endowment for the Arts
- Pearson
- Prestel
- Samuel H. Kress Foundation
- School of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Terra Foundation for the Arts
- Wix
- Wyeth Foundation for American Art
Save the Date
CAA’s 103rd Annual Conference will be held in New York City, February 11–14, 2015.
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, websites, 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.