CAA News Today

American Institute for Conservation

The American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) is hosting its 2013 annual meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, from May 29 to June 1, 2013. Its theme, “The Contemporary in Conservation,” will focus on contemporary approaches to conservation—not only the conservation of contemporary art—and include perspectives from both within and outside the field. In addition to the treatment of contemporary art, the conference will consider digitization, environmental sustainability, and the effects of architectural design on the preservation of objects as well as current trends in exhibition design and the new challenges they present for preservation, including greater physical access, longer display times, and more touring exhibitions. Learn more about the upcoming AIC meeting at www.conservation-us.org/meetings and join the organization for the lively discussions that will take place.

Art Libraries Society of North America

The Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) and the Visual Resources Association Foundation (VRAF) will once again sponsor the Summer Educational Institute for Visual Resources and Image Management (SEI), to be held June 18–21, 2013, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. This collaborative professional training program, now in its tenth year, addresses the evolving requirements of image-management professionals. Expert instructors will cover intellectual-property rights, offer a hands-on digital-imaging workshop, and describe best practices and tools for metadata and cataloging. A “think-camp” discussion session will identify topic preferences from registrants, such as the future of the profession, uses of social and new media, visual literacy, and the digital humanities. More than four hundred people serving in a range of professional roles have benefited from past SEIs, including art historians, visual-resources curators, university librarians, archivists, and museum professionals responsible for image rights and reproductions. For more information, please contact the SEI cochairs: Betha Whitlow or Amy Trendler.

Historians of German and Central European Art and Architecture

During CAA’s 2013 Annual Conference in New York, the Historians of German and Central European Art and Architecture (HGCEA) hosted a two-part panel, “Central Europe’s Others in Art and Visual Culture,” chaired by Brett Van Hoesen and Elizabeth Otto, and an Emerging Scholars panel, led by Keith Holz. HGCEA also organized a dinner party at the Scandinavia House, which was attended by about sixty members of the society. The gathering celebrated the achievements of two retiring colleagues, Françoise Foster-Hahn and Reinhold Heller. Former HGCEA president Steven Mansbach delivered a eulogy on Foster-Hahn, and present board member Jay Clark did the same for Heller. The current HGCEA president, Marsha Morton, presented the prize for the winner of HGCEA’s first essay contest to Pepper Stetler and bestowed honorary mention to Amy Hamlin and Elizabeth Brisman. The contest was an initiative for the encouragement and recognition of young scholars. Sixteen essays published during 2011 and 2012 were submitted. A new appeal will be issued for essays published in 2012.

Historians of Netherlandish Art

The Historians of Netherlandish Art (HNA) has published the winter 2013 issue of the open-access, refereed electronic journal, the Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art. Contents include articles by Sally Whitman Coleman, Matthijs Ilsink and Monica Marchesi, and Elizabeth Sutton, as well as translations of part one and two of D. C. Meijer Jr.’s “The Amsterdam Civic Guard Portraits within and outside the New Rijksmuseum.”

HNA solicits session and workshop proposals for the organization’s quadrennial conference, to be held in Boston, Massachusetts, June 5–7, 2014. For the first time, this event will take place together and in cooperation with the conference of the American Association for Netherlandic Studies. HNA welcomes proposals for sessions that represent new directions in the study of Netherlandish art between 1350 and 1750. Proposals may focus on individual disciplines within this chronological spectrum or feature interdisciplinary approaches and collaborative endeavors. Sessions will be two hours long with a maximum of four papers each. HNA also invites proposals for workshops designed to allow for group discussion of focused topics. Workshop proposals should define the matter to be addressed and describe how discussion will be generated. Prospective session and workshop proposals should be sent via email by May 15, 2013, to Paul Crenshaw, chair of the program committee.

International Sculpture Center

The International Sculpture Center (ISC) will hold the 2013 International Sculpture Symposium in Miami, Florida, from December 1 to 4, 2013. The program is cosponsored by Florida International University and the Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum and will comprise daytime and evening programming, including keynote addresses, panel discussions, and an iron pour led by the international sculptor Coral Lambert, joined by Iron Maidens and other selected artists. The symposium marks the first ISC program held in the city of Miami, spans four days, and precedes Art Basel Miami Beach, which takes place December 5–8. Artists and enthusiasts from around the world will have the opportunity to participate in a week of dynamic cultural events. Please visit www.sculpture.org/miami2013 for more details and to join the Miami event mailing list to receive updates as they become available. Discounted early-bird registration for ISC members opens on June 1. Questions should be directed to events@sculpture.org or 609-689-1051, ext. 302.

Italian Art Society

The Italian Art Society (IAS) has announced its new officers and committee members: Cathleen A. Fleck, president; Sheryl E. Reiss, executive vice president; and Nicola Camerlenghi, vice president for programming. The Awards Committee now includes Janis Elliott (chair), Jill Pederson, and Eve Straussman-Pflanzer. Joining the Nominating Committee are Brian Curran (chair) and Janna Israel. The Program Committee welcomes Dorothy Glass and Rebekah Perry, and the Graduate Student and Emerging Scholars Committee greets its new members, Sarah Wilkins and Ashley Elston. IAS thanks those whose terms have ended for their service.

IAS will sponsor four sessions at the International Congress for Medieval Art in Kalamazoo, Michigan; see the IAS website for the titles and the names of the speakers. IAS seeks proposals for papers for its two 2014 CAA Annual Conference sessions: “Periodization Anxiety in Italian Art: Renaissance, Baroque, or Early Modern?” (chairs: Frances Gage and Eva Struhal); and “‘Futuro Anteriore’: Cultural Self-Appropriation as Catalyst in the Art of Italy”(chairs Alison Perchuk and Irina D. Costache). Please visit the IAS website for the CAA session descriptions and submission instructions. Deadline: May 6, 2013.

The speaker of the fourth annual Italian Art Society–Kress Foundation Lecture Series in Italy is Sarah Blake McHam of Rutgers University, who will present “Laocoön, or Pliny Vindicated” at the Fondazione Marco Besso in Rome on Tuesday, May 28, 2013, at 6:00 PM.

Mid-America College Art Association

The board of the Mid-America College Art Association (MACAA) will hold a retreat May 24–25, 2013, in San Antonio, Texas, in preparation for its 2014 conference, which will be hosted by the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). The conference chair is Scott Sherer, and the UTSA institution coordinator is Gregory Elliot. The conference contact is Laura Crist, who can be reached at macaa2014@utsa.edu or 210-458-4391. Conference details will be posted on the MACAA and conference websites, as planning develops.

National Council of Arts Administrators

From September 25 to 28, 2013, Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond will host the forty-first annual conference of the National Council of Arts Administrators (NCAA), which will focus on reexamining the value of uncertainty and doubt in the arts. The gathering will also spotlight current trends in arts administration; offer forums, speakers, and workshops; and create opportunities to network within a diverse community of higher-education arts professionals. You can expect top-notch speakers, timely and forward-looking sessions, an engaging administrator’s workshop, and much more. NCAA enthusiastically welcomes new members and any interested parties to its events. Learn more about the 2013 conference.

New Media Caucus

The New Media Caucus (NMC) has announced the results of the elections for president, treasurer, and board members. The new president is Vagner Whitehead, associate professor at Oakland University. His term as president-elect begins immediately and runs until the 2014 CAA Annual Conference in Chicago, when he will become president at the 2014 annual business meeting. Reelected as treasurer is Jim Jeffers, visiting lecturer at College of the Holy Cross, who has been actively involved in NMC leadership since the organization’s founding ten years ago. He has served as treasurer for the past two years, a critical position as NMC pursues 501(c)(3) status. Joining the board are Victoria Bradbury, a researcher at the Curatorial Resource for Upstart Media Bliss, University of Sutherland; Mina Cheon, interdisciplinary professor, Maryland Institute College of Art; Carlos Rosas, associate professor, Pennsylvania State University; and Jessica Westbrook, assistant professor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. View a listing of the entire NMC board of directors and officers and the constitution and bylaws, which describes the terms and election processes.

Public Art Dialogue

At the 2013 CAA Annual Conference in New York, Public Art Dialogue (PAD) sponsored Sally Webster’s session, “Reconsidering Mural Painting: New Methodologies,” which featured five papers: “In the Making: Mural Painting and the Look of Reform in Theodore Roosevelt’s America” by Annelise K. Madsen; “Picturing Jewish History in 1920s Hollywood: The Murals in the Wilshire Boulevard Temple” from MacKenzie Stevens; “‘No Vain Glory’: Cartography and Murals in the American War Cemeteries in France” by Kate C. Lemay; “Looking Beyond ‘The Wall’: Reconstructing City Walls’ Gateway to Soho” from Andrew Wasserman; and “The Renewed ‘Spirit of Hyde Park’: A Case Study in Mural Restoration” by Emily Scibilia. Sarah Schrank was the discussant. A roundtable chaired by Norie Sato on “Time, Transience, Duration” featured presentations by Penny Balkin Bach, Renee Piechocki, and Marisa Lerer.

Penny Balkin Bach of the Association for Public Art (aPA), based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, received PAD’s annual lifetime achievement award. Bach has been in the field since the early 1970s, and under her leadership aPA (formerly called the Fairmount Park Art Association, whose staff she joined in 1980) has sponsored numerous groundbreaking installations and special projects. Open Air, which premiered in October 2012, was a spectacular interactive light installation by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Bach’s tireless and innovative work has transformed the field of public art.

Society for Photographic Education

The Society for Photographic Education (SPE) seeks proposals for “Collaborative Exchanges: Photography in Dialogue,” its fifty-first national conference, to be held March 6–9, 2014, in Baltimore, Maryland. SPE is accepting proposals for the 2014 conference through June 1, 2013. Topics, which are not required to be theme based, may include but are not limited to: image making, history, contemporary theory and criticism, new technologies, effects of media and culture, educational issues, and funding. Membership in SPE is required to submit, and all proposals are peer reviewed. Descriptions for the five presentation formats follow:

• Graduate Student: short presentation of your own artistic work and a brief introduction to your graduate program
• Imagemaker: presentation on your own artistic work (photography, film, video, performance, installation, multidisciplinary approaches)
• Lecture: presentation on historical topic, theory, or another artist’s work
• Panel: a group led by a moderator to discuss a chosen topic
• Teach: presentations, workshops, or 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 website for information on how to join SPE and for full proposal guidelines.

Society for the Study of Early Modern Women

The Society for the Study of Early Modern Women (SSEMW) has announced the names, fields, and affiliations of its officers and committee members for 2013: the new president is Jane Couchman, French and women’s studies, York University; the new vice president is Megan Matchinske, comparative literature and English, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; a past president is Allyson Poska, history, Mary Washington University; a second past president is Pamela Benson, English, Rhode Island College; the new treasurer is Deborah Uman, English, St. John Fisher College; the new secretary is Abby Zanger, French, independent scholar; and the new web and listserv coordinator is Karen Nelson, Center for Literary and Comparative Studies, English, University of Maryland, College Park.

The Executive Committee now comprises: Eve Straussman-Pflanzer, art, Art Institute of Chicago; Shannon Miller, English, Temple University; Michelle Dowd, English, University of North Carolina, Greensboro; Meredith Ray, Italian and women’s studies, University of Delaware; Renee Baernstein, history, Miami University; Sheila Cavanaugh, English, Emory University; and Lauren Shook, English, University of North Carolina, Greensboro.

The Awards Committee will consist of: Marina Leslie, English, Northeastern University (chair for 2013); Heidi Brayman Hackel, English, University of California, Riverside; Wendy Heller, music, Princeton University; Mary Nyquist, women and gender, University of Toronto; Eleanor Hubbard, history, Princeton University; Bronwen Wilson, art history, University of British Columbia; Leah Chang, French, George Washington University; Sheila ffolliott, art history, George Mason University (emerita); and Sarah Ross, English, Massey University.

For additional information, including members of the Nominating Committee, please see About SSEMW section on http://ssemw.org.

Society of Architectural Historians

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a one-year grant of $51,330 to the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) to administer the SAH/Mellon Author Awards. The award is a temporary measure to provide financial relief to early-career scholars who are publishing monographs on architectural history and the history of the built environment and responsible for paying for rights and permissions for images in their publications. Through this grant SAH will provide awards to emerging scholars (those with PhDs earned during the past six years) to help defray the high costs of image licensing and reproduction for monographs on the history of the built environment. Awards will be made once in 2013 for print (hardcover, softcover) and digital publications (ebook, DVD). Awardees will be selected on the basis of the quality and demonstrated financial need for their project. SAH anticipates awarding approximately ten SAH/Mellon Author Awards in 2013. Deadline: June 1, 2013.

Society of Historians of East European, Eurasian, and Russian Art and Architecture

In response to increasing interest in the field, the Society of Historians of East European, Eurasian, and Russian Art and Architecture (SHERA) is extending its activities with renewed vigor under new leadership. After voting in January 2013, Margaret Samu was elected president, and Natasha Kurchanova was chosen vice president and will serve as president-elect. Yelena Kalinsky has become secretary-treasurer, and Inge Wierda will be the society’s webmaster. Joining them on the board of directors are Kathleen Duff, Eva Forgacs, Mark Svede, Danilo Udovicki, and Alla Vronskaya.

SHERA sponsors sessions and holds regular meetings at both CAA and the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, maintains an active listserv and Facebook page, and is currently creating a new website. New members are welcome; please direct your inquiries to SHERA.artarchitecture@gmail.com for more information.

Society of North American Goldsmiths

The Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) will hold its forty-second annual conference from May 15 to 18, 2013, in Toronto, Ontario, at the downtown historic Fairmont Royal York Hotel. Titled “Meta-Mosaic,” the event will celebrate the multiple industries within jewelry and metalsmithing in the twenty-first century. Toronto is a mosaic of peoples and cultures as well as the center of Canada’s jewelry industry. This conference will examine a fluid identity within art, craft, and design and inspire attendees to embrace a collective mosaic. Join SNAG for presentations and panels featuring industry luminaries from across the globe, rapid-fire presentations by international designers and artists, over twenty exhibition, the third annual member Trunk Show Sale, social events, and so much more! Online registration has closed, but you can still register onsite beginning at 3:00 PM on May 15.

Visual Resources Association

The Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) and the Visual Resources Association Foundation (VRAF) will once again sponsor the Summer Educational Institute for Visual Resources and Image Management (SEI), to be held June 18–21, 2013, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. This collaborative professional training program, now in its tenth year, addresses the evolving requirements of image-management professionals. Expert instructors will cover intellectual-property rights, offer a hands-on digital-imaging workshop, and describe best practices and tools for metadata and cataloging. A “think-camp” discussion session will identify topic preferences from registrants, such as the future of the profession, uses of social and new media, visual literacy, and the digital humanities. More than four hundred people serving in a range of professional roles have benefited from past SEIs, including art historians, visual-resources curators, university librarians, archivists, and museum professionals responsible for image rights and reproductions. For more information, please contact the SEI cochairs: Betha Whitlow or Amy Trendler.