CAA News Today
Reflections on the Annual Conference, the Year Past, and the Year to Come
posted by Anne Collins Goodyear — March 05, 2013
Anne Collins Goodyear is president of the CAA Board of Directors.
CAA’s Annual Conference was typically lively and rewarding. With nearly six thousand participants, representing all fifty states—and the District of Columbia—and fifty-three countries, CAA hosted well over two hundred sessions addressing a broad range of topics, including contemporary art practice, criticism, pedagogy, issues in museums, and the history of art. As participation in the conference by colleagues from around the world continues to grow, we were pleased to welcome twenty recipients of CAA International Travel Grants, generously supported by the Getty Foundation, and further discussed by Ann Albritton, Chair of CAA’s International Committee, in an article that will soon be published on the CAA website.
The conference took advantage of new technologies, providing, for the first time, wireless internet access free of charge to conference goers throughout the conference rooms, and making possible the broad spread use of Skype to involve panelists and respondents unable to be in New York. CAA also hosted its first ever THATCamp (The Humanities And Technology) on February 11 and 12, fully subscribed with seventy-five scholars, just before the official start of the conference. A follow up session held during the conference continued a stimulating discussion about the promise and current role of new technologies for art historians.
New technologies are shaping CAA’s publications, two of which celebrate major milestones this year. The Annual Conference enabled us to mark the centennial of The Art Bulletin and the fifteenth anniversary of caa.reviews—both of which were toasted with cake and champagne following our Annual Members’ Business Meeting. In connection with this, each publication, thanks to a $20,000 grant from the Alliance for Networking Visual Culture, has undertaken open-access online projects using the Scalar platform. Thelma Thomas, chair of the Art Bulletin Editorial Board, graciously demonstrated her online compilation “Publishing The Art Bulletin: Past, Present, and Future,” (http://scalar.usc.edu/anvc/the-art-bulletin/index) at the meeting. A forthcoming Scalar project by the caa.reviews editor-in chief, Sheryl Reiss, will address the exhibition Bernini: Sculpting in Clay at the Kimbell Art Museum.
As the terrain of scholarly publishing continues to evolve, the high cost of scholarly publications, due in large part to the necessity of obtaining copyright and other clearance permissions for reproductions, concerns all of us. CAA is thus deeply appreciative of a one-year Meiss/Mellon Author Grant for $69,698 to offer subventions to emerging scholars who are publishing monographs in art history and visual studies and to advertise the award. Applications for the first round of the Meiss/Mellon Author’s Book Award are now being accepted. The deadline for spring submissions is March 15, 2013. Fall applications are due October 1, 2013. For more information see: http://www.collegeart.org/meissmellon/.
The larger question of when copyrighted material may be used without licensing in accordance with the principles of fair use is at the heart of a major initiative by CAA to establish Fair Use Best Practice Guidelines, undertaken with the assistance of generous support from the Kress and Mellon Foundations. The project is addressed in greater depth in Jeffrey Cunard’s article, published today. See: https://www.collegeart.org/news/2013/03/05/caas-task-force-on-fair-use-meets-during-annual-conference/.
As the Strategic Plan for 2010–2015 draws to its conclusion (available at http://www.collegeart.org/about/plan), the Board of Directors has now embarked, having convened a task force for the purpose, on the development of a 2015–2020 Strategic Plan. We are eager for your input into the plan and to hear from you about what you feel is working well within the organization and where our services could be strengthened. A related survey will be distributed later this year, and key issues will be discussed with the CAA membership next February at the 2014 Annual Members’ Business Meeting.
As always, CAA welcomes input from its membership on any topic of interest to the field. Please feel free to consult directly with the staff and board and/or to take advantage of CAA’s Facebook page to share your views. See: https://www.facebook.com/collegeartassociation.
Board of Directors’ Meeting
posted by Linda Downs — March 05, 2013
Anne Collins Goodyear and Linda Downs
Sunday, February 17, 2013
The CAA Board of Directors convened its regularly scheduled meeting after the conference and welcomed Abigail Van Slyck, President, Society of Architectural Historians and Dayton Professor of Art History and Associate Dean of the Faculty, Connecticut College; and Pauline Saliga, Executive Director, Society of Architectural Historians as guests. Van Slyck presented the latest initiatives of the SAH and extended an invitation to CAA to explore projects of mutual interest. The latest collaboration was on the development of the CAA authors’ grants funded for one year by the A.W. Mellon Foundation.
President, Anne Collin Goodyear, announced the election results for the new CAA Board members—Constance Cortez, Jennifer Milam, Sheila Pepe and John Richardson—and thanked everyone who ran for these positions. She also thanked Board members rotating off: Patricia Matthews, Barbara Nesin, Past President; and Randall Griffin, outgoing Vice President for Publications. She then congratulated staff and Board members on the Annual Conference, and presented her annual report, providing updates on major Board initiatives and CAA accomplishments. (See, in this issue of CAA News, Goodyear’s “Reflections on the Annual Conference, the Year Past, and the Year to Come,” https://www.collegeart.org/news/2013/03/05/reflections-on-the-annual-conference-the-year-past-and-the-year-to-come/.
The officers of the Board of Directors and the Senior Staff presented their annual reports to the Board (coming soon).
Jeffrey P. Cunard, CAA Counsel and cochair of the Task Force on Fair Use, presented the method and procedure being followed in this four-year project to develop a code of fair use in creative work and scholarly publishing in the visual arts.
The Executive Director, the Senior Staff, and officers of the Board of Directors presented their annual report to the Board (coming soon).
Consistent with CAA practice, the Vice President for Committees presented three triennial reviews of three of the nine Professional Interests, Practices, and Standards Committees (PIPS). This year the Diversity Practices Committee, Education Committee, and Museum Committees were reviewed and renewed.
The Professional Practices Committee updated and submitted for adoption by the board, the Standards for Sculptural Reproduction and Preventive Measures to Combat Unethical Casting in Bronze. It was adopted with one abstention. See: http://www.collegeart.org/guidelines/sculpture.
Jacqueline Francis, Vice President for Annual Conference, presented the final report of the Task Force on Annual Conference Technologies and announced that many of the recommendations will be implemented at the 2014 Annual Conference in Chicago. See: https://www.collegeart.org/news/2013/03/05/final-report-of-the-task-force-on-annual-conference-technologies/.
Francis reported on the success of THAT Camp (The Humanities and Technology Camp) held in conjunction with the CAA Annual Conference in New York and coorganized by Columbia University Libraries, Smarthistory at Khan Academy, The Samuel H. Kress Foundation, Macaulay Honors College, Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. Seventy five people attended and shared their online publications, discussed issues in online publishing, constructed an online survey textbook in one hour, and exchanged ideas for networking and gathering information on art history databases. Plans are to hold THATCamp at the 2014 Annual Conference in Chicago.
The annual election of officers took place. The new officers are:
Vice President for External Affairs – Maria Ann Conelli
Vice President for Committees – DeWitt Godfrey
Vice President for Annual Conference – Jacqueline Francis
Vice President for Publications – Suzanne Preston Blier
Secretary – Patricia McDonnell
The following Board members were elected to the Nominating Committee: Leslie Bellevance, Denise Mullen, and Sabina Ott.
The subject of fees charged by universities to apply for university faculty positions was discussed. CAA has posted a comment on the Online Career Center stating that the association does not condone this practice.
CAA Seeks Nominations for 2014–18 Board Service
posted by Vanessa Jalet — February 18, 2013
CAA seeks nominations and self-nominations from individuals interested in shaping the future of the organization by serving on the Board of Directors for the 2014–18 term. The board is responsible for all financial and policy matters related to the organization. It promotes excellence in scholarship and teaching in the history and criticism of the visual arts, and it encourages creativity and technical skill in the teaching and practice of art. CAA’s board is also charged with representing the membership on issues affecting the visual arts and the humanities.
Candidates must be current CAA members. Nominations and self-nominations should include the following information: the nominee’s name, affiliation, address, email address, and telephone number, as well as the name, affiliation, and email address of the nominator, if different from the nominee. Please send all information by mail or email to: Vanessa Jalet, Executive Liaison, College Art Association, 50 Broadway, 21st Floor, New York, NY 10004. Deadline: April 1, 2013.
Results of the 2013–17 Board of Directors Election
posted by Vanessa Jalet — February 15, 2013
The CAA Board of Directors welcomes four newly elected members, who will serve from 2013 to 2017:
- Constance Cortez, Associate Professor of Art History, Texas Tech University
- Jennifer Milam, Professor of Art History, University of Sydney
- Sheila Pepe, Artist and Acting Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, School of Art and Design, Pratt Institute
- John Richardson, Professor and Chair of the Department of Art and Art History, Wayne State University
Anne Collins Goodyear, CAA board president, announced the election results during the Annual Members’ Business Meeting, held on Friday, February 15, at the 101st Annual Conference in New York.
The Board of Directors is charged with CAA’s long-term financial stability and strategic direction; it is also the association’s governing body. The board sets policy regarding all aspects of CAA’s activities, including publishing, the Annual Conference, awards and fellowships, advocacy, and committee procedures.
For the annual board election, CAA members vote for no more than four candidates; they also cast votes for write-in candidates (who must be CAA members). The four candidates receiving the most votes are elected to the board.
Board of Directors Election Ends on Friday
posted by Vanessa Jalet — February 11, 2013
The annual CAA Board of Directors election will end at 5:00 PM (EST) on Friday, February 15, 2013. To participate, all you need is your CAA member ID number and password. Visit the board-election page or click the candidates’ names below to read their statements, biographies, and endorsements—and to watch their video presentations—before casting your vote.
- Elizabeth Conner, Artist and Instructor, University of Washington Tacoma
- Constance Cortez, Associate Professor of Art History, Texas Tech University
- Jennifer Milam, Professor of Art History, University of Sydney
- Debra Riley Parr, Chair of the Fashion Studies Department, Columbia College Chicago
- Sheila Pepe, Artist and Acting Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, School of Art and Design, Pratt Institute
- John Richardson, Professor and Chair of the Department of Art and Art History, Wayne State University
How to Vote
Log into your CAA account with your CAA User ID# and password. Then click the Vote Now image at the center of your screen to begin the process. If you are already logged in, click the Home link at left, and then the Vote Now link.
You may vote for up to four candidates, including one write-in candidate if you wish. Ballots that indicate more than four candidates will be voided. The election ends at 5:00 PM (EST) on Friday, February 15, 2013.
Send your Proxy
CAA encourages you to attend the Annual Members’ Business Meeting at the 2013 Annual Conference in New York. If you cannot attend, please check the box appointing a proxy. By doing so, you appoint the CAA board officers named thereon—Anne Collins Goodyear, Patricia McDonnell, DeWitt Godfrey, Jacqueline Francis, Randall C. Griffin, and Maria Ann Conelli—to vote, in their discretion, on such matters as may properly come before such a meeting.
A quorum of one hundred members is needed to hold the meeting; therefore CAA kindly requests your proxy to ensure the meeting can take place. Please send your proxy by 5:00 PM EST on Friday, February 15, 2013. Thank you.
Vote Online in the 2013–17 Board of Directors Election
posted by Vanessa Jalet — January 07, 2013
The annual CAA Board of Directors election has begun. To participate, all you need is your CAA member ID number and password. Visit the board-election page or click the candidates’ names below to read their statements, biographies, and endorsements—and to watch their video presentations—before casting your vote.
- Elizabeth Conner, Artist and Instructor, University of Washington Tacoma
- Constance Cortez, Associate Professor of Art History, Texas Tech University
- Jennifer Milam, Professor of Art History, University of Sydney
- Debra Riley Parr, Chair of the Fashion Studies Department, Columbia College Chicago
- Sheila Pepe, Artist and Acting Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, School of Art and Design, Pratt Institute
- John Richardson, Professor and Chair of the Department of Art and Art History, Wayne State University
How to Vote
Log into your CAA account with your CAA User ID# and password. Then click the Vote Now image at the center of your screen to begin the process. If you are already logged in, click the Home link at left, and then the Vote Now link.
You may vote for up to four candidates, including one write-in candidate if you wish. Ballots that indicate more than four candidates will be voided. The election ends at 5:00 PM (EST) on Friday, February 15, 2013.
Send your Proxy
CAA encourages you to attend the Annual Members’ Business Meeting at the 2013 Annual Conference in New York. If you cannot attend, please check the box appointing a proxy. By doing so, you appoint the CAA board officers named thereon—Anne Collins Goodyear, Patricia McDonnell, DeWitt Godfrey, Jacqueline Francis, Randall C. Griffin, and Maria Ann Conelli—to vote, in their discretion, on such matters as may properly come before such a meeting.
A quorum of one hundred members is needed to hold the meeting; therefore CAA kindly requests your proxy to ensure the meeting can take place. Please send your proxy by 5:00 PM EST on Friday, February 15, 2013. Thank you.
Join the 2013–14 Nominating Committee
posted by Vanessa Jalet — December 04, 2012
CAA invites you to help shape the future of the organization by serving on the 2013–14 Nominating Committee. Each year, this committee nominates and interviews potential candidates for the CAA Board of Directors and selects the final slate for the membership’s vote. The candidates for the 2013–17 board election were announced last month.
The current Nominating Committee will choose the new members of its own committee at its business meeting, to be held at the 2013 Annual Conference in New York in February. Once selected, all committee members must propose, in the spring, a minimum of five and a maximum of ten people for the board. Service on the committee also involves conducting telephone interviews with candidates during the summer and meeting in fall 2013 to select the final board slate. Finally, all Nominating Committee members attend their business meeting, at the Chicago conference in 2014, to select the next committee.
Nominations and self-nominations should include a brief statement of interest and a two-page CV. Please email a statement and your CV as Word attachments to the attention of DeWitt Godfrey, CAA vice president for committees, care of Vanessa Jalet. Deadline: January 4, 2013.
Candidates for the Upcoming Board of Directors Election
posted by Vanessa Jalet — November 13, 2012
The 2012–13 Nominating Committee has announced a slate of six candidates for the annual election of CAA members to serve on the Board of Directors for a four-year term (2013–17). Voting will begin when the webpages for the election, which will include the candidates’ statements, biographies, endorsements, and video presentations, are published in January 2013.
The six candidates are:
- Elizabeth Conner, Artist and Instructor of Studio Art, University of Washington Tacoma
- Constance Cortez, Associate Professor, School of Art, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Texas Tech University
- Jennifer Milam, Associate Professor, Department of Art History and Film Studies, University of Sydney
- Debra Riley Parr, Associate Professor of Art and Design History and Chair of Fashion Studies, Columbia College Chicago
- Sheila Pepe, Acting Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, School of Art and Design, Pratt Institute
- John Richardson, Professor and Chair, Department of Art and Art History, Wayne State University
If you have questions about the Nominating Committee, the candidates, or the voting process, please contact Vanessa Jalet, CAA executive liaison.
Kress Foundation Awards CAA Grant for Fair Use in the Visual Arts
posted by Linda Downs — October 03, 2012
The Samuel H. Kress Foundation has awarded CAA a start-up grant to support the development of a Code of Best Practices for Fair Use of Copyrighted Images in the Creation and Curation of Artworks and Scholarly Publishing in the Visual Arts. The project will address all areas of the visual arts and involve participants from the fields of art history, studio art, print and online publishing, art museums and related areas.
CAA’s Board of Directors recognized the need for the development of a Code of Best Practices by establishing a Task Force on Fair Use at the May 7, 2012 meeting. The rationale for this undertaking is to address what amounts to a crisis in the visual arts field. At this time, there is significant evidence that concerns around the implications of copyright—and especially uncertainty surrounding the fair use doctrine (currently codified under section 107 of the Copyright Act)—is substantially inhibiting the ability of scholars and artists to develop new work requiring the use of images and other third-party copyrighted works. The visual arts field needs the opportunity to explore and better understand copyright and fair use law, come to a consensus on best practices in the use of third-party images, and adhere to a code that is within the law and practicable for visual arts scholarly publications and creative work.
This fall, with the support of the Kress Foundation, CAA will establish a research plan and administrative framework for developing a comprehensive Code of Best Practices for Fair Use. CAA’s newly-created Task Force on Fair Use will begin work with two recognized authorities on the subject: Peter Jaszi, Professor of Law, Washington School of Law, American University and Pat Aufderheide, Director, Center for Media Studies, American University. Jaszi and Aufderheide, the authors of Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back into Copyright (Chicago University Press, 2011) have worked with numerous disciplines—including documentary film makers, dance archivists, research librarians, and journalists—to develop best practices in fair use. CAA’s Task Force will be co-chaired by Jeffrey P. Cunard (CAA Counsel and Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton) and Gretchen Wagner (CAA Committee on Intellectual Property and ARTstor General Counsel); its other members include Anne Collins Goodyear (CAA President and Associate Curator, Prints and Drawings, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute); Linda Downs (CAA Executive Director and CEO); Suzanne Blier (CAA Board Member and Allen Whitehill Clowes Professor of Fine Arts and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University); DeWitt Godfrey (CAA Vice President for Committees and Director, Institute for Creative and Performing Arts, Colgate University); Randall C. Griffin (ex-officio as CAA Vice President for Publications, Professor, Division of Art History, Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University); Paul Jaskot (CAA Past President and Professor of History of Art and Architecture, DePaul University); Patricia McDonnell (CAA Vice President for External Affairs and Director, Wichita Art Museum); Charles Wright (CAA Board Member and Chair, Department of Art, Western Illinois University). Throughout the project, CAA will involve its members and the larger visual arts community in building a comprehensive Code designed to serve all members of its constituency. CAA’s Committee on Intellectual Property will address CAA’s work on Fair Use at its upcoming public session at the Annual Meeting in February 2013 (Saturday, February 16, at 12:30 pm).
Members of the 2012–13 Nominating Committee
posted by Vanessa Jalet — May 09, 2012
CAA is pleased to announce the members of the 2012–13 Nominating Committee, which is charged with identifying and interviewing potential candidates for the Board of Directors and selecting the final slate of candidates for the membership’s vote. The committee members, their institutional affiliations, and their positions are:
- DeWitt Godfrey, Colgate University, Vice President for Committees and Chair
- Brian Bishop, Framingham State University
- Roger Crum, University of Dayton and CAA Board
- Kevin Hamilton, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- Patricia Mathews, Hobart and William Smith Colleges and CAA Board
- Sabina Ott, Columbia College Chicago and CAA Board
- Joseph H. Seipel, Virginia Commonwealth University
- Norie Sato, Independent Artist, Seattle
- Linda Downs, CAA Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (ex officio)
The 2011 Nominating Committee chose the new members of the committee at its recent business meeting, held during the 2012 Annual Conference in Los Angeles in February. The Board of Directors also appointed three liaisons. CAA publishes a call for nominations and self-nominations for Nominating Committee service in CAA News and on the website in late fall of every year. Please direct all queries regarding the committee to Vanessa Jalet, CAA executive liaison.


