CAA News Today
Art Bulletin Editorial Board Seeks New Members
posted Feb 14, 2017
CAA invites nominations and self-nominations for three individuals to serve on the Art Bulletin Editorial Board for a four-year term, July 1, 2017–June 30, 2021. The ideal candidate has published substantially in the field and may be an academic, museum-based, or independent scholar; institutional affiliation is not required. The Art Bulletin features leading scholarship in the English language in all aspects of art history as practiced in the academy, museums, and other institutions.
The editorial board advises the Art Bulletin editor-in-chief and assists her or him in seeking authors, articles, and other content for the journal; performs peer review and recommends peer reviewers; may propose new initiatives for the journal; and may support fundraising efforts on the journal’s behalf. Members also assist the editor-in-chief to keep abreast of trends and issues in the field by attending and reporting on sessions at the CAA Annual Conference and other academic conferences, symposia, and events in their fields.
The Art Bulletin Editorial Board meets three times a year, with meetings in the spring and fall plus one at the CAA Annual Conference in February. The spring and fall meetings are currently held by teleconference, but at a later date CAA may reimburse members for travel and lodging expenses for New York meetings in accordance with its travel policy. Members pay travel and lodging expenses to attend the conference in February. Members of all editorial boards volunteer their services to CAA without compensation.
Candidates must be current CAA members in good standing and should not be serving on the editorial board of a competitive journal or on another CAA editorial board or committee. Members may not publish their own work in the journal during the term of service. CAA encourages applications from colleagues who will contribute to the diversity of perspectives on the Art Bulletin Editorial Board and who will engage actively with conversations about the discipline’s engagements with differences of culture, religion, nationality, race, gender, sexuality, and access. Nominators should ascertain their nominee’s willingness to serve before submitting a name; self-nominations are also welcome. Please send a letter describing your interest in and qualifications for appointment, a CV, and your contact information to: Chair, Art Bulletin Editorial Board, College Art Association, 50 Broadway, 21st Floor, New York, NY 10004; or email the documents or inquiries to Joe Hannan, CAA editorial director. Deadline: April 17, 2017.
Live-Streamed Sessions at CAA
posted Feb 13, 2017
CAA will present six 2017 Annual Conference sessions and events via live stream. The sessions will be streamed via CAA’s YouTube Channel. There is no charge to watch these sessions—they are free and open to the public.
Here is the schedule:
- Wednesday, February 15, 5:30–7:00 PM: Convocation, the Awards for Distinction presentations, and Mary Miller’s keynote address
- Thursday, February 16, 10:30 AM–noon: Public Art in the Era of Black Lives Matter
- Thursday, February 16, 12:15–1:30 PM: Key Conversations: Art Criticism
- Thursday, February 16, 5:30–7:00 PM: the Distinguished Scholar Session honoring Kaja Silverman
- Friday, February 17, 3:30–5:30 PM: Artist Interviews: Coco Fusco with Steven Nelson and Katherine Bradford with Judith Bernstein
- Saturday, February 18, 12:15–1:15 PM: Key Conversations: Hrag Vartanian with Amin Husain and Nitasha Dhillon of Decolonize This Place
Use the hashtags #caa2017 and #myCAA during the entire conference week!
New in caa.reviews
posted Feb 10, 2017
Vivien Green Fryd reviews Georgia O’Keeffe by Nancy J. Scott, a biography that, unlike its predecessors, draws on “the extensive correspondence, which only became available in 2006, between O’Keeffe and her husband,” Alfred Stieglitz. Although the author “does provide new information based on” the letters, “she fails to engage critically with the materials at her disposal.” Read the full review at caa.reviews.
Erica Levin reads Kaira M. Cabañas’s Off-Screen Cinema: Isidore Isou and the Lettrist Avant-Garde. In this “concise, thought-provoking study,” the author “sheds light on the brief but often overlooked period of radical filmmaking,” showing “how Lettrist cinema disrupted the signifying conventions of the film medium” and “reconceptualized the specific discursive practices embedding cinema” in postwar France. Read the full review at caa.reviews.
Rebecca Bedell discusses the exhibition catalogue Picturing the Americans: Landscape Painting from Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic. “No previous publication has offered such an expansive and inclusive survey of the hemisphere’s landscape art,” and “its collectivity of voices … substantially enriches the still-opening conversation about pan-American art.” Read the full review at caa.reviews.
Staff Interview: Alyssa Pavley
posted Feb 10, 2017
The next in a series of interviews with staff members is a conversation with Alyssa Pavley, CAA associate editor of digital publications.
How long have you worked at CAA?
Six years.
What do you do at CAA?
I work in CAA’s Publications Department, where I started out as the editorial assistant. I am currently the associate editor for digital publications and work closely on Art Journal Open.
What does CAA mean to you?
To me, CAA is a place of creative and intellectual exchange.
Can you talk about one of your favorite member moments?
One of my favorite member moments was at last year’s conference in DC, where I had a great conversation with a member who had recently joined CAA and was attending the Annual Conference for the first time. It was fantastic to be able to speak at length with her about her experience, the sessions she had attended so far and those she was looking forward to, and her career. It’s always fun to hear from someone experiencing the Annual Conference for the first time!
What do you like best about the arts and working in the arts?
It’s wonderful to work in such a creative environment. Since I work specifically in arts publishing, it’s great to be in a space where I can help others peruse their artistic and creative passions via digital publications.
Do you have a favorite moment from the Annual Conference?
It’s great when I’m able to help a conference attendee, even if it’s something as small as giving directions to the room where their next session is taking place or looking up the time a session starts—it’s nice to think that I’ve possibly made someone’s day a little less stressful! On a personal note, I love browsing through the Book and Trade Fair.
News from the Art and Academic Worlds
posted Feb 08, 2017
Each week CAA News summarizes eight articles, published around the web, that CAA members may find interesting and useful in their professional and creative lives.
MoMA Installs Works by Artists from Countries Targeted by Trump’s Travel Ban
In response to President Trump’s executive order temporarily banning immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries, the Museum of Modern Art has replaced works in its permanent-collection galleries with eight by artists from the targeted nations. The rehang was instigated and executed by staff who wanted to react to unsettling political circumstances. (Read more from Hyperallergic.)
The Battle to Save America’s Arts Endowment from Trump’s Cuts
The day before Donald Trump was installed as president, details of his administration’s plans for cuts to government spending came to light. Seemingly drawn from a blueprint published by the Heritage Foundation, the plans feature deep cuts to many vital federal programs, including the elimination of the NEA. (Read more from Apollo.)
What We Can Learn from the Brief Period When the Government Employed Artists
That the arts would be funded significantly by the federal government may raise an eyebrow today. But working under a subdivision of the Works Progress Administration known as the Federal Art Project, artists such as Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner helped the country recover from the Great Depression, as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. (Read more from Artsy.)
State Spending on Higher Ed Continues Upward Trend
For the fourth year in a row, state spending on higher education is up nationwide. The annual “Grapevine” survey, conducted by the State Higher Education Executive Officers and the Center for the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University, shows a 3.4-percent average nationwide increase in spending over the 2016 fiscal year, although that figure could be changed by legislation pending in Illinois. (Read more from the Chronicle of Higher Education.)
The Met: A Great Museum in Decline?
The bad news had been building for months at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Even as crowds poured into shows on Hellenistic kingdoms and high-tech fashion, the museum’s deficit was approaching $40 million and had forced the buyout or layoff of some ninety employees. An expansion into a satellite building cost millions of dollars more than expected. (Read more from the New York Times.)
Museums Celebrate the Decriminalization of Homosexuality
Museums across the UK are preparing exhibitions to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Sexual Offences Act, the legislation that partially decriminalized male homosexuality in England and Wales in 1967. In London, the National Portrait Gallery will present a special display on the city’s gay scene in the 1980s, while the first major exhibition dedicated to queer British art will open at Tate Britain. (Read more from the Art Newspaper.)
Nobody Is Normal
While medical researchers might miss such fine points, philosophers of medicine have been parsing the nuances and striving to define “normal” for years. One thought experiment asks us to consider variations on the ends of the spectrum that we would not consider pathological: having green eyes, being color-blind, being extremely tall or short, having photographic memory, or being a supertaster. (Read more from Aeon.)
Brad Troemel, the Troll of Internet Art
Brad Troemel’s art plays with a central paradox of the internet: the technology that was supposed to liberate us from the dreary real world has inspired a whole new set of anxieties. For the growing number of artists who use the internet to distribute their work, a key problem has become how to stand out amid a torrent of information. (Read more from the New Yorker.)
Hunter O’Hanian Welcomes you to CAA 2017
posted Feb 06, 2017
A message from CAA Executive Director Hunter O’Hanian about the 2017 Annual Conference
Greetings,
I am very much looking forward to my first Annual Conference as CAA’s new Executive Director. I think the Annual Conference Committee has done a great job presenting an amazing lineup of sessions and the CAA staff has worked hard to make sure that this will be one of the best conferences ever. Many thanks to Tiffany Dugan, Paul Skiff, Katie Apsey and the rest of the Annual Conference staff who have put in so many hours.
But we also need your help at the Annual Conference.
I’d like every attendee to think about three central ideas which will make the experience more rewarding for you and your fellow attendees.
Create an atmosphere of Inclusion – We’ve heard from past participants that they have not always felt welcome by other CAA members. Some have said that they felt marginalized due to their age, experience, or even the color of their skin. Others have said they felt somewhat judged by other CAA members based solely upon what is printed on their name badge.
Obviously we do not want any CAA member to feel this way. While the CAA staff and board will work to make everyone feel welcome and included, we ask they you do the same. Extend your hand and say hello to a stranger. Say hi to the person sitting next to you at a session. Chat with someone new in the elevator or in a coffee line. Together, we can work to make all of our members feel included.
We want to solve your problems – This year there will be more than 4,000 people in attendance at the conference. In essence, we will be creating a small town at the New York Hilton Midtown for the week. Inevitably, problems will crop up – and we want to solve them.
If you find you are having problems with membership, registration, locating information, please look for one of the CAA staff members wearing the “Ask Me!” button. They will try to quickly understand the issue and get you to someone who can resolve it as soon as possible. We are here to help and that’s what we intend to do!
We want your feedback – Building a CAA for the 21st century is the most important work ahead of us. We cannot do that without hearing what you need to help you in your respective professional fields. We need to hear from you. If you completed the recent survey, many thanks. Those results will be processed shortly.
The field and the organization is changing rapidly and we cannot strengthen it properly without hearing what you need and want. We encourage you to vote in the election for the new board of directors, either on the CAA website or on the CAA Annual Conference App. We encourage you to attend the myCAA session on Friday, February 17, 2017 at 12:15PM. If you cannot attend the session, email us noting a few things that you appreciate about CAA and a few things you would like to see improved. Or leave your comments on CAA Connect in the myCAA Discussion Community. What are the current benefits you value and what benefits would you like to see us add in the future?
Many thanks for taking the time to think about these key messages and I look forward to seeing you at the Annual Conference.
Best,
Hunter O’Hanian
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer
Lloyd Engelbrech: In Memoriam
posted Feb 06, 2017
Professor Emeritus, Dr. Lloyd Engelbrecht (1927–2016), died peacefully in his sleep in hospice on New Year’s Eve after battling neuroendocrine cancer for half a year. He was a beloved faculty member of the Art History program at the University of Cincinnati, 1980–2001, where he taught the history of design, and modern art and architecture, and mentored twenty-four M.A. advisees.
He was the author of the first comprehensive, fully-documented biography of László Moholy-Nagy, Moholy-Nagy: Mentor to Modernism (Flying Trapeze Press, 2009) and, with his wife June Engelbrecht, the award-winning biography, Henry C. Trost, Architect of the Southwest (El Paso Library Association, 1981). Together, they also created a catalogue raisonné of the work of Trost and his family firm of Trost & Trost. Additionally, Engelbrecht published essays in Taken by Design: Photographs from the Institute of Design, 1937–1971 (U of Chicago Press, 2002), Best of Triglyph (Arizona State U Press, 2002), The Old Guard and the Avant-Garde: Modernism in Chicago, 1910-1940 (U of Chicago Press, 1990), and 50 Jahre New Bauhaus (Bauhaus-Archiv, 1987). Recently, he was working on a biography of Chicago’s first Modernist painter, Rudolph Weisenborn (1881–1974). Engelbrecht’s publications concerned the influence of the German Bauhaus in the U.S., and he helped mount exhibitions in both American and European museums.
Engelbrecht’s degrees were AB in General Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 1950; MS, Library Science, Columbia University, 1951; and an interdisciplinary doctorate from the Committee on History of Culture at the University of Chicago, University of Chicago, 1973. Engelbrecht received grants from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Engelbrecht was a remarkably kind, generous, and positive man who will be missed by his two daughters, Khadija Engelbrecht Fouad and Julie Rowlands, and their husbands, Aladdin Fouad and David Rowlands, four grandchildren, Omar Fouad, Maryam Fouad, Ibrahim Fouad, and Hussain Fouad, and numerous friends, as well as many devoted former students. He was predeceased by his wife June-Marie Fink Engelbrecht.
Artistic/Academic Freedom Under Attack?
posted Feb 03, 2017
Advocacy has always been part of CAA.
Like many other Americans, we have closely watched the proposed changes to the federal government, its impact on artistic and academic freedom and have grown concerned.
Two weeks ago, I was contacted about a painting properly hanging in a student exhibition in the US Capitol. The painting by eighteen-year-old David Pulphus depicts his insightful point of view regarding circumstances in Ferguson, Missouri. Based on complaints about the painting’s contents, the US government permanently removed it from the exhibition. Grown men with guns felt threatened by a teenager armed only with a paintbrush.
The following week, I was visited by a group of college and university art educators from a variety of public and private institutions who presented shocking stories of threats to their artistic and academic freedom in the classroom. You will be hearing more about their efforts to document institutional and self-imposed censorship in academic settings. As they have said, “Harassment campaigns against targeted professors and institutions are being unleashed with increasing regularity around the country.”
Last week we learned that the newly formed government intends to take steps to defund the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. CAA President Suzanne Preston Blier and I sent a message on this topic to the entire CAA membership last week.
These are alarming events. For the first time in decades, it appears our artistic and academic freedom is under a coordinated attack. We ask that CAA members vigilantly watch for further infringements. Take steps to reach out to your elected representatives to make your point of view known. Let them know that you are a member of CAA. Together we can work to protect our respective artistic and academic freedoms.
Hunter O’Hanian
Executive Director
Chief Executive Officer
New in caa.reviews
posted Feb 03, 2017
Laura Anne Kalba visits Sonia Delaunay at Tate Modern. The exhibition marked “the first-ever in-depth analysis of the artist’s work in the United Kingdom” and featured “a provocative succession of works of high art, crafts, and industrially produced goods,” which “produced a heightened awareness of the tension between reverence for the unique art object and the allure of the copy.” Read the full review at caa.reviews.
Catherine E. Burdick reads The Spectacle of the Late Maya Court: Reflections on the Murals of Bonampak by Mary Ellen Miller and Claudia Brittenham. In this “thorough text,” the authors “draw from decades of study to advance fresh perspectives regarding the facture, narrative, and reception of these exquisite paintings,” “enriching our knowledge of one of the most complete artworks produced in the pre-Columbian Americas.” Read the full review at caa.reviews.
Modupe G. Labode discusses Dell Upton’s What Can and Can’t Be Said: Race, Uplift, and Monument Building in the Contemporary South. A “challenging, carefully argued book,” the volume “explores the meaning of the evolving commemorative landscape” of Confederate and civil rights monuments. Creating a “layered description” of the subject, Upton “reaches unsettling conclusions about race and public life.” Read the full review at caa.reviews.
Robert Bezucha reviews The Museum of French Monuments 1795–1816: ‘Killing art to make history’ by Alexandra Stara. The book traces the history of the “Museum of Monuments,” a “short-lived,” “revolutionary,” and “controversial” institution that, in the words of the author, “heralded the modern understanding of artifact-based history.” Read the full review at caa.reviews.
Scholars and Artists Impacted by Travel Ban
posted Feb 02, 2017
Like many around the world, CAA is concerned with the direction the current US government has taken with regard to international travel in and out of the United States. We view this as having a potentially chilling effect on artistic and academic freedoms. CAA has taken a stand in strong opposition to the current executive order.
However, we would like to do more if we can. If you are planning to attend the 2017 Annual Conference from another county and have been impacted by the travel ban we ask that you contact us immediately. Email our membership department or call 212-691-1051, ext. 1. We will endeavor to assist you in any way we can.
You may also use this Google Form to submit a query if you have been impacted by the immigration ban.