CAA News Today
CAA Salutes Its Fifty-Year Members
posted May 18, 2017
Gabriel Weisberg joined CAA in 1967
CAA warmly thanks the many contributions of the following dedicated members who joined the organization in 1967 or earlier.
1967: R. Ward Bissell, D. Sherman Clarke, Christie Fengler-Stephany, Dorothy Gillerman, Eric Hirshler, Renata Holod, Claire Kelleher, Alison Kettering, Dale Kinney, Marjorie Kinsey, Franklin K. B. Toker, Deborah Waite, Gabriel Weisberg, and David Wilkins.
1966: Madeline Caviness, Gilbert Edelson, Jonathan Fineberg, Ann Sutherland Harris, Sara Henry, Cecelia Klein, Henry Klein, Anne-Marie Logan, Peter Moak, Anne Morganstern, James Morganstern, Peter Schabacker, David Sokol, Marcia Werner, and Barbara White.
1965: Jean Borgatti, Norma Broude, Wanda Corn, Elaine Gazda, Diana Gisolfi, Dorothy Glass, Andree Hayum, Ellen Kosmer, Lillian MacBrayne, Jerry Meyer, Ann Lee Morgan, Myra Rosenfeld-Little, Ted Stebbins, Eugenia Summer, MaryJo Viola, Michele Vishny, and Wallace Weston.
1964: Richard Betts, Ruth Bowman, Vivian Cameron, Kathleen Cohen, Paula Gerson, Ronald Johnson, Jim Jordan, William Kloss, Rose-Carol Long, Phyllis Anina Moriarty, Annie Shaver-Crandell, and Alan Wallach.
1963: Lilian Armstrong, Richard Brilliant, Vivian Ebersman, Francoise Forster-Hahn, Caroline Houser, Susan Koslow, E. Solomon, Lauren Soth, Richard Spear, Virginia Stotz, Roxanna Sway, Athena Tacha, and Roger Welchans.
1962: Jo Anne Bernstein, Jacquelyn Clinton, Shirley Crosman, Frances Fergusson, Gloria Fiero, Jaroslav Folda, Harlan Holladay, Seymour Howard, David Merrill, John Paoletti, Aimee Brown Price, Thomas Sloan, Elisabeth Stevens, Anne Betty Weinshenker, and William Wixom.
1961: Matthew Baigell, Margaret Diane David, Bowdoin Davis, David Farmer, J. Forbes, Isabelle Hyman, Clifton Olds, Marion Roberts, and Conrad Ross.
1960: Shirley Blum, Kathleen Brandt, Eugene Kleinbauer, Edward Navone, Linda Nochlin, and J. Pollitt.
1959: Geraldine Fowle, Carol Krinsky, James O’Gorman, and Ann Warren.
1958: Samuel Edgerton, Carla Lord, Damie Stillman, and Clare Vincent.
1957: Marcel Franciscono, Bruce Glaser, Jane Hutchison, and Susan McKillop.
1956: Svetlana Alpers, David Driskell, John Goelet, Joel Isaacson, and Jack Spector.
1955: Lola Gellman, Irving Lavin, and Suzanne Lewis.
1954: Franklin Hazlehurst, Thomas McCormick, Jules Prown, Irving Sandler, and Lucy Freeman Sandler.
1953: Dorathea Beard, Margaret McCormick, and Jack Wasserman.
1951: Wen C. Fong.
1950: Alan Fern.
1949: Dario Covi and Ann-Sofi Lindsten.
1947: Ellen Conant and Ilene Forsyth.
News from the Art and Academic Worlds
posted May 17, 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.
Damien Hirst Show Sparks Accusations of Cultural Appropriation
Damien Hirst launched his first major show of new works in ten years earlier this month in Venice, shortly ahead of the opening of the Venice Biennale. But along with massive crowds, Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable is attracting charges of cultural appropriation, with one of Hirst’s sculptures replicating a Nigerian work from the fourteenth century without proper historical context. (Read more from Artsy.)
Cultural Appropriation and the Privilege of Creative Assumption
When the Canadian writer W. P. Kinsella died last year at age 81, many laudatory obituaries politely noted that he had been the subject of controversy involving cultural appropriation in the 1980s. Critics, both white and Indigenous, had objected vociferously to Kinsella’s “Indian” stories, in which the writer used a first-person narrator to tell funny tales of reserve life that included bumbling white bureaucrats and native tricksters. (Read more from the Globe and Mail.)
Words Fly on Free-Speech Bill
Numerous states are considering legislation designed to ensure free speech on college campuses, following violent protests over speakers at the University of California, Berkeley, and Middlebury College. Some of the bills would, controversially, mandate punishing students who disrupt campus speakers and require institutions to keep mum on political issues—and perhaps nowhere has the debate been as contentious as in Wisconsin. (Read more from Inside Higher Ed.)
Student Rights and the Role of Faculty
Despite the few reasonable similarities between students and customers, it’s still a hair-raising comparison for most faculty. I wonder if we might look at the issue more constructively by considering it from the vantage of student rights. (Read more from Faculty Focus.)
For Robert Rauschenberg, No Artist Is an Island
We tend to think of artists as natural loners, off in their studios, wrestling with their inner selves. But Robert Rauschenberg: Among Friends, which opens soon at the Museum of Modern Art, points us in a different direction. It situates Rauschenberg’s work amid that of two dozen fellow artists who provided an audience for one another in New York City during the 1950s and 1960s. (Read more from the New York Times.)
The Arts Brand
“Branding” is a somewhat confusing topic. Briefly, our “brand” is the public’s awareness and perception of our organizations and the goods and services we offer. It is the sum of their perceptions and experiences and is created by all the various parts of our organizations. (Read more from Barry’s Blog.)
Demystifying the Journal Article
One of the most important parts of professionalization is publishing your research. Much of what I’ve learned about publishing comes from submitting papers to journals, incorporating reviewer comments, workshopping papers, and having conversations with colleagues and mentors. (Read more from Inside Higher Ed.)
Artists’ Commissions, Tech Gift, and Guns: The Legal Issues Facing US Museums
What’s keeping museum lawyers up at night? The new future. That was the message at the annual meeting of over two hundred museum professionals and lawyers in Dallas. They discussed how to stay out of trouble when commissioning installation and performance art, how to prepare for changes to US tax law, and how best to collaborate with technology companies. (Read more from the Art Newspaper.)
Should Lynda.com be the next CAA benefit?
posted May 16, 2017
Lynda.com is an elearning platform offering nearly six thousand online courses—including design, photography, and web development—that are taught by experts in the field. Courses consist of videos and tutorials.
An annual membership to Lynda.com is $360 and we are hoping to offer it for far less—like more than $200 less. As members, would you take advantage of the deal?
Let us know by answering yes or no below:
CAA Announces the Opening of 2018 Terra Foundation and 2017 Wyeth Foundation Publications Grants
posted May 15, 2017
Image credit: William Glackens, “Beach, St. Jean de Luz.” 1929, oil on canvas, Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1988.8
CAA welcomes applications and letters of intent for the 2018 Terra Foundation for American Art International Publication Grant and the 2017 Wyeth Foundation for American Art Publication Grant.
The Terra Foundation grant provides financial support for the publication of book-length scholarly manuscripts in the history of American art circa 1500–1980. The grant considers submissions covering what is the current-day geographic United States.
The deadline for letters of intent is September 15, 2017.
Awards of up to $15,000 will be made in three distinct categories:
- Grants to US publishers for manuscripts considering American art in an international context
- Grants to non-US publishers for manuscripts on topics in American art
- Grants for the translation of books on topics in American art to or from English.
The Wyeth Foundation for American Art Publication Grant supports the publication of books on American art through the Wyeth Foundation for American Art Publication Grant, administered by CAA.
The deadline for submissions is September 15, 2017.
For this grant program, “American art” is defined as art created in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Eligible for the grant are book-length scholarly manuscripts in the history of American art, visual studies, and related subjects that have been accepted by a publisher on their merits but cannot be published in the most desirable form without a subsidy. The deadline for the receipt of applications is September 15 of each year.
We’ve partnered with MOO!
posted May 12, 2017
Here at CAA, we are constantly thinking of how we can enhance our members’ career and professional development needs. We know for many of you, it’s a large part of why you’ve decided to join the CAA community. That is why we have added MOO as a member benefit partner. MOO is an award-winning print and design company specializing in premium business stationery and promotional materials. We think our members will find lots to be happy about using MOO.
Starting today, every CAA member can receive 20% off MOO products.
We liked that MOO is passionate about helping people of all abilities design the best looking and highest quality print products.
Simply log in to your CAA account for instructions and the sign-up link. What are you waiting for? Get a MOO-ve on taking advantage of this great benefit!
Not a CAA member? Join today.
New in caa.reviews
posted May 12, 2017
John Hawley reviews Rembrandt’s First Masterpiece at the Morgan Library and Museum. The show provided “a rare opportunity to engage with Rembrandt’s painted Judas Returning the Thirty Pieces of Silver (1629) and the three surviving preparatory drawings associated with it.” Despite some “flaws in conception and execution,” the exhibition offered a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for visitors.” Read the full review at caa.reviews.
Laura Roulet visits Puerto Rican Light (Cueva Vientos) (2015), a site-specific installation created by Allora & Calzadilla and commissioned by the Dia Art Foundation. Set in a remote cave in Puerto Rico, the project “is a post-colonial inversion and commentary on the complicated state of U.S.-Puerto Rican relations” and “a way of putting Puerto Rico on the map for serious international art travelers.” Read the full review at caa.reviews.
Eric Kramer reads The Grid and the River: Philadelphia’s Green Places, 1682–1876 by Elizabeth Milroy. An “authoritative and compelling portrait of how a city’s actual landscape fabric has been fashioned through a process of negotiating and representing a dominant idea about landscape’s place in American culture,” the volume builds “a more nuanced and positive image of how cities and landscapes coexist.”
Through a generous grant from the Wyeth Foundation for American Art in 2014, CAA provided financial support for the publication of Elizabeth Murray’s The Grid and the River: Philadelphia’s Green Places, 1682–1876. Read the full review at caa.reviews.
Maxime Durocher dicusses Zeynep Yürekli’s Architecture and Hagiography in the Ottoman Empire: The Politics of Bektashi Shrines in the Classical Age. “Combining a study of hagiographical texts with an advanced analysis of the sixteenth-century architectural transformation of two Anatolian shrines,” the author “provides an insightful study” that “contributes to the revival of Sufi studies.” Read the full review at caa.reviews.An Interview with Holly Hughes of the NEA Four
posted May 11, 2017
Hunter O’Hanian, CAA executive director, recently spoke to the artist Holly Hughes about proposed budget cuts for the National Endowment for the Arts. Hughes is known for being one of the NEA Four—artists whose work was described by Republican lawmakers as controversial and even pornographic. The debacle over the NEA Four led to the closing of the federal agency’s program of giving grants to individual artists.
O’Hanian and Hughes discuss ten points that originated with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that advised Trump on his recent federal budget proposal. The two take on each suggestion point by point, offering a rebuttal to the Heritage Foundation’s logic.
Though we know the most recent budget does fund the NEA and NEH through the fall of 2017 with a small increase in funding—and we are thrilled about that—we do not believe we are in the clear. When funding is allocated again in the fall this conversation should serve as a reminder to why the arts and humanities are so important to our world.
News from the Art and Academic Worlds
posted May 10, 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.
In Higher Ed, Adjuncts May Have Most to Lose if Obamacare Is Repealed
Perhaps no group working on college campuses had more at stake in last week’s vote in the US House of Representatives to repeal the Affordable Care Act than contingent faculty members. Full-time faculty and staff members can typically count on their institutions to provide health insurance, but most part-time professors are on their own. (Read more from the Chronicle of Higher Education.)
Defying Trump, Bipartisan Deal Would Boost Funding for NEA and NEH (with Strings Attached)
Far from slashing or even zeroing the budgets for the NEA and NEH, a bipartisan budget agreement to avoid a government shutdown—which, at this writing, awaits final passage and President Trump’s signature—includes moderate increases culture-related institutions and programs. (Read more from CultureGrrl.)
The NEA Really Isn’t “Welfare for Rich, Liberal Élites”
Killing the NEA has long been a cause célèbre for budget hawks and social conservatives. But contrary to claims from Trump and Fox News, and to the insecurities of artists, the NEA is not a federal spigot for decadent city élites. Rather, its grant-making effectively spans the country and helps rural, not–New York, not-wealthy, Trump-friendly districts. (Read more from the New Yorker.)
Beyond Aesthetic: Art That Wills Change
Last weekend, seven artists from around the world gathered in the Logan Center for the Arts to address a weighty question: “What Is an Artistic Practice of Human Rights?” Through a multiday summit that explored issues such as US criminal policies, the refugee crisis, and the hypocrisy of governments, the artists not only formed a community among themselves, but constructed a discourse with the audience. (Read more from the Chicago Maroon.)
Help Desk: The Penis Award
I am a midcareer (female) artist married to an established (male) artist. Throughout our relationship, I have endured innumerable comments and actions that validate my husband and cast me into the shadows. The sexism of the art world astounds me, but I’m not sure what I can do. (Read more from Daily Serving.)
Ten Art Schools That Promise a Healthy Return on Investment
A career in the arts is not generally thought of as a pathway to a great salary, job security and financial fortune. But where you go to school to get your degree can have an impact. With that in mind, Forbes examined a recent report from PayScale.com, a salary, benefits, and compensation information company based in Seattle. (Read more from Forbes.)
A Fair-Use Primer for Graduate Students
When I try to imagine what a Campbell’s Soup can looks like, I am not sure if what I see is the actual object or one of Andy Warhol’s famous works. These iconic cans, regardless of their importance to modern art and American history, are a tangle of popular culture, artistic expression, and copyright litigation, all of which knot around the concept of fair use. (Read more from Inside Higher Ed.)
Arts Groups on Edge as New York City Reevaluates Cultural Funding
The elite, marble-arched museums of Manhattan never had to worry about competing for city money with the small-fry arts groups of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx. But this two-tiered system of haves and have-nots is poised to undergo its biggest transformation in decades. (Read more from the New York Times.)
CAA Goes to France
posted May 08, 2017
The College Art Association has been invited to speak about its Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts at two conferences taking place in France in early June. On June 4 in Fontainebleau, executive director Hunter O’Hanian will participate in a session on “Fair Use and Open Content” at the seventh annual Festival of Art History, along with speakers from the Paul Mellon Center for Studies in British Art (UK), the J. Paul Getty Trust, and the French Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art.
Two days later, on June 6, Hunter will join Peter Jaszi, lead principal investigator on the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, in Paris to speak at a session on fair use during the annual conference of ICOM Europe. They will be joined by speakers from England, France, and Germany, to discuss “Copyright Flexibilities in the US and EU: How Fair Use and Other Flexibilities are Helping Museums to Fulfill their Mission.”
Both conferences provide opportunities for CAA to share its work on fair use with EU visual arts professionals. Though this feature of copyright law is virtually unique to the United States, there is increasing interest in Europe to provide greater access to copyrighted materials, especially in the cultural sectors of these countries. Travel costs for CAA’s participation are underwritten by a generous grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
Advocacy Matters
posted May 05, 2017
Back in January, CAA was one of the first national organizations to speak against the threatened cuts to the NEA and NEH by the new administration. We participated in the national advocacy days for both the NEA and NEH and CAA staff made more than 20 visits to Congressional offices. In addition, we put together an Advocacy Toolkit to help CAA members reach out to their elected representatives to make their voices heard.
We were pleased to learn that the both the NEA and NEH (along with many other important Federal agencies) will continue to be funded in the current fiscal year. In fact, they even received a slight increase. Importantly, we saw strong bipartisan support for these programs in Congress as they understood the importance of art and culture in the lives of so many people in this country.
However, we don’t believe that these programs are out of the woods yet. Later this summer the president will offer a more detailed budget for the next fiscal year which will begin this fall. We are concerned that the president’s proposal will try to make the same cuts we saw in the budget he prepared last March. We ask you to stay alert to the news and to continue to reach out to your elected representatives to let them know how important these agencies are to our well being.
In advance, many thanks for all of your support.
Best,
Hunter O’Hanian
Executive Director