CAA News Today
Affiliated Society News: November 2020
posted Nov 06, 2020
Affiliated Society News shares the new and exciting things CAA’s affiliated organizations are working on including activities, awards, publications, conferences, and exhibitions.
Interested in becoming an Affiliated Society? Learn more here.
American Institute for Conservation
Conservators around the world will answer questions about their work on Ask a Conservator Day, November 18th, 2020. We hold Ask a Conservator day in November in remembrance of the flooding of Florence on November 4th, 1966, which damaged priceless cultural heritage. However, in response to the catastrophe, incredible efforts were made—and are still being undertaken—to conserve the items impacted by the flood.
Ask a Conservator Day follows in the spirit of that international collaboration and exchange of knowledge. We celebrate the growth of the field inspired by the response to the flood through this opportunity for people to learn about conservation and preservation directly from conservators on social media.
Ask questions on subjects, mediums, and topics that interest you, or see if your favorite cultural heritage institution is participating. Last year’s subjects included discussion on favorite projects, career advice, everything—including grossest collection item or condition issue encountered. Use the hashtag #AskAConservator on social media platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram) to catch up with previous discussion and join in the conversation on the 18th!
Association of Print Scholars
The Feminist Art Project
Rejoinder Call for Submissions — Climate in Crisis
“Climate change,” as former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson so astutely notes, “requires a feminist solution.” Global heating is causing rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and the circulation of new pathogens. It impacts economically, socially, and politically marginalized people and communities most severely. Women and children, the majority of the world’s poor, are already disproportionately burdened by its effects. In the Global North, the climate breakdown compounds the environmental racism that many communities of color already experience. Unless the richer, whiter nations of the Global North make a seismic shift in their priorities, experts predict that the Global South will bear the brunt of the climate emergency, with dire consequences inevitable.
This issue of Rejoinder will address the climate crisis in our midst. Submissions (including essays, commentary, criticism, fiction, poetry, and artwork) should address this theme from feminist, queer, social and racial justice-inspired perspectives. We particularly welcome contributions at the intersection of scholarship and activism. For manuscript preparation details, please visit: https://irw.rutgers.edu/about-rejoinder. Rejoinder is an online journal published by the Institute for Research on Women at Rutgers University in partnership with The Feminist Art Project. Please send completed written work (2,000-2,500 words max), jpegs of artwork, and short bios to the editor, Sarah Tobias (stobias@rutgers.edu) by January 6, 2021.
Society for Architectural Historians
The Call for Session Proposals for the Society of Architectural Historians’ 2022 Annual International Conference in Pittsburgh has opened. Please visit the call here: https://www.sah.org/2022/call-for-sessions
Society of Contemporary Art Historians (SCAH)
Announcing New Initiatives of the Society of Contemporary Art Historians
The Society of Contemporary Art Historians (SCAH), an affiliate society of the College Art Association, is proud to announce the launch of several new projects, publications, and initiatives aimed at promoting equitable and transcultural histories of contemporary art.
Online Programming
Following the widespread shift to online programming in the wake of Covid-19, SCAH presented several virtual programs that were well attended by an international audience. These included a screening of films by artist Nancy Holt followed by a conversation between Kirsten Swenson and Rebecca Uchill; a conversation between video artists Meriem Bennani, Orian Barki, and Marisa Olson; and the panel discussion “Toward an Anti-Racist Contemporary Art History,” featuring the art and architectural historians and curators Amy K. Hamlin, Christina Knight, Ana María León, Alpesh Kantilal Patel, and Ellen Y. Tani. Archived videos from these events are available to view on the SCAH website. A follow-up anti-racist contemporary art history bibliography edit-a-thon is scheduled for Friday, December 4th, 2020 and will be complemented by a related workshop to be scheduled in January 2021. Our 2021 CAA panel focuses on the subject of “Aggregators and Agitators” and will be announced alongside the annual conference’s schedule.
New SCAH Publication: Foreign Language Index
SCAH has published the inaugural issue of a new open-access publication, Foreign Language Index (FLI), which is available here via the SCAH website. This annual journal comprises abstracts and commentary on recent non-anglophone contemporary art history scholarship. The first issue compiles entries by international contributors working across sixteen languages: Albanian, Arabic, Chinese, Danish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.
Curatorial Opportunity
In an effort to respond quickly to diminished exhibition opportunities for artists in the wake of Covid-19, SCAH turned its website over to current and recent graduates of the MFA Program in Art Practice at Stanford University. Images of their work populates multiple pages throughout the organization’s presence; more information about the artists can be found here. Moving forward, SCAH’s website will continue to serve as a rotating online exhibition platform. Accordingly, SCAH currently seeks candidates to fill a newly established curator-at-large position on its executive board. Position details can be found here.
Membership
The organization recently revised its membership categories, making it easy to join SCAH at varying levels of support. Members can now access more information about members’ ongoing projects and connect with others in the SCAH community through the site.
SECAC
2020 Conference Updates
VCUarts will host SECAC 2020 from November 30 to December 11. The fully virtual conference will have over 80 breakout sessions, plenary events, and networking opportunities, including:
- Keynote Lecture by Valerie Cassel Oliver, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
- Virtual Juried Exhibition at the Virtual Anderson at VCUarts, with remarks and Best-in-Show awards presented by Juror Sarah Eckhardt, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
- Racial Justice Town Hall hosted by the SECAC Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and facilitated by Marian Vassar
- SECAC Mentorship Program
To register for the conference, please visit: https://secac.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/10/home
The preliminary schedule is now available on our virtual conference platform:
https://secac.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/9/sessiongallery/schedule
Questions regarding the conference should be directed to Conference Director Carly Phinizy, secac2020@vcu.edu.
Call for Applications: SECAC Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Awards
To recognize the exceptional work of those ndividuals historically underrepresented in SECAC, higher education, and arts institutions, applications are now being accepted for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Awards, which cover the cost of conference registration plus two years of SECAC membership for five recipients.
Qualifications:
- Those who have been underrepresented in their field for any reason, but especially due to race, are welcomed to apply.
- Preference is given to SECAC 2020 selected session chairs, presenters, or Juried Exhibition artists who are current members.
To Apply:
Submit a brief CV (3 pages max) with full contact information and a statement (250 words max) explaining how your participation furthers the goals of this award to SECACaction@gmail.com.
Deadline: 11/13/2020*
*Those selected for this award must complete membership and conference registration paperwork with SECAC prior to receiving funding.
William Morris Society in the United States
The William Morris Society in the United States strives to publicize the life and work of William Morris and his associates. Members receive the print newsletter, Useful & Beautiful and the biannual Journal of William Morris Studies, along with a digital version of the William Morris Magazine from London. The Society offers the annual Joseph R. Dunlap Memorial Fellowship and its activities encompass lectures, conferences, social gatherings, and site visits.
The society will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary in 2021. We shall be presenting panels (virtually) at the Modern Language Association Annual Convention in January on the topics of “Morris and Biography: Letters Archives, Artifacts” and “Revisiting William Morris and the Arts and Crafts: Reception and Influence,” the second sponsored with the Forums on Book History, Print Cultures, and Lexicography. Our session at CAA, entitled “William Morris Today,” will hold its live discussion on Saturday, February 13 at 6:00pm. We will also have our business meeting and organize a virtual visit to the Grolier Club, where librarian Meghan Constantinou will show off the club’s remarkable Morris and private press-related related holdings. Visit our website for further information: www.morrissociety.org.
In the works are a new website, online presentations by Society members (two on collecting Morris’s books), and participation in worldwide exhibitions and a UK symposium to mark the 130th anniversary of the founding of the Kelmscott Press.
Women and Voter Suppression: A Roundtable Discussion
posted Nov 02, 2020
In honor of Election Day, we present a roundtable discussion from the 108th CAA Annual Conference in Chicago on women and voter suppression. Sponsored by the Committee on Women in the Arts, this session took place on February 13, 2020.
Chairs: Sally Brown, West Virginia University; Liz Kim, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Discussants: Karen Mary Davalos, University of Minnesota; Jo-Ann Morgan; Marshall Reese, of LigoranoReese, Independent Artists
This session considers how artists and scholars have explored voter suppression as a subject matter across historical and cultural boundaries with a view toward examining the present. In the US, voter suppression targets particularly women who are black, immigrant, elderly, young, low-income and disabled, keeping them from the polls. Since 2010, 25 states have placed new restrictions that make the exercise of fundamental voting rights harder. This change has been exacerbated by the 2013 Supreme Court ruling that struck down a key provision in the 1965 Voting Rights Act, enabling states to institute discriminatory voting laws. The legacy of Jim Crow laws persists through these recent shifts in policy, while disproportionally affecting growing voter groups such as Latino/a voters in the US. In these political times, historical lessons can be drawn from the past, in the ways women have collectively fought against political silencing. Our roundtable panelists address and illuminate how artists and activists work and have worked creatively to resist and fight voter suppression for women, as well as reflect on broader political suppression issues for women voters. From the Chicana feminist art of the 1970s, to the imagery of the revolutionary women of the Black Power Movement, to public art interventions in the Trump era, this session aims to take a broad and reflective approach to this politically urgent topic.
New in caa.reviews
posted Oct 30, 2020
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Byron Ellsworth Hamann discusses Chinese Porcelain in Colonial Mexico: The Material Worlds of an Early Modern Trade by Meha Priyadarshini. Read the full review at caa.reviews.
Prita Meier discusses Unfixed: Photography and Decolonial Imagination in West Africa by Jennifer Bajorek. Read the full review at caa.reviews.
New in caa.reviews
posted Oct 16, 2020
Holly Shaffer discusses Aquatint Worlds: Travel, Print, and Empire, 1770–1820 by Douglas Fordham. Read the full review at caa.reviews.
CWA Picks for October 2020
posted Oct 15, 2020
October Picks from the Committee on Women in the Arts celebrate the return of major international museum surveys dedicated to the creativity and power of women artists throughout the centuries, drawing attention to the seventeenth-century Italian Baroque master Artemisia Gentileschi, Venezuela’s twentieth-century Concrete sculptor Gego, and the women of Surrealism. As always, our global highlights are informed by shows and events that explore social justice issues and intersectional feminism.
Cauleen Smith, Human_3.0 Reading List: Angela Davis. Women, Race, and Class, 2015 Graphite and acrylic on paper
One Million Roses for Angela Davis
October 10, 2020–January 24, 2021
Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau, Dresden
Celebrating the singular life of Black activist and feminist Angela Davis, One Million Roses takes a closer look at Davis’s complex cultural relationship with East Germany almost fifty years after the launch of the postcard campaign, “A million roses for Angela,” in 1970-72, when she was held in prison under terrorism charges. This exhibition builds upon the formative commitment to Davis’s revolutionary aims, ideologies, and actions that was supported by the GDR, where she was welcomed as a state guest after release. On display are works by contemporary international artists who acknowledge and promote Davis’s calls for hope and non-racist democracy.
Until January 24, 2021
The National Gallery, London
A major retrospective dedicated to the Baroque master Artemisia Gentileschi, following the artist’s career from Rome to Florence, Venice, Naples, and London; includes the artist’s recently discovered personal letters, and promotes virtual events unearthing Gentileschi’s dramatic life and tremendous production.
October 9, 2020–March 21, 2021
Guggenheim Museum, New York
The first major retrospective survey in New York dedicated to the career of Venezuelan artist Gertrud Goldschmidt, known as Gego (b. 1912, Hamburg, Germany), a pioneer of postwar geometric abstraction and kinetic art, whose early career as an architect and engineer galvanized new spatial modalities in sculpture, textile, print and drawing.
Real and Imagined: Fabric Works and Video Animations by Heidi Kumao
September 15, 2020–December 4, 2020
Stamps Schools of Art & Design, Ann Arbor, MI
Heidi Kumao’s narrative fabric works and experimental animations are on view in this singular exhibition that explores the pervasive dynamics of sexual power, trauma, and incident. The title, “Real and Imagined,” underscores the contradictions of women’s voices in the public realm, inspired by testimonials and experiences from the #MeToo movement, when ‘truth’ and ‘memory’ are inevitably questioned or dismissed. Kumao’s industrial felt works utilize interesting references to simple quotidian objects—chairs, roots, ladders—allowing narrative to unfold in subtle ways as the images and stories are constructed and abstractly revealed on the heavy felt surfaces.
Curator Sabine Folie
September 30, 2020–January 10, 2021
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz
To honor Valie Export’s 80th birthday, LENTOS has organized an exhibition dedicated to the “history of the body,” a theme broadly negotiated throughout the artist’s early career and further explored in the context of the technological and digital age. On view are early works from the 1970s and contemporary projects, including performative actions, conceptual photographs, and “re-enactments” of Old Masters.
July 25–November 8, 2020
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, in cooperation with Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt
This presentation explores the contributions and positions of 34 women artists from Europe, the US, and Mexico who were identified with the art historical movement of Surrealism or connected to surrealistic activities beyond the status of muse or model. Fantastic Women features well-known figures, such as Louise Bourgeois, Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington, and Meret Oppenheim, among other pivotal figures, such as Kay Sage, Leonor Fini and Toyen.
What Are You Voting For? A Virtual Exhibition
October 9–31, 2020
Woman Made Art Gallery, Chicago, IL
Jurors: Karen Gutfreund + Sherri Cornett | Gutfreund Cornett Art
In response to the November 2020 US elections, Woman Made Gallery (WMG) has organized a virtual exhibition of 37 “self-identified” women artists whose artworks address pressing topics about race, intersectionality, politics, privilege, health care, as well as other groundbreaking subjects. Exhibiting artists include: Beth Costello, Alicia Decker, Jacqueline DesForges, Karen Fiorito, Lisa Freeman, Christine Giancola, Linda Gleitz, Leah Golberstein, Jae Green, Susan Hale, LucyJulia Hale, Edwina Jaques, Tulika Ladsariya, Beth Lakamp, Holly Ballard Martz, Sandy Mayo, Penny McElroy, Cristin Millett, Cherie M Redlinger, Sawyer Rose, Caren Helene Rudman, Gigi Salij, Sarah Schneiderman, Suzannah Schreckhise, Durba Sen, Sarah Sipling, Pauline Hudel Smith, Laurie Szujewska, Salma Taman, Millette Tapiador, Amy Usdin, Winnie van der Rijn, Mary Vaneecke, Michelle Victoria, Dominique Vitali, Kelsey Merreck Wagner, Maria Wolf.
News from the Art and Academic Worlds
posted Oct 14, 2020
Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam. Photo: GerardM on Wikimedia Commons via artnet News
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New in caa.reviews
posted Oct 09, 2020
Blake Smith reviews Liza Oliver’s book Art, Trade, and Imperialism in Early Modern French India. Read the full review at caa.reviews.
News from the Art and Academic Worlds
posted Oct 07, 2020
Hank Willis Thomas, Colonialism and Abstract Art, 2019, image courtesy the artist via Hyperallergic
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Recording now available–CAA Table Talk: Education and the Arts in a Time of Crisis
posted Oct 05, 2020
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
12:00-12:30 PM (ET)
Free and open to the public
CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION
We’re delighted to introduce CAA members to a new series of conversations between Meme Omogbai, our executive director and CEO, and N. Elizabeth Schlatter, the president of the CAA Board of Directors. Amidst so much change in our lives, workplaces, and world, join CAA leadership for an informal chat on how CAA is reshaping its efforts to provide access and resources where members need it most. Meme and Elizabeth will speak on the economic implications of COVID-19, the urgent importance of members’ scholarship, and the changing terrain of this cultural moment.
For best results, we recommend using the most up-to-date version of Chrome as your web browser. The conversation will be recorded and shared afterwards.
We would love to hear your questions, too. Please send them in advance to: caanews@collegeart.org
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Meme Omogbai is Executive Director and CEO of College Art Association (CAA). Before joining CAA, Omogbai served as a member and past Board Chair of the New Jersey Historic Trust, one of four landmark entities dedicated to preservation of the state’s historic and cultural heritage and Montclair State University’s Advisory Board. Named one of 25 Influential Black Women in Business by The Network Journal, Meme has over 25 years of experience in corporate, government, higher education, and museum sectors. As the first American of African descent to chair the American Alliance of Museums, Omogbai led an initiative to rebrand the AAM as a global, inclusive alliance. While COO and Trustee, she spearheaded a major transformation in operating performance at the Newark Museum. During her time as Deputy Assistant Chancellor of New Jersey’s Department of Higher Education, Omogbai received Legislative acknowledgement and was recognized with the New Jersey Meritorious Service Award for her work on college affordability initiatives for families. Omogbai received her MBA from Rutgers University and holds a CPA. She did post-graduate work at Harvard University’s Executive Management Program and has earned the designation of Chartered Global Management Accountant. She studied global museum executive leadership at the J. Paul Getty Trust Museum Leadership Institute, where she also served on the faculty.
N. Elizabeth Schlatter is the President of the CAA Board of Directors and Deputy Director and Curator of Exhibitions at the University of Richmond Museums, Virginia. A museum administrator, curator, and writer, she focuses on modern and contemporary art and on topics related to curating and issues specific to university museums. At UR, she has curated more than 20 exhibitions, including recent group exhibitions of contemporary art such as “Crooked Data: (Mis)Information in Contemporary Art,” “Anti-Grand: Contemporary Perspectives on Landscape,” and “Art=Text=Art: Works by Contemporary Artists.” She also serves on and chairs various University and School of Arts & Sciences committees. Prior to the University of Richmond, she worked with exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) in Washington, D.C, and in fundraising at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston. She is author of Museum Careers: A Practical Guide for Novices and Students (Left Coast Press, Inc.) and a contributor to A Life in Museums: Managing Your Museum Career (American Association of Museums). She has a BA in art history from Southwestern University in Texas, and an MA in art history from George Washington University.
Call for Participation: CAA 2021 Poster Session Highlighting Undergraduate Research in Art and Art History
posted Oct 05, 2020
Cecilia Bugno presents her work as part of the inaugural Undergraduate Research Poster Presentations at the 2020 Annual Conference. Photo: Stacey Rupolo
We’re excited to announce the 2021 Call for Participation for a special virtual poster session dedicated to undergraduate research for the 2021 Annual Conference, February 10-13.
Organized by Alexa Sand, Chair of the Division of Arts and Humanities for the Council on Undergraduate Research, and Professor of Art History and Director of Undergraduate Research at Utah State University, this session is one of several events planned for CAA 2021 to provide more opportunities for undergraduate participation.
Submissions should be sent via this google form by November 23, 2020.
Selected presenters will be notified by December 7 and will need to join CAA at the student membership rate prior to participation in the conference. Participants will also be required to register for the conference.
Undergraduate research—whether part of a faculty-directed project, class-based, or an individual pursuit on the part of a student—is an ideal example of active and engaged learning. Students in art history identify questions, evaluate source material, test ideas and theories, and produce reports in some form, usually including a significant written component. In the studio art and design fields, research can take a different form, with creative practice being one way outcomes of a project can be delivered.
This poster session will be dedicated to presenting outstanding examples of undergraduate research. Submissions are invited from students conducting research such as object and/or medium studies, text-based analysis, experimental archaeology, thesis research, and/or creative inquiry. Students may choose to present findings from ongoing research or from recently completed projects.
We also encourage submissions from faculty and museum professionals who have experience with mentoring undergraduate research in Art History, Studio Art, Graphic Design, Visual Communication, and other creative fields. Faculty posters may address specific projects or case studies of student research projects, assessment of undergraduate research, characteristics of successful programs, or other approaches that addresses the challenges and benefits to students of undergraduate research.
This project proposal is part of CAA’s Undergraduate Outreach Initiative organized collaboratively by CAA’s Education Committee, Committee on Diversity Practices, Students and Emerging Professionals Committee, and the Division of Arts and Humanities, Council on Undergraduate Research.
Please contact Alexa Sand directly at alexa.sand@usu.edu with any questions.