CAA News Today
NEA Releases Report on Women Artists
posted Dec 02, 2008
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has released a new study in its Research Note series that shows women are making gains in traditionally male artist occupations, but still earn less than male artists. Women Artists: 1990–2005 takes a closer look at female artist employment trends that were previously mentioned in the NEA report Artists in the Workforce: 1990–2005, published in May 2008.
Totaling almost 919,000 artists in 2005, women represented 46 percent of the artist labor force, comparable to their percentage of all civilian workers. The note reveals significant patterns in pay disparity, demographic, and educational trends, and women’s advancement in various art fields over the past fifteen years. This note draws on data from the US Census Bureau’s 2003–5 American Community Surveys, along with the 1990 and 2000 population censuses.
Among the key findings:
Female artists earn less than male artists. Women artists who work full-year, full-time earn $0.75 for every dollar made by men artists. Women workers in general earn $0.77 for every dollar earned by men.
- Women’s pay disparity increases with age. In 2003–5, women artists aged 18 to 24 earned $0.95 for every $1 made by young men artists. This ratio fell to $0.67 for 45-to-54-year-olds. Similar pay gaps by age are found in the overall labor market
- Pay gaps vary by occupation. Men and women had closer earnings parity in lower-paying performing arts occupations (such as musicians and dancers), where women earned an average of $0.92 for every dollar earned by men. The gap tended to be larger in nonperforming art occupations (such as designers and art directors), where women earned 72 percent of what men earn
- Pay gaps vary by state. The pay disparity was smaller in ten states, such as New York and Arizona, where women made 80 percent or more of what men made. Women made less than 75 percent of what men made in twenty-seven states, including Virginia, Michigan, and North Dakota
Women make up just under half of all artists nationwide (46 percent), yet they are underrepresented in many artist professions. In 2003–5, nearly eight out of ten announcers and architects were men.
Women have achieved a greater presence in some artist occupations. By 2003–5, women made up 43 percent of all photographers and 22 percent of all architects—representing gains of 11 and 7 percent, respectively, since 1990.
Women artists are as likely to be married as female workers in general, but they are less likely to have children. In 2003–5, more than half of all women artists and all women workers were married. Yet only 29 percent of women artists had children under 18, almost six percentage points lower than for women workers in general.
Female artists cluster in low-population states. Women made up more than 55 percent of the artist labor force in Iowa, Alaska, New Hampshire, and Mississippi in 2003–5. They represent well below half of all artists in New York (45.8 percent) and in California (42.6 percent).
December 2008 Issue of The Art Bulletin Published
posted Dec 02, 2008
The December 2008 issue of The Art Bulletin, the leading publication of art history in English, has just been published. Your copy will arrive in the mail in the coming days.
In his essay for the journal’s Interventions series, Partha Mitter interrogates the nexus of power and authority that has effectively marginalized non-Western modernism and proposes a revisionist methodology. Alastair Wright, Rebecca M. Brown, Saloni Mathur, and Ajay Sinha write brief responses to Mitter’s text.
For “The Body of Eve in Andrea Pisano’s Creation Relief,” Jack M. Greenstein examines the artist’s treatment of the figures in the fourteenth-century Creation of Eve panel on the campanile of Florence Cathedral, which set a new standard for naturalism in relief sculpture.
With “In Form We Trust: Neoplatonism, the Gold Standard, and the Machine Art Show,” Jennifer Jane Marshall considers the Museum of Modern Art’s 1934 exhibition as a case study for investigating interwar American modernism’s negotiation between meaning, materiality, and value. Also in twentieth-century art, Claude Cernuschi and Andrzej Herczynski clarify the mechanics of Jackson Pollock’s handling of liquid paint under gravity and the broader implications for the meaning and ethos of his work.
The reviews section includes Ellen T. Baird’s assessment of Elizabeth Hill Boone’s recent book Cycles of Time and Meaning in the Mexican Books of Fate, and Kymberly N. Pinder’s evaluation of the exhibition Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love at the Walker Art Center, among other reviews. Please read the full table of contents for more details.
Show Your Art at the Los Angeles Conference
posted Dec 01, 2008
CAA’s Services to Artists Committee invites artist members to participate in ARTexchange, an open forum for sharing work at the Annual Conference. ARTexchange, to be held Friday evening, February 27, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, is free and open to the public; a cash bar is available.
The space on, above, and beneath a six-foot table is available for each artist’s exhibition of prints, paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, and small installations; performance, sound, and spoken word are also welcome. Previous ARTexchange participants have found that this parameter sparked creative displays, and the committee looks forward to surprises and inspiring solutions at the upcoming conference. Please note that artwork cannot be hung on walls, and it is not possible to run power cords from laptops or other electronic devices to outlets—bring fully charged batteries.
To participate in Los Angeles, please write to the ARTexchange coordinators, with the subject heading “CAA ARTexchange.” Include your CAA member number and a brief description of what you plan to present. Please provide details regarding performance, sound, spoken word, or technology-based work, including laptop presentations. You will receive an email confirmation. Because ARTexchange is a popular venue and participation is based on available space, early applicants are given preference.
Participants are responsible for their work; CAA is not liable for losses or damages. Sales of work are not permitted. Deadline: December 15, 2008.
Photograph by Teresa Rafidi.
Mentors Needed for Los Angeles Conference
posted Nov 25, 2008
Participating as a mentor in CAA’s two Career Services mentoring programs—the Artists’ Portfolio Review and Career Development Mentoring—is an excellent way to serve the field while assisting the professional growth of the next generation of artists and scholars.
Artists’ Portfolio Review
CAA seeks curators and critics to participate in the Artists’ Portfolio Review during the 2009 Annual Conference in Los Angeles. This program provides an opportunity for artists to have slides, VHS videos, digital images, or DVDs of their work critiqued by professionals; member artists are paired with a critic, curator, or educator for twenty-minute appointments. Whenever possible, artists are matched with mentors based on medium or discipline. Volunteer mentors provide an important service to artists, enabling them to receive professional criticism of their work. Art historians and studio artists must be tenured; critics, museum educators, and curators must have five years’ experience. Curators and educators must have current employment with a museum or university gallery.
Interested candidates must be current CAA members, register for the conference, and be willing to provide at least five successive twenty-minute critiques in a two-hour period on one of the two days of the review: Thursday, February 26, and Friday, February 27, 8:00 AM–NOON and 1:00–5:00 PM each day.
Send your CV and a brief letter of interest to: Lauren Stark, Artists’ Portfolio Review, CAA, 275 Seventh Ave., 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001; or email them to lstark@collegeart.org. Deadline: December 12, 2008.
Career Development Mentoring
CAA seeks mentors from all areas of art history, studio art, art education, film and video, graphic design, the museum professions, and other related fields to serve in CAA’s Career Development Mentoring. Mentors give valuable advice to emerging and midcareer professionals, reviewing cover letters, CVs, slides, and other pertinent job-search materials in twenty-minute sessions.
Interested candidates must be current CAA members, register for the conference, and be prepared to give five successive twenty-minute critiques in a two-hour period on one of the two days of the session: Thursday, February 26, and Friday, February 27, 8:00 AM–NOON and 1:00–5:00 PM each day. Art historians and studio artists must be tenured; critics, museum educators, and curators must have five years’ experience. Curators and educators must have current employment with a museum or university gallery.
This mentoring session is not intended as a screening process by institutions seeking new hires. Applications are not accepted from individuals whose departments are conducting a faculty search in the field in which they are mentoring. Mentors should not attend as candidates for positions in the same field in which workshop candidates may be applying.
Please send your CV and a brief letter of interest to: Lauren Stark, Career Development Mentoring, CAA, 275 Seventh Ave., 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001; or email them to lstark@collegeart.org. Deadline: December 12, 2008.
Continental Rifts: Contemporary Time-Based Works of Africa
posted Nov 24, 2008
Curated by Mary Nooter Roberts, Continental Rifts: Contemporary Time-Based Works of Africa is the 2009 CAA Annual Exhibition, to be held at the Fowler Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Opening on February 22, Continental Rifts will be presented in the Getty Gallery, the Fowler Museum’s largest space for temporary exhibitions. On view during the CAA Annual Conference, the show continues to June 14, 2009.
For more on the Continental Rifts, please read the article from the November 2008 CAA News.
Recent Deaths in the Arts
posted Nov 24, 2008
CAA recognizes the lifetime professional and personal achievements of the following artists, art historians, curators, educators, and critics, who recently passed away.
- Tracey Baran, a contemporary art photographer, died on November 18, 2008, at the age of 33
- Don Baum, a Chicago artist, teacher, and curator who exhibited early work by the Hairy Who, died on October 28, 2008. He was 86
- Cundo Bermudez, a second-generation modern artist from Cuba, died on October 30, 2008. He was 94
- Terry Fox, an American conceptual artist, died on October 14, 2008, in Cologne, Germany, at the age of 65
- Walter Gabrielson, a California-based artist and teacher, died on November 12, 2008, at age 73
- Ludger Gerdes, a German painter and sculptor, died in October 2008 at the age of 54
- Grace Hartigan, an Abstract Expressionist painter, died on November 16, 2008. She was 86
- James Johnson, an art historian, curator, and former dean of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Connecticut, died on October 8, 2008, at the age of 92
- Jan Krugier, a Swiss art dealer who displayed and sold old-master drawings, African art, and modern and contemporary art, died on November 15, 2008. He was 80
- Bill Martin, a landscape painter based in Mendocino, California, died on October 28, 2008, at age 65
- Muriel Oxenberg Murphy, who cofounded the American painting and sculpture department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, died in October 2008. She was 82
- Ben Schaafsma, program director for the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts in New York, died on October 25, 2008, in New York. He was 26
- Joel Weinstein, an art critic and publisher of the magazine Mississippi Mud, died on October 31, 2008, at age 62.
Read all past obituaries in the arts on the CAA website.
Projectionists and Room Monitors Needed
posted Nov 21, 2008
CAA seeks applications for projectionists at the 2009 Annual Conference in Los Angeles. Successful applicants are paid $10 per hour and receive complimentary conference registration. Projectionists are required to work a minimum of four 2½-hour program sessions, from Wednesday, February 25, to Saturday, February 28, and attend a training meeting Wednesday morning at 7:30 AM. Projectionists must be able to operate a 35mm slide projector; familiarity with digital projectors is preferred.
Room monitors are needed for CAA’s two Career Services mentoring programs, the Artists’ Portfolio Review and Career Development Mentoring, and for several offsite conference sessions. Successful candidates are paid $10 per hour and receive complimentary conference registration. Room monitors are required to work a minimum of eight hours, checking in participants and facilitating the work of the mentors.
All projectionist and room-monitor candidates must be US citizens or permanent US residents. Please send a brief letter of interest to: Lauren Stark, CAA Manager of Programs, CAA, 275 Seventh Ave., 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001; or write to lstark@collegeart.org. Deadline: December 12, 2008.
2009 Annual Conference Sessions Posted
posted Nov 20, 2008
The titles of papers and names of presenters at the 2009 Annual Conference in Los Angeles have been published on the conference website. Arranged by day and time, session listings also give the chronological order of speakers, session locations, and names of session chairs.
Information about poster sessions and sessions and events taking place at the Getty Center, Getty Villa, and J. Paul Getty Museum are also published.
Notice of the 97th Annual Members’ Business Meeting
posted Nov 17, 2008
Notice is hereby given that a meeting of the members of the College Art Association, Inc., will be held on Friday, February 27, 2009, 5:00–6:00 PM (PST) in West Hall Meeting Room 502A, Level 2, Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, California. CAA President Paul Jaskot will preside.
By-Law and Resolution Information
In accordance with the By-laws, Article IV, Sections 1, 2, 3, and 4:
- The Association shall hold an annual business meeting in conjunction with the Annual Conference at a place and on a date and time fixed by the Board of Directors. The purpose of the Annual Meeting is to transact such business as may come before the Meeting and to elect new Directors to the Board
- Active Members may propose resolutions for consideration at the Annual Meeting. Any such proposals must (i) be received by the office of the Executive Director no later than eighty (80) days prior to the Annual Meeting; (ii) be in proper parliamentary form; (iii) be signed by at least twenty-five (25) Active Members of the Association in good standing; (iv) be no more than three hundred (300) words in length; and (v) deal with matters relating to the purposes of the Association as set forth in Article II. The Board may also propose matters for consideration at the Annual Meeting
- The Notice of the Annual Meeting shall give notice of the date, time, and place of the Annual Meeting, the names of and other information regarding candidates for the Board of Directors, and of any resolutions or other matters to be considered at the Annual Meeting. The Notice shall be served personally, by mail or by electronic mail, to all members entitled to notice at least sixty (60) days prior to the date designated for the Annual Meeting
- At the Annual Meeting, the President shall determine the order in which resolutions or other matters may be considered. As the President may deem appropriate, resolutions from the floor may be considered at the Annual Meeting
The complete by-laws can be found online. Any proposed resolutions should be sent to: Linda Downs, c/o CAA Executive Assistant, CAA, 275 Seventh Ave., 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001, with a copy, in Microsoft Word, sent to vjalet@collegeart.org. The deadline for receipt of any proposed resolutions to be considered at the Annual Meeting is December 8, 2008.
Agenda
- Call to Order: Paul Jaskot
- Approval of Minutes of February 22, 2008, Annual Meeting
- President’s Report: Paul Jaskot
- Financial Report: John Hyland, Jr., Treasurer
- Strategic Planning Discussion
- Governance Task Force
- Old Business
- New Business
- Results of Election of New Directors: Paul Jaskot
If you are unable to attend the Annual Meeting, please complete a proxy to appoint the individuals named thereon to: (i) vote, in their discretion, on such matters as may properly come before the Annual Meeting; and (ii) to vote in any and all adjournments thereof. In early January, CAA will either mail you a proxy and a postage-paid reply envelope (along with a ballot), or email you instructions for completing your proxy (and casting your vote) online. Your proxy must be received by no later than 5:00 PM (PST) on February 27, 2009.
Barbara Nesin, Secretary
College Art Association
November 1, 2008
MFA Standards Updated
posted Nov 13, 2008
Last month, the CAA Board of Directors approved revisions to the MFA Standards, one of the organization’s many Standards and Guidelines for visual-art professionals. The revised document, prepared by a subcommittee of the Professional Practices Committee (PPC), is now published to the CAA website.
During summer and fall 2008, Jean Miller, chair of the PPC-MFA Standards Review Committee, and Charles Wright, a PPC member who is also leading a discussion about the doctorate in studio art, worked on a draft of a revised MFA Standards. Last revised and approved in 1991, the document was submitted to the board by Maxine Payne, PPC chair.
The PPC-MFA Committee contacted art and design colleagues across the nation throughout the revision process to gather ideas for changes. The response was very good, with certain themes or points reoccurring. Many of those queried thought that the idea of the MFA as the terminal degree in art and design needed to be reinforced. Others found the language in the 1991 standards to be dated, so it was rewritten throughout to reflect present-day issues and concerns.
Contemporary and evolving studio practices, interpretation of ideas, and the role of art and design in innovation were all thought to be important concepts. Information about technology and experimental media, collaborative works, and interdisciplinary applications of art and design were also considered to be critical to current art practices for students in MFA programs.
Some respondents advocated for robust and comprehensive educational curricula that include critical studies, art history, and visual culture. The inclusion of statements about diversity and how curriculum must support non-Western and Western cultures was important to all.
The PPC thanks everyone who helped in the revision, in particular, Carmon Colangelo, Patricia Olynyk, Nora Sturges, Judith Thorpe, and Jim Hopfensperger.