Holiday Past
I recently received a beautiful hand-made holiday card from an artist friend of mine. This reminded me of the illustrated letters created by artist Charles M. Russell.
This Christmas message was especially poignant because it was created shortly before Mr. Russell’s death. You can see the attached message from his widow, Nancy, in the lower left-hand corner.
You can find out more about Charlie’s “paper talk” (his name for his correspondence) here and in our latest publication.
I Spy
Our sharp-sighted work study student, Mary, pointed out that the Carter and the Oval Office has something in common – different casts of a sculpture by Frederic Remington. The Bronco Buster was one of the first works of art to become part of the museums’ collection and our scuplture is just a part of the entire group of works by artists Frederic Remington and Charles Russell collected by Amon G. Carter Sr. Thanks to a generous grant from the Jane and John Justin Foundation you can now see all of our works by these two great artists online, including the complete label information on each art work.
You can learn more about the sculpture in the Oval Office online at the White House Historical Association.
Students Visit Virtually
All of the sixth-graders (approximately 425 students) from McAnally Intermediate in Aledo, Texas, have recently been virtually visiting the Carter. Their visits have been via videoconference, a technology which facilitates live two-way audio and visual communication between students in the classroom and a museum teacher in the galleries.
During this Say It Like You See It writing program, students discuss art works in the Carter’s collection, actively write and share descriptive pieces, and compare their own words to the interpretive labels found alongside the paintings. This descriptive writing lesson was designed and is being presented jointly by the Carter’s education staff and the English teachers back at McAnally. Following the program each of the students was given a postcard size reproduction to create a polished essay. Watch for subsequent postings of some of their work. Student responses during the program were very impressive! There may be some budding curators in their midst.
Coming Soon to a Television Near You
An earlier post introduced our accessible programs, which include Connect to Art, the Carter’s free, multiple-visit program for adults with cognitive disabilities and their caregivers. See this program in action this fall when The Art of Healing Gallery television program on the Veria network features it during an upcoming episode.
Connect to Art creatively connects participants’ daily lives to the Carter’s collection of American art and demonstrates our philosophy that art positively, meaningfully, and memorably impacts lives—a major tenet of The Art of Healing Gallery.
Our thanks to The ARC of Greater Tarrant County for allowing their experience to be filmed and the producer and film crew at the AMS Production Group for helping the Education Department’s first TV shoot go off without a hitch. See a sneak peek of Gallery Teacher Erin Whitmore in action below and check the blog regularly to learn when the program will air.
Summer Reading Series Week 3
This week we travel from the early part of the nineteenth century right up to twenty-first century topics.
What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 by Daniel Walker Howe is the sixth volume in the Oxford History of the United States.
This is one of those books you can’t read while lying in bed because it weighs so much, but if you love history it’s a great read. This is the story of a country on the move. Changes in transportation and technology encourage shifts in population as well as the spread of information. Howe identifies trends and movements that still shape our country today; the power of religion was used to shape American attitudes during this period, just as it does today.
Picturing a Different West: Vision, Illustration, and the Tradition of Cather and Austin by Janis P. Stout. Texas Tech University Press: Lubbock, TX, 2007.
This book looks at the West at the beginning of the twentieth century. This is a West that the author calls “ungendered.” The opportunities for women artists and writers were greatly expanded in this wide-open space. Two women in particular, authors Willa Cather and Mary Austin, would see the West not as a “rootin’ tootin” raucous place open only to men, but a place of creative freedom for both genders.
Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder by David Weinberger. Times Books: NY, 2007.
In this book you will find the convergence of many ideas, but I like to think that it just takes us into a new frontier – much like Howe and Stout did in their descriptions of the West. Gone are the days of “one place, one thing.” Human beings in the twenty-first century are used to multiple uses and places for any one thing whether it’s a picture or a TV show or a movie. That makes everything “miscellaneous.”
Summer Reading Series Week 2
Ah, summer. Long days of good weather and bright sunshine inspired artists, writers, and philosophers to create new work that still resonates in our day.
A Summer of Hummingbirds: Love, Art, and Scandal in the Intersecting Worlds of Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Martin Johnson Heade by Christoper Benfey. Penguin Press: 2008.
What was it about the hummingbird that caught the imagination of so many after the Civil War? Writers, painters, teachers, and other well-known figures were drawn to this singular bird and to each other at the end of the nineteenth century. Christopher Benfey offers a glimpse into this creative circle and the impact they had on each other’s work.
American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau: Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work by Susan Cheever. Simon and Schuster: 2007.
Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson. W. W. Norton: 2007.
Both of these books look at the Alcott family and its professional and personal connections with the New England Transcendentalists, although the second book focuses more on Louisa and Bronson Alcott’s father-daughter relationship. Both books are entertaining and informative, but I prefer Eden’s Outcasts… simply because it focuses more on Louisa. As a former tomboy, her lack of docility and “coltish manners” really resonated with me. That’s why I loved Jo March so much.
Summer Reading Series
It’s going to be a long, hot summer in North Texas. I can think of nothing better than sitting in the shade (okay – the air conditioning) with a good book. For the next several weeks I will be blogging about books that are in some way relevant to our collection, available from the Fort Worth Public Library (my second favorite place in the summertime,) and recommended by our staff.
First, let’s talk about the ladies…
Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the fall of Madame X. Davis, Deborah. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin Group, c2003.
Many people on our staff have read this account of the scandal that rocked the art world in the late 1800s. Talk about a wardrobe malfunction! This book is a fun and informative look at this wonderful artist and the nineteenth-century glitterati that supported and frustrated him. Be sure to check out Alice Vanderbilt Shepard, another portrait by Sargent that is part of our permanent collection.
The Peabody Sisters: Three Women who Ignited American Romanticism. Marshall, Megan. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
Three remarkable women helped to shape the way people thought about philosophy, literature, art, and the status of women in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Elizabeth, Mary, and Sophia Peabody moved among the great thinkers in America and helped to define American Romanticism in a time when women had few creative outlets. Be prepared – this is a long book.
Recommended by: Katherine Moloney (Education Department)
The Girl with the Gallery: Edith Gregor Halpert and the Making of the Modern Art Market. Pollock, Lindsay. New York: Public Affairs, c2006.
It is 1926 and Edith Halpert, much like the Peabody sisters, is flying in the face of a male-dominated art world and opening her own gallery dedicated to modern art. If you are like me and don’t know much about modern art, this is a good book to dig into.
Recommended by: Polly Keffer (Docent)
Why a Painting is Like a Pizza: A Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Modern Art. Heller, Nancy. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2002.
Since you are already reading about modern art, this might be a good addition to your nightstand stack. Art and food – an analogy I can really understand. (For all of you sticklers out there - this is by a lady instead of about a lady.)
Recommended by: Katherine Moloney (Education Department)
Familiar Faces
My husband and I recently traveled out to the high desert in West Texas. We had the opportunity to dine at the Reata restaurant in Alpine, a branch of which is in downtown Fort Worth. Imagine my surprise when a MUCH larger version of the frontrunner for the Decision ’08 program was seen in the C.F. room!
This painting is “after” Frederic Remington (which means that it is done in the style of) and the artist is Style Reed. Anybody else seen an “after” picture of an art work from our collection?
Fort Worth Circle and the Performing Arts
I was at the Texas Library Association conference in Dallas last week and ran into two wonderful librarians from the Special Collections department at the University of Texas at Arlington. Lea Worcester and Evelyn Barker not only provide outstanding service to UTA students, they provide outreach to the North Texas community as well.
One of the projects that Evelyn and archivist Brenda McClurkin have worked on is now available online and has direct ties to our current special exhibition on the Fort Worth Circle artists. This Web site talks about the Reeder’s Children’s Theatre, a performing arts school started by Dickson and Flora Reeder. What I like best about this project are the wonderful images of the costumes and set designs.
If you would like to visit the library and see the special exhibition in person, it will be open until May 16th. Directions, parking, and exhibition hours are available on the Web site.
New Orleans, Art, and Community
Last week I hung my hat in New Orleans as I participated in the National Art Education Association annual conference. Each year thousands of art teachers, art education professors, and art museum educators gather together to share ideas and resources on furthering art education.
As I prepared to head to New Orleans, I couldn’t help but consider all the rebuilding efforts that have been and continue to occur. As I listened to education staff from the Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans Museum of Art, Newcomb Art Gallery, and Ogden Museum of Southern Art share their experiences of personal and professional change brought by Katrina, I was surprised by all the consequences I hadn’t considered. Obviously, buildings and their contents were physically damaged, but whole exhibition schedules (and their accompanying projects) were wiped out because institutions would no longer lend artworks, funds were frozen, entire departments were laid off.
But as these museum educators shared their pasts, a new story began to emerge. Their organizations are all rebuilding and proving that museums are more than just repositories for cultural objects. It is these museums that are helping to restore the culture and community in New Orleans—through exhibitions, like the Ogden’s After the Flood, new art therapy programs, and as a venue for discussions about city planning and change.
Museums matter, and those in New Orleans are serving as great examples on how to connect their collections and culture to their community. We should all take notice.